Date of Award

2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

Theory and Criticism

Supervisor

Dr. Cälin-Andrei MMilescu

Abstract

This project attempts to trace a continuity which runs from Walter Benjamin’s early writings on language and the coming philosophy through to his Arcades Project. Benjamin’s early writings on the Kantian critical system stipulate the need to bring the clarity and consistency of the critical system into relation with time, ephemera and history. This project argues that Benjamin’s early demands are developed via his encounter with the literary techniques of surrealism and the artistic techniques of Baudelaire’s Monsieur G. Ultimately, this work contends that Benjamin’s Arcades Project attempts to synthesize both the techniques developed in Benjamin’s middle period and the goals put forward in his early writings.

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