On Benjamin's Salvation-Esthetics

This thesis studies the Salvation- Esthetic thoughts, which are held by Benjamin, one of the greatest literary critics of the twentieth century. With combination of Benjamin' s career and personality, the thesis puts great emphasis on the two kinds of tendencies in his esthetic thoughts: the mysterious doctrine of Judaism and Marxist relationship-dialectics thought. Facing the prominent change of modern society and modern art, Benjamin tries hard to search for the chance of the rescue from the unfortunate reality in a positive way. On one hand, he thinks that in the process of reception, the modern art can change the negative audiences to positive political comrades. As a result, it has the function of revolution conspirator to wake the public up. On the other hand, modern art can push the absurdity of modern society and citizens to an extreme, push the secular history to an ultimate end. and invoke the theological salvation at the moment of ruin. Benjamin's opinions about the relationship between the art and reality, the agreement on a certain meaning between the art and the religion, is still worth investigating on today.