A Study Of Benjamin's Thought On Art And Aesthetics

The central thesis of this dissertation consists of Walter Benjamin's thought on art and aesthetics. Since the process of modernization had strong impacts on Benjamin during his life, I will analyze the influence of modernization on Benjamin, by means of an analysis of some phenomena in modern society, such as commodity and technology, and explore the thought of Benjamin on art and aesthetics.The dissertation is divided into five parts except for conclusion.Part one provides an introduction to Benjamin. Benjamin experienced the changing period from tradition to modernism, and the influence of modernization penetrate into every aspects of his thought. Benjamin became a writer because of the decline of status, and the embarrassed financial situation drove him to Marxism. On the other hand, Benjamin was also strongly attracted by Jewish mysticism since he was a Jew.Part two focuses on Benjamin's critical theory. His theory is not traditional literary criticism but cultural criticism. Allegory is his unique method of criticism. It seems like an image consisting of countless mosaics and can be interpreted in too many ways, so that it exhibits modern society well and shows some characteristics of post-modernism.Part three takes a look at Benjamin's thought on writer. During the process of commercialization, the modern writer is alienated into a man who sells himself as commodity. But the writer is self-conscious of his identity and fight against the inhuman modern society by the weapon of his pen.Part four and part five explore Benjamin's thought on the nature of modern art. Modernistic art was born on the basis of new literary skill, and made contemplation its characteristic. Whereas, new genre of art, moving picture, was based on new technology and claimed the pictorial turn, challenging literature.The conclusion gives an analysis of the inconsistency of Benjamin's thought, and shows the meaning of his theory.