A Investigation On Walter Benjamin's Thought Of 'Kunstkritik' In His Early Period

Walter Benjamin is one of the greatest literary and cultural critics in the first half of 20th century. The thesis is on his thought of literary criticism before 1925, which was accepted by the academic world as'early Walter Benjamin's'thought. The whole article is divided into 5 parts. The first part was an introduction containing a brief review of current trends of the studies on Walter Benjamin and an emphasis on the importance of the keyword of'criticism'in the genealogy of Walter Benjamin's thought. In the second part, the author tries to elucidate two main opposite understandings on the conception of'criticism'in 20th century, so as to show Walter Benjamin's different angle on the subject. The third part was to illustrate Walter Benjamin's creative'reconstruction'of Romantic concept of literary criticism. In the fourth part, the author tries to reveal differences of Goethe's literary theory. These differences are organized as a contradiction revealed in the fourth part,which was conciliated by Walter Benjamin's efforts. In the end, the author tries to analyze Goethe's Elective Affinity as a practice of Walter Benjamin's criticism during his early age, pointing out that his'Criticizablity of Semblance'as harmonized supersede of Romanticism and Goethe's theory of art.