This article aims to read Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Repr... more This article aims to read Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility" by focusing on the conditions that redefine the human being in terms of the interplay between the corporeal and the technological. The discussion starts by exploring Benjamin's concept of the collective body organized in technology. The collective body, as put forward in Benjamin's early writings on anthropological issues, combines the human and the technological. The "Work of Art" essay takes it further by treating film as the kind of modern art based on the necessary technological measurements and operations that open up for the human being a space of expanded experience and altered perception conditioned by the second technology. This leads to a reorientation of the theory of perception as film, with its tactile/tactical dimension and particular material-technological operations, allows its viewers to get closer to things by incorporating directly what it mediates. In this way, film accomplishes its historical task of turning technology into a first nature for the collective body.
Ausgehend davon, dass Goethes Autobiographie Campagne in Frankreich/Belagerung von Mainz die wech... more Ausgehend davon, dass Goethes Autobiographie Campagne in Frankreich/Belagerung von Mainz die wechselseitige Spiegelung von Individuum und Weltgeschichte darstellt, versucht die vorliegende Arbeit zu zeigen, wie sich Goethe in den sich wandelnden Zeitverhaltnissen bemuht, seine Dichteridentitat zu bewahren und wie er sich fur diese Bemuhung verandert. Zuerst wird die Darstellungsweise der Autobiographie analysiert. Als Darstellungsprinzip gelten die Tagebuchform, die indirekte Erzahlweise und die distanzierte Erzahlhaltung. Diese Darstellungswiesen sind eher fur die Beschreibungen der Kriegserlebnisse bestimmt. Zusatzlich zu diesen ist eine Erzahlweise aus der ruckblickenden Uberschau, die innerliche Zustande des Autobiographen Goethe zur Auserung bringt und als Selbstreflexion und Selbstdeutung dient. Daraufhin wird durch die Diskussionen uber Goethes Besuche bei Jacobi und bei Plessing in der Autobiographie gezeigt, wie sich Goethe wegen der kriegerisch-revolutionaren Zeitverhaltni...
Due to the emergence of the globalized world, much attention has been paid to Goethe's concept of... more Due to the emergence of the globalized world, much attention has been paid to Goethe's concept of world literature, which can be considered an appropriate term to describe literature in the age of globalization. However , many current discussions are so dominated by the political and social-economic issues that the literary-aesthetic dimension, which plays an important role in Goethe's considerations, is to some extent neglected. To describe the literary-aesthetic significance in Goethe's concept of world literature, the present paper suggests an indirect approach by exploring his West-East Divan which consists not only of poetic cycles, but also of notes and essays discussing the literature and culture in both Orient and Occident as well as the problems of translation and poetics. In addition, with Walter Benjamin's theory of translation, the present paper argues that translation and world literature shares the poetic concept considered in West-East Divan, which assumes that poetry or literature is essentially relational and translational.
Soochow Journal of Foreign Languaes and Cultures, 2014
This paper aims to provide a reading of West-East Divan by Goethe that is not based on the postco... more This paper aims to provide a reading of West-East Divan by Goethe that is not based on the postcolonial concept as Edward Said in his book Orientalism discussed. The point of departure for the discussions is that Goethe's intention to include the oriental cultural in his literary writing is motivated by the literary-aesthetic interest in the artworks in both the East and West. Further the paper will argue that the oriental elements in West-east Divan are not only an implication of crossing the cultural boundary. Moreover, they entail a poetic concept that can be regarded as being closely related with allegory though it is originated in Goethe's concept of symbol.
This article aims to read Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Repr... more This article aims to read Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility" by focusing on the conditions that redefine the human being in terms of the interplay between the corporeal and the technological. The discussion starts by exploring Benjamin's concept of the collective body organized in technology. The collective body, as put forward in Benjamin's early writings on anthropological issues, combines the human and the technological. The "Work of Art" essay takes it further by treating film as the kind of modern art based on the necessary technological measurements and operations that open up for the human being a space of expanded experience and altered perception conditioned by the second technology. This leads to a reorientation of the theory of perception as film, with its tactile/tactical dimension and particular material-technological operations, allows its viewers to get closer to things by incorporating directly what it mediates. In this way, film accomplishes its historical task of turning technology into a first nature for the collective body.
Ausgehend davon, dass Goethes Autobiographie Campagne in Frankreich/Belagerung von Mainz die wech... more Ausgehend davon, dass Goethes Autobiographie Campagne in Frankreich/Belagerung von Mainz die wechselseitige Spiegelung von Individuum und Weltgeschichte darstellt, versucht die vorliegende Arbeit zu zeigen, wie sich Goethe in den sich wandelnden Zeitverhaltnissen bemuht, seine Dichteridentitat zu bewahren und wie er sich fur diese Bemuhung verandert. Zuerst wird die Darstellungsweise der Autobiographie analysiert. Als Darstellungsprinzip gelten die Tagebuchform, die indirekte Erzahlweise und die distanzierte Erzahlhaltung. Diese Darstellungswiesen sind eher fur die Beschreibungen der Kriegserlebnisse bestimmt. Zusatzlich zu diesen ist eine Erzahlweise aus der ruckblickenden Uberschau, die innerliche Zustande des Autobiographen Goethe zur Auserung bringt und als Selbstreflexion und Selbstdeutung dient. Daraufhin wird durch die Diskussionen uber Goethes Besuche bei Jacobi und bei Plessing in der Autobiographie gezeigt, wie sich Goethe wegen der kriegerisch-revolutionaren Zeitverhaltni...
Due to the emergence of the globalized world, much attention has been paid to Goethe's concept of... more Due to the emergence of the globalized world, much attention has been paid to Goethe's concept of world literature, which can be considered an appropriate term to describe literature in the age of globalization. However , many current discussions are so dominated by the political and social-economic issues that the literary-aesthetic dimension, which plays an important role in Goethe's considerations, is to some extent neglected. To describe the literary-aesthetic significance in Goethe's concept of world literature, the present paper suggests an indirect approach by exploring his West-East Divan which consists not only of poetic cycles, but also of notes and essays discussing the literature and culture in both Orient and Occident as well as the problems of translation and poetics. In addition, with Walter Benjamin's theory of translation, the present paper argues that translation and world literature shares the poetic concept considered in West-East Divan, which assumes that poetry or literature is essentially relational and translational.
Soochow Journal of Foreign Languaes and Cultures, 2014
This paper aims to provide a reading of West-East Divan by Goethe that is not based on the postco... more This paper aims to provide a reading of West-East Divan by Goethe that is not based on the postcolonial concept as Edward Said in his book Orientalism discussed. The point of departure for the discussions is that Goethe's intention to include the oriental cultural in his literary writing is motivated by the literary-aesthetic interest in the artworks in both the East and West. Further the paper will argue that the oriental elements in West-east Divan are not only an implication of crossing the cultural boundary. Moreover, they entail a poetic concept that can be regarded as being closely related with allegory though it is originated in Goethe's concept of symbol.
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