Art's Fateful Hour: Benjamin, Heidegger, Art and Politics Author(s): Christopher P. Long Source: New German Critique, No. 83, Special Issue on Walter Benjamin, (Spring - Summer, 2001), pp. 89-115 Published by: New German Critique Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/827790 Accessed: 11/04/2008 17:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ngc. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.
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Art's Fateful Hour. Benjamin, Heidegger, Art and Politics ChristopherP. Long On October16, 1935, WalterBenjaminwrote the following fromParis to his friend, Max Horkheimer: " ...
art's fateful hour has struck for us
and I have capturedits signaturein a series of preliminaryreflections entitled 'The Workof Art in the Age of TechnicalReproduction.'These reflectionsattemptto give the questionsraisedby art theorya truly contemporaryform: and indeed from the inside, avoiding any unmediated reference to politics."l Less than one month later, on November 13, 1935, Martin Heidegger gave a lecture to the Kunstwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft in Freiburgentitled "The Origin of the Work of Art."2 1. Gerschom Scholem and Theodor W. Adomo, eds., The Correspondenceof WalterBenjamin:1910-1940, trans.ManfredR. Jacobsonand Evelyn M. Jacobson(Chicago: ChicagoUP, 1994) 509. Benjamin'sclaimthat 1935marked"art'sfatefulhour"was more prescientthan even he could have known,for duringthe fall of 1935, afterHitler's harsh indictmentof modem art at the NurembergPartycongress in September,Joseph Goebbelsabandonedonce andfor all his affinityfor promoderist artand adopteda more conservativeand less tolerantstancetowardmodem art.This stancewas in line with Hitler's position and served to solidify Goebbels's standingwithin the Nazi bureaucracy, which had been increasinglythreatenedby the conservativeanti-modernistattitudesof Alfred Rosenberg.Fromthe fall of 1935 on, no Nazi leaderwas more instrumentaland energeticallyengagedin opposingthe modemartmovementthanGoebbels:he bannedart criticism in 1936, purgedthe works of Jewish artistsfrom Germanmuseums and organized the infamousEntarteteKunstAustellung.Fora good discussionof Goebbels'stransformationduringthis time, see JonathanPetropoulos,Art as Politics in the ThirdReich (ChapelHill & London:NorthCarolinaUP, 1996)47-58. 2. Martin Heidegger, "Vom Ursprungdes Kunstwerkes,"Heidegger Studies 5 (1989): 5. The firsteditionof Heidegger'sessay on the workof art,the only editionnever given as a lecture,is reprintedhere. AlthoughI referto this edition,I follow for the most part,the editionpublishedin Holzwege:see note 11 below.
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When read together,these two essays have much to teach us aboutphilosophy, art and politics. In what follows, Benjamin'sessay will be read as a responseto Heidegger's,and Heidegger'sessay will be interpreted by means of Benjamin'sto expose the implicitpolitical implicationsof Heidegger's essay and to suggest a more nuanced understandingof Benjamin's.To bring these two essays into relationwith one anotherin this manneris not to suggest that either man was at the time aware of the other's essay on art. There is no evidence for this. Rather,it is to take advantageof a privilegedhermeneuticalperspectiveunavailableto the authorsthemselves in orderto betterunderstandthe political implicationsof these two philosophicalreflectionson art. The concept aroundwhich the relationshipbetween these two essays comes most perspicuouslyinto focus is thatof the "aura"of the work of art developedby Benjamin.As will be seen, Benjamin'sconceptionof the aura and its decay can be mappedonto Heidegger's conception of aletheia as the originaryhappeningof truthin the work of art in order to elucidate the two authors'opposing impulses. In short, while Benjamin emphasizesthe emancipatorydimensionsof the decay of the aura and employs it againstwhat he saw as the increasingaestheticizationof politics by the forces of fascism, Heideggerattemptsto reinvigoratethe aurain orderto securethe possibilityof an authenticrelationto the origin thatwould reestablishthe spiritandpowerof the Germanpeople. Benjamin: The Decay of the Aura
Traditionally,the authorityof an originalwork of art is derived from its independentexistence as a uniquebeing. Such originalsconfrontthe viewer as something marvelous, beautiful, authoritative.Benjamin's fundamentalinsight in "The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproduction"is that technical reproductionunderminesthis authority and frees the spectatorfrom its mesmerizinginfluence. Unlike manual reproduction,which has in principle always been possible,3 technical reproductionunderminesthe authorityof the originalin two ways. First, 3. WalterBenjamin,"DasKunstwerkim ZeitalterseinertechnischenReproduzierbarkeit,"GesammelteSchriften1.2 (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp,1974) 474. Translatedby Illuminations, HarryZohn as "TheWorkof Art in the Age of MechanicalReproduction," ed. HannahArendt(New York:Schocken,1969) 218. Unless otherwiseindicated,all referencesto "TheWorkof Art"essay will be takenfromthe thirdGermaneditionfollowed by the page numberof the Englishtranslationbased on this edition.They will be cited in the text as follows: (Benjamin 474/218). All translationsfrom both Benjamin's and Heidegger'sGermanaremy own unless otherwisenoted.
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because technicalreproductionis more independentof the originalthan is manual reproduction,which remains completely determinedby its relationto the original, it is less constrainedby the original.By means of enlargement,slow motion and other technical processes, Benjamin suggests that photographyand cinematography- two importanttechniques at work in the age of technical reproduction- can bring out aspects of the original that escape the naked eye (Benjamin476/220). Thus, the very process of technical reproductioncalls the authorityof the originalinto questionby splittingit open and exposing to the viewer that which had remainedhiddenin its own, independentexistence. Second, technicalreproductionreducesthe distancebetween the object and its viewer, for it can bring the copy of the originalinto situationsinaccessible to the original itself. In short, " . . . it makes it possible for the
originalto come out and meet the viewer, whetherit be in the form of the photographor the phonographrecord"(Benjamin476-77/220-21). These two aspects of technicalreproductionunderminethe uniqueexistence of the original and call into question its authenticity.Benjamin clarifies the meaning of "authenticity[Echtheit]"by showing how it is relatedto the authorityof the object: Theauthenticity of a thingis theessenceof allthatis capableof being handeddownfromits origin,rangingfromits materialpersistenceto its historicaltestimony.Becausethislatteris foundedontheformer,in where the materialpersistencehas withdrawnitself reproduction, fromthehuman,so toodoesthehistorical testimonyof thethingbegin to waiver.Whatis represented as waveringis clearlythis:theauthor477/221) ity of thething.(Benjamin What takes on increasing importancein this passage is the human dimension. The authorityof the object begins to waiver as its material persistence withdrawsitself from the human. This wavering does not merely mark a transformationof the object, but also a change in the perception of the subject. Benjamin took it for granted that such changes in perceptioncorrespondto importantsocial transformations. This can be seen more clearly from the mannerin which he develops the conceptof the "aura"itself. The Aura Defined
By offeringa definitionof the aura,Benjaminsituateshimself on the side of those forcescontributing to its decay.This is becausethe conceptof
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the auraitself has an auraaboutit, one thatseems to defy the logic of definition.By definingit, Benjaminintendsto underminetheauraof the aura: It is advisableto illustratethe conceptof the aurawhich was suggested above with referenceto historicalobjectsby means of the concept of the auraof naturalobjects. We define this last as the unique appearance of a distance[Ferne],howeverclose [nah] it may be. To follow, while restingon a summerafternoon,a mountainrangeon the horizon or a branchthat casts its shadowover the restingone, is to breaththe auraof these mountains,this branch.(Benjamin479/222-23)
It is significantthatthis definitiondoes not referto the work of art at all, but ratherto the experienceof the auraof naturalobjects. The emphasis on experiencehas an importantheuristicfunction:althoughthe aura at first seems to be a propertyof the object, it in fact only manifestsitself in the relation between subject and object. By calling it a "unique appearance"and employing the relational terms of "distance" and "close,"Benjaminnot only focuses attentionon the relationaldimension of the aura,butalso determinesthe peculiarnatureof this relation. To begin with, the aura is a unique [einmalig] appearance.As an appearance,the aura is both subjective and objective, for the encounter between subject and object is the condition for the possibility of appearance. As unique, the aura is authoritative.Marleen Stoessel suggests that the quantitativecharacterizationof the aura as "einmalig" is really a qualitativedetermination.4Benjamincapturesthis quality of unique presence with the figure of the shadow of the tree's branch. The cast of the shadow upon the resting one rendersthe tree present in a new, more powerful way. In the Jewish mystic tradition, the tree is an importantsymbol for God's presence in the world.5It is, therefore,not surprisingto find it here in Benjamin's account of the 4. MarleenStoessel,Aura:Das vergesseneMenschliche(Munich:Hanser,1983)47. 5. GershomScholem,Kabbalah(New York:Dorset, 1974) 112. This is not unlike what MartinBuberdescribesin Ich undDu: "Itcan howeverhappen,if will and grace are joined, that while contemplatingthe tree I am drawninto relationwith it and the tree ceases to be an It. The powerof exclusivenesshas takenhold of me." MartinBuber,"Ich und Du," Das dialogische Prinzip (Gerlingen:LambertSchneider,1962) 11. Buber has also come to mind for Stoessel in readingthis passage. She is correctto suggest that the exampleof the treewas probablyonly unconsciouslyadoptedfromBuber.She cites a passage fromBuber'sbookDaniel similarto the one cited here fromIch undDu. In this context, it is significantto note the completeabsenceof any personalpronounin Benjamin's definition of the aura.This is perhapsa furthermanifestationof the withdrawalof the humanelement,a pointthatis easily lost in Zohn'stranslation.
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aura;for the aurapoints beyond the moment of immediatepresence, to somethingother,unique,authoritative. This authoritativedimensionof the aura is furtherdevelopedby Benjamin's use of the spatialvocabularyof "distance."With the qualifying clause,"howeverclose it may be," Benjaminimmediatelyunderminesthe spatialmeaningof distanceandsuggestsinsteada temporaldetermination.6 Here, the mountainrangetakes on increasedsignificance,for it is not the spatialdistancethatgives it its aura,butratherits temporalpermanence,the fact that it signifies the long and (geologically)turbulenthistory of the earth.Again,themountainrange,likethetree,pointsbeyonditself. Benjaminarguesthat in the age of technicalreproductionthe uniqueness and permanenceof the object is diminished.The impulseto diminish these two characteristicsis a function of a particularkind of perception.Again,the subjectiveconditionof the auracomes to the fore: Uniquenessand permanenceare as closely linked [in images accessible to the nakedeye] as are fleetingnessandreproducibility[in technically reproducedimages]. The prying of the object from out of its of its aura,is the signatureof a shell, the ruination[Zertriimmerung] perceptionin which "thesense for the equalityof things in the world" is so developedthat it obtainsit even from a unique object by means of reproduction.(Benjamin479-80/223)7
Benjamin is here, as he is throughoutthe essay, unapologeticfor this "ruinationof the aura."This passage indicates part of the reason for this: the equalizingeffect of the decay of the aurahas a liberatingfunction. Whereas auratic perception establishes an immediate hierarchy between subject and object by investing the object with a high level of independenceand authority,the perceptionat work in technical reproduction underminesthe authorityof the object thereby liberatingthe subjectfromthe object'smesmerizingpower. From Cult to Exhibition Value Accordingto Benjamin,this liberatingfunctionis particularlyperspicuous in aestheticswhere,with the developmentof new artistictechnologies, most notably photographyand cinematography,the "cult value" of the 6. Stoessel 45. 7. By employingthe word"Zertriimmerung," ["shattering," "smashing,""reduction to ruins"]here, Benjamincomes as close as he does anywherein the essay to arguingthat the aurais completelydestroyedin the age of technicalreproduction.See note 42 below.
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work of art increasinglygives way to its "exhibitionvalue."All auratic art is based in ritual.It has a quasi-religiousdimension.This had already been suggestedin the definitionof the auraby the juxtapositionof distance and closeness, for, as Benjaminwrites in a footnote:"Distanceis the oppositeof closeness.The essentiallydistantthingis the Unapproachable. Unapproachability is, in fact, a major quality of the cult image" This is what gives the object its (Benjamin480/243). unapproachability authority.However,with the inventionof photographyin the latterhalf of the nineteenthcentury,the ritualisticdimensionof the work of art is undermined;for photographyuses its various techniques- of enlargeto "pry ment, cropping,depthof field - to approachthe unapproachable, the object from its shell." The full significanceof this developmentis capturedin the followingpassage: From the photographicnegative, for example, comes a plurality of possible prints.The questionas to the authentic[echten]printmakes no sense. The moment, however, when the measureof authenticity breaksdown in artisticreproduction,the entire social functionof art also is revolutionized.Its foundationon ritualis replacedby its foundationon anotherpraxis:namely,politics. (Benjamin481-82/224)
Although it is not immediatelyclear why the break down of the aura leads to politics, it is true that the question of authenticitymust be rethoughtin the face of the techniquesof photography.Benjaminbegins this rethinkingby emphasizingthe increasedimportanceof exhibition value. It is the social functionof this exhibitionvalue that gives technically reproducedartits politicalsignificance. is its accesWhatis decisive for artin the age of technicalreproduction value. The cult sibilityto and appearancebeforethe public its exhibition value of the work, however,does not immediatelyretreatin the face of the insurgenceof exhibitionvalue. Benjaminsuggests that the prominence of the portraitin early photographysignifies art's retrenchmentin ritual.Portraitsof ancestorsdead or absentmarkthe last refuge of cult value in photography."Inthe fleetingexpressionof a humanface the aura beckons from early photographyfor the last time"(Benjamin485/226).8 8. Thereis a certainmelancholyto this passage. In his essay on Baudelaire,Benjamin suggests thatthe aurais manifestwhen the expectationthata person's gaze will be returnedis met (see 114 below). The auraof the workof artseems to be derivedfromthis basic experience.So long as the humanelementis involved,howeverremotely,the aurais never fully destroyed.
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The significanceof Atget, whose photographsare completelyemptiedof any direct human content, can be understoodin this context. Around 1900, Atget photographeddesertedParis streetsand createdpicturesthat were said to look like crimescenes. Benjaminsuggeststhe significanceof this development: fromphotography, Wherethehumanwithdraws thereforthefirsttime overcultvalue.... With the exhibitionvalueshowsits superiority picturesbeginto becomepiecesof evidencein Atget,photographic the processof history.Thisconstitutestheirhiddenpoliticalsignifiis no longerappropriate forthem. cance.Freefloatingcontemplation the viewer;he feels thathe mustfind a Theyagitate[beunruhigen] definitewayto them.(Benjamin 485/226) The dimension of agitationis importanthere, for in it lies the specifically political dimension Benjamin has been developing. Rather than being mesmerizedby the authorityof the work of art, the viewer of the photograph,and to an even greaterextent of the modem sound film, is agitated,worried,and thus, throwninto a mode of self-reflection.This sort of heightened awareness is precisely what Benjamin sees as the positive politicalimplicationof the decay of the aura. The Shocked CollectiveSubject The modem sound film produces this sort of agitation even more than the photograph.The experience of the photographremains similar to that of the painting and other auraticforms of art to the extent that it is fundamentallyprivate. The paradigmof interactionbetween subject and object remains that of the viewer standing before and being absorbedby the work of art. This is not the case with the film, for the film is experienced collectively. Furthermore,according to Benjamin, the experience of this collective subject does not engender unthinking obedience, but rather an attitude of critique. This is the result of what Benjamin calls the "shock effect" of the film. Cinematography,with its ability to take on, change or penetrateany point of view at will, with its techniques of montage, slow-motion, close-ups and now, indeed with its access to computergenerated imagery, has an almost unlimited ability to shock its viewers. This fact puts the viewer on guard,rendersthe collective subject more aware. Benjamin puts it this way:
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Art's FatefulHour The process of associationof the one viewing these [moving]images is in fact immediatelyinterruptedby their constantchange. On this rests the shock effect of film which, like all shocks, should be absorbedby a heightenedpresenceof mind.(Benjamin503/238)9
For Benjamin,at the movies, the modem subject acquiresthe skills necessaryto negotiatethe trialsof modem life. The social significanceof the modem sound film lies in its ability to shock its audienceand force them, collectively, to react. This reactionthrowseach individualsubject back onto its own devices - althoughthe experienceis collective, the effect is individuating.Everyonebecomes an expertand a critic, as Benjamin suggests (Benjamin448/228). Finally, althoughthe film fosters a heightenedpresenceof mind,it also distractsits viewer.This is an importantdimensionof Benjamin'stheory,for it distinguishesthe mode of perceptionof the modemmovie goer fromthe kindof perceptionendemicto the traditionalmuseumvisitor. Distractionis the opposite of concentration, which is the mode by which the traditionalart work is perceived. For Benjamin,the paradigmexampleof art that is absorbedin the mode of distractionis architecture."Buildings,"Benjaminwrites,"arereceived in a twofold way: throughuse and perception,or more strictlyspeaking: by touch and sight. Thereis no conceptof such a receptionif one understands it in terms of concentrationas when a tourist stands before a famous building" (Benjamin 504-05/240). Rather, buildings are used without becoming presentto the subject in a conscious way; they form level of decay. 9. Withthe adventof computers,the aurareachesan unprecedented Films entirelygeneratedby computeranimationshockaudiencesin new ways and remove movies arenow being digitallyprothe auraof the actorfurtherfromthe film. Furthermore, ducedandwill soon be distributedimmediatelyto millionsof viewersaroundthe worldvia satellites feeding directlyto digital projectors.Michel Marriott,"Digital ProjectorsUse Flashesof Lightto Painta Movie,"TheNew YorkTimeson the Web27 May 1999. [http:// With the internet,the www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/circuits/articles/27proj.html]. auraentersa deeperlevel of decayandyet at the sametime,the humanelementis not annihilated.Ratherit resurfacesin chatrooms,discussiongroupsandperhapsmost significantly forthepresentcontextwiththe internet'scapacityto informenormouspopulationsaboutthe politicalandsocial issues of the day andto providea forumfor criticalresponse.Due to the interet's unparalleledcapacityto underminethe auraof things,to dispensein-depthinformationto a wide population,andto allowthatpopulationto directlyexpressitself,thepotential for genuine critiquehas never been greater.However,it is also true that along with on the internet. information,thereis misinformationand a high level of commercialization Withthis comes the dangerof increasedmanipulationagainstwhichinformedcritiquemust alwaysbe vigilant.Justas the film can be usedby the forcesof fascism,so too can the internet. In this context,Benjamin'sessay on arthas muchto teachus aboutthe emergingcyberworldandthe possibilityof politicsin it at the dawnof the twenty-firstcentury.
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partof the habitualexistenceof the modemperson. The formationof habits in a state of distractionis a function of the film as well. The authorityof the collective subject is underminedin a decisive manner- the film does not permitthe subject or the object to gather itself into a stable unity, it does not permit the one to have absolute power over the other. Thus, Benjaminwrites: "Withits shock effect, the film comes to meet this [distracted]receptionhalfway. The film not only drives out its cult value in that it puts the public in the position of critic, but also in that this critical position in the cinema does not requireattention.The public is an examiner,but a distracted one" (Benjamin 505/240-41). Here, the full significance of the what Benjamin calls the decay [Verfall] of the aura comes into focus. On the one hand, it underminesthe authorityof the object, thus freeing the subject from its enchantingpower. On the other hand, because the aura is only in decay, and is not completely destroyed,10the object still retains something of its power and thus does not allow the subject to assert its own absolute authorityover it. Thus, there emerges a liberatingplay between the subject and object in which neither is able to dominatethe other. Deauratizedart not only establishes this liberating play, but also, because it habituatesus to the uncertaintyof this play, it assuages the very desire to dominate. The ability to exist in the midst of this sort of uncertaintyand to take part in its powerful politics. play is a greatthreattoo all authoritarian Heidegger:Reinvigoratingthe Aura Although Heidegger's 1935 essay on art does not at first seem to be as explicitly motivatedby political concerns as is Benjamin's, it is no less political. This can be seen most perspicuouslyif Heidegger'sessay is re-readwith Benjamin'sdiscussion of the decay of the aurain mind. To put the matter succinctly:whereas Benjamindevelops the political significanceof the decay of the auraby demystifyingthe art object and emancipatingthe subject from its authority,Heideggerenlists the work of art in a disturbingpolitical campaignby interpretingit as the authentic site for the originaryhappeningof the truth[aletheia]of the historical existence of a people. By interpretingthe work of art in this manner, that is, in Benjamin'sterms, by reinvigoratingthe aura of the work of art,Heideggerrendersaestheticsacutelypolitical. 10.
See below 112ff.
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Heideggerbegins his essay by establishingthe distinctionbetween the being of the thing, the piece of equipmentand the work of art.ll The discussion is situated within a critique of three traditionalinterpretations of being that determinethe western understandingof the true nature of the origin of the work of art. The most importantof these interpretationsin the presentcontext is the Aristoteliananalysis of the thing in terms of form and matter.12For Heidegger, the hylomorphic analysis alreadymarksthe determinationof the thing in terms of equipment. He writes: " . . . matter and form as determinations of beings are
most at home in the essential natureof equipment.This name signifies that which is producedspecifically for employmentand customaryuse. Matterand form are in no way originaldeterminationsof the thingness of the mere thing" (Heidegger 13/28).13 Because the hylomorphic approachlends insight into the natureof equipment,Heidegger is able to employ it negatively in orderto elucidatethe similaritiesand differences between the being of equipmentand that of the thing on the one hand,andthe workof arton the other. For Heidegger,equipmentis oddly situatedbetween the thing and the work and yet is somehow less than both - this odd situationgives the being of equipmenta powerful heuristicfunction.Equipment,like the thing, is self-contained;it rests in itself when finished.Unlike the thing, however, equipmenthas not taken shape by itself; it requiresthe activity of the humanhand to bring it into existence. This dependenceupon 11. Martin Heidegger, "Der Ursprungdes Kunstwerkes,"Holzwege (Frankfurt/ Main:VittorioKlosterman,1994) 6-12. Translatedby AlbertHofstadteras "TheOriginof the Work of Art,"Poetry,Language,Thought(New York:Harper& Row, 1971) 22-27. Unless otherwiseindicated,all referencesto "The Origin"essay will be taken from this seventheditionof Holzwegefollowedby the page numberof the Englishtranslation.They will be placed in the text as follows: (Heidegger6-12/22-27). 12. The other two traditionalinterpretationsof the thing are: 1) the thing as an underlyingsubstance(hypokeimenon)with attributes,which is also Aristotelianin origin; 2) the thing as the unityof the manifoldgiven by sensibility,which is, of course,the Kantian conception.Heideggersays of the first thatit holds the thing too far fromus, and of the second thatit pressesin to close (Heidegger11/26). 13. This critiqueof the Aristotelianhylomorphicanalysisis not limitedto the work of artessay, but ratherexpressesone of Heidegger'sbasic criticismsof the historyof philosophy as determinedby Plato and Aristotle.It can be found in TheBasic Problemsof Phenomenology,trans.Albert Hofstadter(Bloomington:U of IndianaP, 1988) 106-17, where the understandingof being in termsof formandmatteris the resultof an essential attitudeof "productivecomportment."For a discussionof this dimensionof Heidegger's readingof Aristotle,see my essay "TheHegemonyof Formandthe Resistanceof Matter," GraduateFacultyJournalof Philosophy21.2 (1999): 22ff.
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the human renders the equipment more like the work. However, the work differs from equipment and is more like the thing insofar as it is self-sufficient. "Thus, the equipment is half thing," writes Heidegger, "because it is characterized by thingliness, and yet it is something more; simultaneously, it is half art work, and yet less, for it is without the self-sufficiency of the work of art" (Heidegger 14/29). The characteristic of self-sufficiency marks the affinity between the work of art and the thing: "Because of its self-sufficient presence [selbstgeniigsames Anwesen] the work of art is more similar to the mere thing which grows from itself [eigenwiichsigen] and is self-contained" (Heidegger 14/29).14 This characteristic of self-sufficiency corresponds to that dimension of the aura Benjamin had thematized as uniqueness and permanence. The Emergence of Distance: Van Gogh's Shoes Heidegger further solidifies the self-sufficiency and thus the authority of the work of art by means of a sort of philosophical legerdemain. Under the auspices of establishing a common pictorial representation of some equipment, Heidegger suggests that Van Gogh's painting of a pair of peasant shoes be taken as an example. Implicitly employing the distinction between Zuhandenheit [readiness-to-hand]and Vorhandenheit [objective presence] he had established in Sein und Zeit,15 Heidegger outlines the different modes of being in which the peasant shoes appear. They are zuhanden when the peasant woman wears them while working in the field. The less conscious she is of the shoes, the more they blend into the context of her environment. The shoes are reliable and useable; this 14. In his essay, "Das Ding,"the thingis differentiatedfromthe representedobject preciselybecauseit is "DasInsichstehen... als etwas Selbstindiges [thatwhich standsin itself as somethingindependent]."Heidegger"Das Ding," Vortrige und Aufsdtze(Pfullingen:Neske, 1967) 38-39. "TheThing,"Poetry,Language,Thought167. It is significant in the presentcontextthatHeideggerbegins "DasDing"by discussingthe shrinkingof all distance in space and time with the modem developmentsof radio, television and film, where informationis now immediatelyavailable and where ancient cultures are represented as if they existed at the presentmoment.Heideggerlamentsthat this shrinkingof distancebringsno nearness.His responseis clearly to re-invigoratethe auraof the thing by emphasizingits independencein orderto locate in the thingnessof the thingthe site for the gatheringof the fourfold:earth,sky, divinitiesandmortals(Heidegger45-46/173). By interpretingthe genuine natureof the thing in this manner,Heidegger affirms its ritual value. Thus, in "Das Ding," as in the art essay, Heideggerrespondsto the decay of the aurain the age of technicalreproductionby attemptingto re-invigorateit, to re-establish its autonomousauthority. 15. MartinHeidegger,Sein und Zeit, 16th ed. (Niemeyer:Tiibingen, 1986) 69ff. Hereaftercited in footnotesas SZ followedby the page numberfor this edition.
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constitutestheir Zuhandenheit.If, however,as in the painting,the shoes are recognizedas just lying thereunused,if the soles are seen to be worn down, the leathermuddy and the laces untied, the shoes have become vorhanden,objectivelypresent.As the equipmentis used up and worn down it becomesunreliable,andthis disintegration revealsanotherdimension of the being of the shoes. This phenomenon,whichplays a largerole throughoutSein und Zeit as well as in Benjamin'swork, may be called the "heuristicsof dysfunction"- in the breakdownof the object another dimension of its being is revealed.16Van Gogh's picture rendersthe shoes presentin their dysfunction,thus revealing,accordingto Heidegger, that"... equipmentin its genuineequipmentalbeing comes from a more distantsource.Matterand form and theirdistinctionhave a deeper origin"(Heidegger20/35). The appearanceof this distancehappensin the painting.Heideggerwrites:"Thispaintinghas spoken.In the proximityof the work we were suddenlysomewhereother than where we habitually tend to be" (Heidegger21/35).17The work of art "speaks;"it transports the viewer into unfamiliarterritory;it revealsthe distantand deeperorigin of being. This completes the philosophicallegerdemainmentioned above, for the paintingwas not, as Heideggeroriginallysuggested,meant of a pair of shoes. merely to establisha commonpictorialrepresentation to himself admits this manipulation: finallyexplicitly Heidegger 16. The heuristicsof dysfunctionis at the core of Heidegger'sattemptto develop the meaningof being in termsof time in Sein undZeit.Deathis preciselythatdysfunction which reveals the being of Dasein as time (cf. sections 50-53). The heuristicsof dysfunction, besides clearlybeing an importantdimensionof Benjamin'sessay on art,also plays a fundamentalrole in Benjamin'searlywork,"Ursprungdes deutschenTrauerspeils,"GesammelteSchriften1.1 (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp,1974).In Englishas, TheOriginof the GermanTragicDrama, trans.JohnOsborne(London:Verso, 1977). In the introduction, he writes of the emergenceof the truthcontentof the work:"Thiscontentdoes not, however, become visible by being exposed,ratherit proves itself farmore in a process which one may metaphoricallydescribedas the burningup of the cover as it entersthe realmof the ideas, thatis, as an incinerationof the work in which its formachieves the high point of its brilliance"(Benjamin211/31). In the same work,the heuristicsof dysfunctionis at the heartof Benjamin'sconceptionof critique,which he describesas the "mortificationof the work"(Benjamin357/182). 17. Italicsaremine so as to call attentionto a fundamentaldifferencebetweenBenjamin and Heidegger.As mentioned,Benjaminaffirmsthe habituationof a heightened presenceof mind in a stateof distractionas a key elementof the liberatingfunctionof the decay of the aura.This was clearin his treatmentof architecture.Heidegger'sinterestis in breaking,not establishing,habitsas a way of destroyingthe attitudeof the "averageeverydayness"of "dasMan"(SZ 126ff.). Here the work of artis said to aid in the breakingof such habits,with the resultthatthe observeris betterpreparedto face the importantdecision posed by the work itself.
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However, above all the work did not, as it may seem at first, serve merely to bettervisualize what a piece of equipmentis. Rather,it is much more the case thatthe equipmentalbeing of the equipmentfirst genuinely comes to appearancethroughthe work and exclusively in the work.... Whathappenshere?Whatis at work in the work? Van Gogh's paintingis the revelation[Er6ffnung]of thatwhich the equipment, a pair of peasantshoes, is in truth.This being steps out into the unconcealednessof its being. The unconcealednessof beings, the Greeksnamedaletheia. (Heidegger21/36) What is at work in the work is the happening of truth as aletheia; it is the revelation of the distant origin of being. What is at work in the work is precisely what Benjamin called the aura: the unique appearance of a distance, however close it may be.18 Ritual Value Re-vitalized: God Does Not Flee It is not surprising that Heidegger appeals to the ruins of a Greek temple to elucidate the manner in which aletheia happens in the work of art; for the temple implicitly suggests precisely what Heidegger is attempting to establish: the ritual dimension of the work of art, its historical nature and its authority.19 His description of the temple is intentionally dramatic so as to emphasize its aura. The temple is, for Heidegger, the site of the battle between what he calls "earth" and "world;" the terms by which he explicates the dynamic happening of aletheia. The "world," in this case is not the mere collection of things, 18. What I have called "a sort of philosophicallegerdemain"is actually a highly sophisticatedrhetoricalmaneuverby Heidegger,for it shows preciselywhathe is tryingto say: thatalthoughthe originhas been coveredover - by traditionalmetaphysics,the prevalence of equipmentin the age of technology, "averageeveryday"existence, etc. - it remainsdiscerable to those who can see/think/hearit, thatis, to those who can heed what the paintingsays (commands?). 19. The Greektemple is significantfor two otherreasonsas well. First,it links the presentessay backto the Greekorigin,which for Heideggeris reallythe genuineoriginof the historicalexistence of the Germanpeople as well as of genuinephilosophy.Recall in this context,of course,Heidegger'sfamousclaim "Foralong with Germanthe Greeklanguage is (in regardto its possibilitiesforthought)at once the mostpowerfulandmost spiritualof all languages."Heidegger,An Introductionto Metaphysics,trans.RalphManheim (New Haven:Yale UP, 1987) 57. This sortof assertionof the spiritualaffinitybetweenthe Germanand the Greekwas quite common in the rhetoricof the revolutionaryright. See for example, Adolf Hitler,Mein Kampf(Munich:Zentralverlagder NSDAP, 1936) 470; Mein Kampf, trans. Ralph Manheim (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971) 423. Second, Heidegger's attitudetowardthe temple is precisely the opposite of Benjamin's attitude towardbuildingsmentionedabove. WhereHeideggerencouragesawe and fetishizes the auraof the structure,Benjaminencouragesuse andunderminesthe authorityof the aura.
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nor is it the frameworkthat gives such a collection its unity.20Rather: "Whereverthe essential decisions of our history are made, are taken over by us or abandoned,remain unrecognizedor are rediscovered, there the world worlds....
Insofar as the world opens itself, all things
receive theirlingeringand hastening,theirdistance[Ferne] and proximity [Nahe], their breadthand confinement"(Heidegger31/44-45). The world is historical. It opens up the possibility for genuine decision, which will either be taken over or ignored.However, the world is not pure openness; it has a dimension of inaccessibility as well - it is dependentupon what Heideggercalls "theprotectivegrace of the gods" which both grants and withholds (Heidegger 31/45). This twofold dimension of revealing and concealing is played out from the other directionwith the term "earth."Here "earth"does not name the clump of matter orbiting aroundthe sun. Rather:"The earth is that which comes out and shelters.The earthis self-dependent,effortlessand untiring. Upon and in the earthhistoricalhumansgroundtheir dwelling in the world"(Heidegger46/32). The dimensionof closedness takes precedence here, but like the world, the earthis multi-dimensional.It is selfsecluding, but in this seclusion, it shelters and protects that which comes into appearance.Earthandworldmustbe thoughttogether: The world is the self-openingopennessof the broadbandsof the simple and essential decisions in the destiny of an historical people
Volkes].Theearthis theself-dependent forthcoming [geschichtlichen
of thatwhich constantlysecludesitself andin this way shelters.World and earthare essentially differentfrom one anotherand yet they are never separated.The world groundsitself on the earthand the earth juts throughthe world. (Heidegger35/49)
Heideggerdoes not allow this relationbetween earthand world to rest in an "empty unity of opposites." Rather, the relationshipis one of strife, and it is a battle of the highest importance.The work of art is the 20. The following passage is a clear example of the auraof authorityHeidegger gives the temple:"Standingthere,the structurerests on rocky ground.This restingof the work drawsout of the rock its cumbersomebut spontaneoussupport.Standingthere,the structureholds itself againstthe ragingstormabove it andthus makes the violence of the stormmanifestfor the firsttime. The brillianceandshineof the stones,althoughappearing only by the grace of the sun, yet first bringthe light of day, the expanse of the sky, the gloom of the night into appearance.The temple's suretoweringmakesthe invisible space of the air visible. The unshakabilityof the work standsout againstthe surgingof the sea and,by its repose,allows the ragingof the ocean to appear"(Heidegger28/42).
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site of this battle and the temple is the clearestexampleof this: the temple stands out from the earthwhich protectsit, it opens up a world; it signifies the world of the Greeks,their culture,their gods and its links to Germanicculture and society; it is, like the Germaneconomy and position in the world, in ruins, the earthhas reasserteditself.21Heidegger claims thatthe ongoingbattlebetweenearthand world remainsopen in the work so long as "thegod has not fled fromit" (Heidegger29/43). From the perspectiveof Benjamin'sessay, Heidegger'sconceptionof the happeningof truthin the work of art amountsto a reaffirmationthe artwork'sorigins in ritual.The revitalizationof the ritualvalue of art is, however, not apolitical. To the contrary,it is the means by which the aura of the work of art is draftedfor service in a very political campaign. Heidegger's vocabularyof "battle[Kampf]"and "strife [Streit]" alreadyindicatesthis; indeed,his appealto Heraclitus'sfifty-thirdfragment makes it very clear:"War[polemos]is the fatherof all things, the king of all things. It proves that some are gods and others men; it makes some into slaves and others free."22Throughoutthe discussion 21. See Heidegger 35/49. This caveat is common in Heidegger because he was always concernednot to have the dynamichappeningof truthunderstoodin termsof the Hegelian dialectic of Aujhebung.Cf. his essay on physis in Aristotle,Heidegger, Wegmarken(Frankfurt/Main: Vittorio Klosterman,1976) 366-67. See also, my essay, "The Hegemonyof Formandthe Resistanceof Matter,"34ff. ForHeidegger,the battlebetween earthand world is not dialecticalbecause the immediatepast is precisely not preserved, but ratherannihilated.Further,the battle is a matterof Geschick, fate, which enjoins humansacrifice[Opfer],andwhich determineshumanactionratherthanbeing determined by it. JohannesFritschehas madethe differencebetweenHegeliandialecticsand Heidegger's conceptionof the destructionof traditionand fate clear in his book HistoricalDestiny and National Socialismin Heidegger'sBeing and Time(Berkeley:U of CaliforniaP, 1999) 154ff. Hereafterto be cited parentheticallyin the footnotesas JF. 22. HermannDiels andWaltherKranz,Die Fragmenteder Vorsokratiker I (Zurich: Weidmann, 1996) 162. Heidegger appeals to this on page 29/43. After paraphrasingit, Heideggeronly gives the referenceto the passage from Heraclituswithoutciting the text itself. Heideggerechoes a similarsentimentin his political speech, "TheUniversityin the new Reich," with the use of the term "Kampf,"which mirrorsHeraclitus's"polemos": "Universitystudymust againbecome a risk,not a refuge for the cowardly.Whoevercannot survivethe battle [Kampf],lays wherehe lies. The new couragemust accustomitself to steadiness,becausethe battlefor the institutionswhereleadersare educatedwill last for a long time. It will be foughtout of the forcesof the new Reich whichthe chancellorof the people, Hitler,will bringto actuality.A hardrace withoutthe thoughtof itself must fight the battle,a racethatlives fromconstanttestingandfor the goal to which it has committed itself. The battle determinesthe characterof the teachersand leaders at the University." Guido Schneeberger,Nachlese zu Heidegger:Documentezu seinem Leben und Denken (Bern:BuchdruckereiAG, Suhr, 1962) 145. An Englishtranslationcan be found in RichardWolin, ed., TheHeidegger Controversy(Cambridge:MIT, 1993)45.
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of the battle between the earth and world, referencesare made to the "destiny of an historical people [Geschick eines geschichtlichen Volkes],"23"native ground [heimatliche Grund],"24to the "essential sacrifice [wesentlicheOpfer],"and indeed, to the "foundingof a political state [staatgriindendeTat]."25Whatappearsin one context as harmless metaphorical language is, in another, highly charged political rhetoric.It is importantto keep in mind that Heidegger composed the first draft of this essay in Freiburg in 1935 and further presented, revised and developedit duringthe following year. At that time in Germany, the political significance of such languagecould not have been more perspicuous.Althoughcouchedin a philosophicalcontext, it is the 23. See Heidegger35/49 (citedon 102 above).The term"Geschick[fate],"must be understoodin relationto the verb "schicken[to send],"from which the words "Schicksal of Geschick [destiny],"and"Geschichte[history]"arederived.The Germanunderstanding duringthe inter-warperiodin Germanydoes not have the same connotationsas it does to English speakingreadersat the beginningof the twenty-firstcentury.In the 1920s and 1930s the term"Geschick"was a basic termof discourseof the politicalrightand it signified thatthe actionsof individualsas well as historyitself is determinedby Geschick.This sounds strangeparticularlyto Americanears because of the deeply ingrainedAmerican notionthatindividualsdeterminetheirown fate.But it is importantnot to readthe tradition of Americanindividualisminto a text so deeplysituatedin the contextin which is was writof the Germannotionof Geschickin the inter-warperiod,see JF ten. Forthe particularities 69-70, note 3,268-69 andthe admirablylong footnoteon 243-50. 24. See Heidegger28/42. 25. These latertwo references,see Heidegger49/62, comprisepartof a list of ways truthestablishesitself. One way is by settingitself into work, anotheris by means of the thinker'squestioning.By bringingthe essentialsacrifice,the foundingof a political state, the questioningof the thinkerandthe happeningof truthin the workof arttogetherin one list, Heideggerclearlybringsthe politicalimplicationsof his aesthetictheoryinto focus and furthersuggests the seamless relationshipbetween his philosophyand his politics. The notionof sacrifice,Opfer,is also a highlychargedpolemicaltermof the revolutionaryright. It was frequentlyused in referenceto those heroes [Helden]who sacrificedtheir lives for the good of thepeoplein WorldWarI, JF 323-27. Heideggerhimselfis not afraidto use the termin his philosophicalworks,as hereandas he does when,in 1943in the afterwardto his he writes:"Sacrifice[Das Opfer]is at home in the essence of essay, "Wasist Metaphysik?" the event as thatby whichbeing claimsmanforthe truthof being."Heidegger,Wegmarken 311. He employsthe samenotionof Opferin his overtlypoliticalwritings,as he does in his speech"TheUniversityin the NationalSocialistState,"whenhe writes:"Weof todayarein the processof fightingto bringaboutthe new reality.We aremerelya transition,a sacrifice & New [Opfer]."HugoOtt,MartinHeidegger:Unterwegszu seinerBiographie(Frankfurt York:Campus,1988) 231. Such a sacrificeis nevermerelya Handlung,which is the name for the actions of everydaylife that are always mediatedby one's concernsand the concernsof others;rather,the Tatis heroic,decisive, immediate.It is intimatelylinkedto sacrifice; it is the deed performedat the moment of decision. For a discussion of the significanceof the word Tatandhow it differsfromHandlung,see JF 322.
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language of the revolutionary right, of Hitler and the National Socialist movement.26 However, if any doubt remains that Heidegger's essay on the origin of the work of art is political at its core, it is removed by a consideration of the final discussion of art as poetry [Dichtung]. Art as Dichtung "All art," Heidegger writes, "as the letting happen of the arrival of the truth of beings is, as such, in essence, poetry" (Heidegger 59/72). Poetry, for Heidegger, is grounded in language, which itself is understood as more than mere communication. Language and poetry are broadly construed by Heidegger; they are understood as the ground of the specific arts, such as architecture, painting, sculpture and music. All works of art must be traced back to their origin in poetry and language (Heidegger 60/73). Heidegger develops his conception of poetry by means of the notion of "projective saying [entwerfende Sagen]": Projectivesaying is poetry:the saying of the world and the earth,the saying of the realm of theirbattle and thus of the site of all nearness and distance[Nihe undFerne] of the gods. Poetryis the saying of the unconcealednessof beings. Languageat any particulartime is the happening of this saying, in which a worldhistoricallyarises for a people [einem Volk],and the earthis preservedas thatwhich remainsclosed. Projective saying is that which, in preparingthe sayable, simultaneously brings the unsayableas such into the world. In such saying, the concepts of an historicalpeople's essence, thatis, of its belonging to world history,arepreformed.(Heidegger61-62/74) Immediately, the use of "nearness" and "distance" suggests the affinity between what Heidegger thematizes as projective saying and what Benjamin defines as the aura. While Benjamin attempts to undermine the power of the aura, Heidegger here embraces and fosters it. Furthermore, this passage indicates the intimate relationship between the aura of the work of art, that is, to use Heideggerian vocabulary, its truth and the essence of an historical people. Heidegger determines this relationship by developing the notion of preservation which is only briefly 26. The most thoroughwork I know on the relationshipbetweenHeidegger'sphilosophicalvocabulary,particularlyas it is developedin sections 72-77 of Sein und Zeit and the political rhetoricof the revolutionaryright in Germanyduringthe 1920s, 1930s and 1940s is Fritsche'sHistoricalDestiny and National Socialismin Heidegger's Being and Time.Whateverone makesof all of Fritsche'sspecificarguments,afterreadinghis book, it is no longerpossibleto be naiveabouttheparticularvocabularyHeideggerchose to employ.
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introducedin the above passage. The shift from the traditional(Kantian)view in which the artist'screative genius is given prideof place to a positionin which those who preserve the work of art predominateis concordantwith a more general shift in Heidegger's thinking,namely, first, the "turn"away from the individualsubject[Dasein] to the collective subject[das Volk],and then the twist away fromthe conceptof subjectivityaltogether.27In the essay on the work of art, Heideggeraccomplishesthe turn,althoughthe twist is alreadyintimatedby his reticenceto affirmthe traditionaldichotomy between subjectand object.28The turnfromindividualto collective subject can be easily discernedin Heidegger'sdiscussionof preservation. As with Benjamin'sconceptionof shock, Heidegger'snotion of preservation is directed against the Kantianaffirmationof the individual subject.Unlike Benjamin,who identifiesan alienatingand thus liberating function in the shock effect of technicallyreproducedart, Heidegger uses the notion of preservingto groundthe identityof the collective subject in the authenticorigin of the work of art. Heidegger does this brilliantlyby mappingthe ontologicalstructureof Dasein as developed in Sein undZeit onto the collective subjectivityof preservers. Preserving,for Heidegger,removes the individualfrom its rote existence in the "everyday"and moves it into what is disclosed by the work (Heidegger 62/75). In so doing, the subject is enjoined to take an authenticposition with respectto the work, that is, to preserveit. This, Heidegger calls, the "foundingof truth,"which has three dimensions correspondingto what was developed in Sein und Zeit as the three ecstasies.of the temporalityof Dasein: 1) foundingas bestowing, corresponding to the historicity of Dasein, its thrownness;2) founding as grounding,correspondingthe ecstatic presence of Dasein; 3) founding 27. Karl L6with alreadyrecognizedthe turn from the individualto the collective subjectin 1940, writing:"The leap in the existentialanalyticfrom deathto Heidegger's Schlageterspeech (FreiburgerStudentenzeitung,1 Jun. 1933) is merely a passage from a particularand individualDasein to one that is general,no less particularby virtueof its generality- namely, one of the GermanDasein." (Karl L6with, My Life in Germany Before and After 1933, ElizabethKing, trans. [Chicago:U of Illinois P, 1994] 38.) The turningandtwistingin Heideggercan be seen in the movementbetweenthreeof Heidegger's writingsrespectively:fromSein undZeitto Der Ursprungdes Kunstwerkesandthen of secto the Brief iiberden Humanismus.If one is convincedby Fritsche'sinterpretation tion 74 of Sein und Zeit, then what I am calling the turn,i.e., to the collective subject,is alreadyaccomplishedthere.It is not untilafterthe warthatthe twistingbegins in earnest. 28. Cf. Heidegger65/77.
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as beginning, corresponding to Dasein's futurity, its projection.29 Heidegger develops the three dimensions of the founding of truth in the work of art with vocabulary borrowed from Sein und Zeit. In the first edition of the essay, the only edition never given as a lecture, this was understood primarily in terms of the "free gift,"30 but in the later edition, emphasis is placed on the role of the preservers, ein Volk. Rather,in the work, the truthis throwntowardthe coming preservers, that is, to an historicalgroupof people [Menschentum].Thatwhich is thrownis never an arbitrarydemand.The trulypoetic projectionis the opening of that into which Dasein, as historical, is always already thrown.This is the earth,and for an historicalpeople [Volk],its earth [is] the self-closing groundon which it rests with all of that which it alreadyis, though as yet still hidden from itself. It is, however, the world that prevails out of the relationof Dasein to the unconcealedness of being. For this reason,all thatis given to humanbeing in projection is drawnup out of the closed groundandexpresslyset up upon this ground.(Heidegger63/75-76) This passage already includes all three dimensions of the founding of truth, bestowing, grounding and beginning. Here earth and world are brought together to determine the being of an historical people, just as in Sein und Zeit, thrownness and projection are brought together to determine the temporality of the being of Dasein.31 When focusing on the 29. This conceptionof the "foundingof truth"is one of the oldestpartsof the essay. It has remainedfundamentallyunchangedfrom the first version:Heidegger,"Vom Ursprungdes Kunstwerkes,"HeideggerStudies5 (1989): 5-22. In the firstversion,however, the conceptionof the foundingof truthis not linkedas stronglyto the notionof preservation, which is more developedin the editionpublishedin Holzwege. 30. See Heidegger,"VomUrsprungdes Kunstwerkes"(1989) 19ff.The notionof the "freegift"correspondsnicely to the Germanunderstanding of Geschick,see note 23 above. 31. Comparethe essay on the originof the workof artwith section 11.5of Sein und Zeit, "Temporalityand Historicality."Alreadyin this section of Sein und Zeit, the Greek templeappears(SZ378/BT430). HereHeideggeralso developsthe authentictemporalityof Dasein in termsof "vorlaufendeEntschlossenheit," runningaheadresoluteness(SZ 382/BT 434). Resolute runningaheadnames the mannerin which past and futureare unified in authenticDaseinjust as the "foundingof truth"namesthe authentictemporalityof the being of an historicalVolk.Hereagainthe philosophicalandthe politicalarebroughttogetherin a disturbingmanner.This move shouldnot surpriseanyonewho has readL6with'srecollections of his last meetingwith Heideggerin 1936:"... I was of the opinionthathis partisanship forNationalSocialismlay in the essence of his philosophy.Heideggeragreedwith me withoutreservation,andaddedthathis conceptof 'historicity'formedthe basis of his political 'engagement.'He also left no doubt about his belief in Hitler"(L6with 60). For an of section74 andits politicalsignificance,see JF chapters1-2. insightfulinterpretation
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conceptionof foundingas bestowing,Heideggeremphasizesthe historical dimension of das Volk. Here the earth takes on increased importance, for it capturesthe dimensionof thrownness.It is no accidentthat the first edition of the work of art essay ends with Heideggeremphasizing how vitally importantit is for historicalDasein to remain in close on the earth:"Suchproximproximityto its genuine"Bodenstdndigkeit" a ity guarantees truly groundedhistoricalDasein as genuinelyrooted in its native soil [Bodenstdndigkeit] on this earth."32So long as historical Dasein remainsrootedin andheroicallychooses to defendits native soil, the possibilitythatit can regainan authenticexistenceremainsopen. The second dimensionof the foundingof truthis thatof grounding.As the above passage suggests, the gift must be drawnup in projectionand set upon this ground.This, however, is not somethingthatjust happens of itself, rather,it requiresthat the preserversrelatethemselvesproperly towards the happeningof truth in the work. What Heidegger specifically has in mind can be gatheredfromthe examples,mentionedearlier, of the otherways in which truthhappens:in the "actthatfoundsa political state," in "essentialsacrifice,"and in the "thinker'squestioning."33 All the various ways in which the "truthhappens"enjoin the active engagementof a subjector groupof subjectsand this is no less the case with the happeningof truthin the work of art.This is the ultimateimpetus behindHeidegger'semphasison the importanceof the preservers,for it is the preservers,recognizingtheirdestiny,who comportthemselvesin the propermannertowardsthe work of art and thus who are able to drawup the happeningof truthandestablishit on firmground.34 32. Heidegger,"Vom Ursprungdes Kunstwerkes"(1989) 22. "Bodenstdndigkeit" It means was also a termused by the revolutionaryrightin theirfight for "Lebensraum." Althoughthe being rootedin the soil. See JF 287 for a discussionof "Bodenstdndigkeit." term itself does not make it into the editionsof the essay Heideggerpresentedin public, the spiritof the wordremainsvitallyclearat the end of the essay in the citationfromHolderlin,see 119 below. 33. See 103 above. 34. The structureof the argumentis the same as the electoralappealHeideggerpublished as rectorof the Universityof Freiburgin 1933 to encouragesupportfor Hitler's decision to leave the Leagueof Nations:"Thislast decisionreachesthe outermostlimit of ourpeople's existence.And what is this limit?It consists in the most basic demandof all Dasein that it preserveand save its own essence. A barrieris therebyerected between what can be reasonablyexpectedof a people andwhat cannot.By virtueof this basic law of honor a people preserves [bewahrt]the dignity and resoluteness of its essence" (Schneeberger145). The meaningof "to perserve"[bewahren]throughoutthis speech is preciselythe same as it is in the essay on art.
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This grounding, however, requires a third dimension, namely, that of beginning. For Heidegger, genuine beginning is an "Ursprung," a primordial leap, which, Heidegger stresses, is not primitive because it is fundamentally directed towards the future. Thus, bringing the discussion of the founding of truth and the entire essay to a crescendo, he writes: Art lets truth leap out [entspringen].Art, as founding preserving, springs [erspringt]the truthof beings in the work. To spring something, to bringsomethinginto being by the foundingleap [Sprung]out of its essential origin [Wesensherkunft], this is the meaning of the word origin [Ursprung]. The origin [Ursprung]of the workof art,thatis, the origin of both the creatorsand the preservers,which is to say of the historicalDasein of a people, is art.This is the case because art in its essence is an origin [Ursprung]:a distinctiveway in which truthcomes into being, thatis, becomes historical.(Heidegger,65-66/77-78) The full effect of Heidegger's position comes quickly into focus here. Art is the site for the rejuvenation of the historical Dasein of the German people. The proper relation to art is no mere philosophical exercise in aesthetics, but rather a concrete, political challenge. Heidegger employs the rhetoric of a polished political speaker when he ends the essay: Are we in our Dasein historicallyat the origin?Do we know, that is, do we respect[achten]the essence of the origin?Or do we, in ourrelation to art,only call on an informedacquaintancewith the past? For this either-or35and its decision, there is an unmistakablesign. Holderlin,the poet, whose work standsbeforethe Germansas a test to be withstood,namedit when he said: "Withdifficulty,/thatwhich dwells near the origin, departs."- "The Journey,"verses 18-19. (Heidegger66/78) These words leave little to the imagination as to what, precisely, Heidegger thought the relationship was between art and politics. The "we," of course, is the authentic German Volk. Such a challenge to the 35. Hitler'srhetoricis rife with preciselysuch "either/or," decisionisticformulations: "Thereis no makingpacts with Jews;therecan only be the hard:either- or"(Hitler,Mein Kampf225;In English:MeinKampf206).See also 475/427 and"Germanywill eitherbe a worldpoweror therewill be no Germany"(742/654).TranslationsareManheim's.
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Germanpeople, in 1935, could not have been more straightforward: Be on the right side of the either-or;defend and respect the hidden origin that fatefully gives us our position of privilege at this world-historical momentof decision. Frombeginningto end, Heidegger'sstrategyin the essay on art is to rejuvenatethe auraof the work of art,that is, its mysterious relationto the forgottenauthenticorigin of the Germanpeople, in order to preparethe way for the self-assertionof the German Volk after the shame and devastationbroughton by the Treatyof Versailles. It is, however, precisely this sort of response that Benjamin sought to attackin his own essay on artby underminingthe authorityof the aura. Heidegger and Benjamin:Art, Philosophyand Politics By interpretingHeidegger'sessay throughthe lens of Benjamin's,we have not only gained insight into the political implicationsof Heidegger's vision of the relationshipbetween art and politics, but we have also placed ourselves in a position to develop a more nuancedunderstandingof Benjamin'sessay. It has alreadybeen suggestedthatHeidegger'sessay resonateswith his earlierthinking,particularlySein und Zeit, insofaras it retainsthe basic temporalstructureof Dasein even as it moves to map it onto the historical Dasein of das Volk.Thereis, however,a deeperaffinityas well, one thatrunsthroughalmosteverythingHeideggerwrote- early,middle and late - that is, what may be called "originarymetaphysics."36Originary metaphysicsshould be distinguishedfrom originalmetaphysics,for, to follow ReinerSchirmann'sinterpretation of Heidegger,"original"refers to the historical happeningof the history of being while "originary" refersto the ahistoricalevent of the happeningof being itself.37Heidegger never tired of tryingto develop ways to think the originary.Yet, it must be admitted,thatin the work of artessay at the very least, the originary was broughtinto relation with the original in a very disturbing manner.In this essay Heidegger'sattemptto thinkthe originaryevent of 36. Of course, Heidegger himself would prefer the name "originarythinking" because it reservesthe name"metaphysics"for thatwhich is to be destroyed.However,it is preciselybecause,as will be clearbelow, this "originarythinking"is not thinkingat all, but rather,as KarlL6withput it, an "artof enchantment" thatI purposefullyjuxtaposethe two terms- "originary"and"metaphysics"(L6with45). Heideggerwould have hadopposite reactionsto these termsand so, by placingthem next to one another,I intendto call into questionbothHeidegger'snotionof "origin"as well as his conceptionof metaphysics. 37. ReinerSchiirmann,Heidegger:OnBeing andActing:FromPrinciplesto Anarchy (Bloomington:IndianaUP, 1987) 131.
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being itself is intimatelylinked to the concretehistorico-politicalsituation in which it was written. Here, the dangersendemic to "originary metaphysics"are clearlymanifest.Its basic assumptionis that there is a deep and hiddenoriginthat gives meaningto everythingthatexists. Paul Tillich has called this the "mythof origin"and has suggested:"Theconsciousness orientedto the myth of origin is the root of all conservative and romantic thought in politics."38The danger endemic to such a notion lies not only in its lack of determinacy,but also in its hypnotic effect. For a good story teller - and Heidegger,like most greatphilosophers, was quite an expert- can lull an unguardedlistener into believing the myth of the origin as it is determinedby the philosophicopolitical beliefs of the teller. Thus, what starts out innocuouslyenough as a considerationof the originof the work of art,leads, with increasing urgency,to a sort of call-to-armsin which the listenersare challengedto heed the commandof the origin and preserveand defend the land of their birth. Art can work this way, slyly and hypnotically,and so can philosophy and politics, if they are not held accountableby critical thinking. Herein, however, lies the importanceof Benjamin's conception of the shock effect of the work of art in the age of technicalreproduction. This shock effect offers some defense against the hypnotic power of originarymetaphysics. Indeed, just as the film shocks the spectatorinto a heightenedpresence of mind, Benjamin'sessay undermines the spell of Heidegger'saura.39By juxtaposingHeidegger'sconception of the founding of truth with Benjamin's affirmationof the decay of the aura, the hypnotic effect of Heidegger's writing and strangely appealing vocabularyis broken and the disturbingpolitical implicationsof his thinkingcomes clearlyinto focus. TheAura's Verfall There is, however, something of a reciprocalrelationshiphere, for Heidegger's essay, both because it provides a concrete example of the sort of aetheticizationof politics to which Benjaminwas opposed and 38. PaulTillich,Die sozialistischeEntscheidung(Berlin:MedusaVerlagWolk, 1980) 3f.; TheSocialistDecision, trans.FranklinSherman(New York:Harper& Row, 1977) 18. 39. According to Lowith, Heideggeraugmentedhis aura as a great and different thinkerby donningthe unconventionaldressdescribed"as a kindof Black Forestfarmer's jacket with broadlapels anda semi-militaristiccollar,andknee-lengthbreeches,bothmade fromdarkbrowncloth .... Lowithalso suggestthatthe studentsmusthave been awareof his aurabecausethey called him "thelittlemagicianfromMesskirch"(L6with44-45).
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because it reaffirmsthe aurato such an extent that the possibility of a complete destructionof the aura is called into question, lends insight into an aspect of Benjamin's essay that is often misunderstood.Even before its publication,the concept of the Verfallof the aurawas misinterpreted.In March, 1936, from London,Adoro wrote a letter to Benjamin with his reactionto "The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproduction."In this letter, Adoro famously suggests that the essay requires"moredialectics."40The basic impulseunderlyingthis suggestion is the valid concern that Benjamin'sessay is naive and romantic aboutthe emancipatorypower of deauratizedart and about the immediate revolutionaryresponsethe masses would have to it. Adorno's point is that deauratizedart lends itself just as well to the manipulativeends it was designed to undermine.Thus, accordingto Adoro, the negative moment was missing from the essay. Of course, the other aspect of Adoro's critique,as RichardWolin points out, is that Benjamindoes not recognizethe positive momentendemicto radicallyautonomousart, which itself "undergoesa process of self-rationalizationsuch that it divests itself of the auraand its accompanyingretrogradeattributes."41 Taken abstractly, this critique seems valid enough. However, what Adoro failed to recognizewas the concretecontext againstwhich Benjamin was writing. He was living in exile in Paris in 1935 where the autonomousart of the fascists requireda concreteand indeed powerful response. Thus, while the positive dimensionsof autonomousart were being underminedby fascist films and propaganda,the negative dimensions of Benjamin'sposition, its naive romanticismand tenacious,onesided emphasis on the aura's decay, can be explained, although not fully excused, by the need to emphasizethe political potentialof deauratized art as a response to the fascists' attemptto renderpolitics aesthetic. Heidegger'sessay helps bringthis context into focus by offering a concrete example of how the auraof the work of art can be and was politicalpurposes. manipulatedfor authoritarian 40. RonaldTaylor,ed. & trans.,AestheticsandPolitics (London:Verso, 1977) 124. 41. See RichardWolin, WalterBenjamin:AnAestheticof Redemption(Berkeley:U of CaliforniaP, 1994) 194. In this case, Adomo clearlyhas in mind somethinglike what he will later write about Sch6nberg'stwelve-tone techniquein Philosophy of Modern Music, namely that,by confiningitself so rigidlyto its self-imposedrules, it frees itself. "Twelve-tonetechniqueis trulythe fate of music. It enchainsmusic by liberatingit." See Adomo, Philosophyof ModernMusic, trans.Anne G. Mitchell and Wesley V. Blomster (New York:Continuum,1994) 67-68.
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However, even if the concrete context in which Benjaminwrote the essay is taken into account,and even if it is grantedthat Benjaminwas perhapstoo idealistic about the response of the masses to deauratized art, the suggestion that Benjamin'sposition is too one sided and therefore dialecticallyclosed remainsgroundedin a misconception- namely thatby thematizingthe "Verfal'lof the aura,Benjaminis arguingfor its complete destruction.This is where Heidegger'saffirmationof the aura, and particularlyits historical dimension can help us develop a more nuancedunderstandingof Benjamin'sposition, for Heideggeris correct to emphasizethe historicalnatureof art, and Benjamin'sconceptionof the Verfallof the auradoes nothingto denythis. Marleen Stoessel has keenly suggested that Benjamin never speaks of the "loss [Verlust]"of the aura, nor does he use other expressions of absolute destructionin relation to the aura that would lead one to believe that the process under consideration is closed and static.42 Rather, when speaking about the aura, Benjamin most often uses words like "Verfall," "verkiimmern [decline, wither, or dwindle]," or "ins Wankengeraten [begin to totter,become shaky]"(Benjamin477/ 221). These words are meant to retain a certain openness, to emphasize the dynamic nature of the process undergoneby the aura in the age of technical reproduction.Thus, while it is true, as Rodolphe Gasche says, that the decay of the aurais "a liberatingevent, an event in which mankindbecomes reborn- and Benjamincelebrates it without regret,"43it is not the case, as Gasche also seems to suggest, that 42. See Stoessel 36. As mentionedabove in note 7, Benjamincomes close to saying thatthe aurais "destroyed"when he used the word "Zertriimmerung" (479/223). In fact, as "destroy,"thus giving the Englishreaderthe HarryZohn translates"Zertriimmerung" false impressionthat the aurais completely annihilated.But "Zertriimmerung" does not mean "destruction,"but rather"smashing","shattering",or, indeed,"reductionto ruins." For Benjamin, a "ruin"is never absolute annihilation.In Der Ursprungdes deutschen Trauerspiels,he writes:"Structureanddetailare,in the end, alwayshistoricallyladen.It is the object of philosophicalcriticismto prove thatthe functionof artisticform is the following: to make historicalcontent,because it providesthe basis of every importantwork of art,into a philosophicaltruth.This transformation of materialcontentinto truthcontent makes the Verfallin effectiveness, whereby the attractionof earlierstimuli diminishes decade by decade, into the basis of rebirth,in which all ephemeralbeauty is completely strippedoff, and the work stands in a ruin." See Benjamin, Ursprungdes deutschen Trauerspiels358; TheOriginof the GermanTragicDrama 182. 43. Rodolphe Gasche, "ObjectiveDiversions:On Some KantianThemes in Benjamin's 'The Work of Art in the Age of MechanicalReproduction,"'WalterBenjamin's Philosophy: Destruction and Experience, Andrew Benjamin and Peter Osborne, eds. (London:Routledge,1994) 185.
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the aura is entirely eliminated.44Benjamin'streatmentof the decay of the aura must be understoodin terms of the heuristicsof dysfunction mentionedabove45- in the breakdownof the aura, the political function of art reveals itself. But the condition for the possibility of this political functionof art is in fact the resistanceof the aurain the face of its complete annihilation.For it is the resistanceof the auraalong with the heightenedcapacity for critiquethat emerges as the aura seems to decay that holds the relationshipbetween subject and object open and establishes the possibility for a politics directed against authoritarianism and domination. Thus, when Benjamin writes in his essay on Baudelairethe following: "But looking at someone carriesthe implicit expectationthat our look will be returnedby the object of our gaze. Where this expectation is met . . . there is an experience of the aura to
the fullest extent,"46the experienceat the heart of the concept of the aurais made clear. So too is its politicaland ethical significance,for the aura names the place of this autonomousresponse, a place where the aura and its decay are continuallyin play. Thus, unlike in Heidegger, where the responseto the work of art is a matterof authenticpreservation, in Benjamin,thereis an autonomousresponsebetween subjectand object that underminesthe attemptof either to gain absolute authority. Whereas Heidegger affirms the authenticityand authorityof the work of art, Benjaminsees in the age of technicalreproductionthe decay of the auraof authenticitythat makes room for the autonomousresponse. This comes clearly into focus when Benjamin's essay is read against Heidegger's,indeed,as a responseto him. Thus, what HowardCaygill naively ascribes to Heidegger's conception of the doubleconcealmentat the end of his essay Benjamin,Heidegger and the Destruction of Tradition, would much more justly be
ascribedto Benjamin'sconceptionof the decay of the aura,namely that "the conditionof politics is not the neutralspace where the past, present and futureare gathered,but one in which the gatheringdissemblesitself, 44. Gasche readily admits that it is difficult to argue that Benjamin could have endorsedthe radicaldestructionof the aura,"especiallywhen the eliminationof the singular humanbeing's aurais shownto be a functionof his transformation into a mass being" (184). Nevertheless, Gasche's essay explicitly attemptsto argue that "Benjaminmust rejectboththe auraof artobjectsandthe one attributedto the humanbeing"(185). 45. See page 100 andnote 16 above. 46. Benjamin,"Ubereinige Motivebei Baudelaire,"GesammelteSchriften1.2: 646; Illuminations188. The translationis Zohn's.
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never seeking or attainingauthenticity.It is one in which the opposition of authenticpresenceand inauthenticabsenceis suspended,one in which the scene itself, or 'clearing',is not 'a rigid stage' but is itself negotiable and continuallyin play."47Caygill is naive aboutthe possibilitiesof using Heidegger'sconceptionof the doubleconcealednessof being for a non-authoritarian politics because he fails to recognize how forcefully Heideggerhimself puts the never-fully-openedconcealednessin the service of a disturbingBlut und Boden politicalagenda.On the otherhand, Caygill's critiqueof Benjaminis thatthe conceptionof the decay of the aurasays nothingpositive thatwould suggest the directionof a new politics after the destructionof tradition.48However, when read as a responseto the kind of politicalpositionpresentedin Heidegger'sessay, Benjamin's essay may be seen in a new light. The discussion of the decay of the aurais preciselyan attemptto renderthe conditionsof politics negotiable and continuallyin play and to underminethe drive to dominationthat is so often characteristicof politics. But further,when read as a responseto the concretepolitical conditionswith which Benjamin himself was faced, conditionswhich, in philosophicallanguage, Heidegger'sessay clearlyepitomizes,a furtherdimensionof a new politics is made manifest, namely, the importanceof open critique. By uncoveringand underminingthe mysteriousshroudin which fascist politics was wrapped,Benjaminwas able to level a damningcritiqueof the political forces operatingin Europein the mid-1930s. It is one of the great tragedies of the twentiethcenturythat more people did not see throughthe auraof fascism in the 1930s; but this failurealso stands as one of the most importantlessons the centuryhas hadto teach. 47. Howard Caygill, "Benjamin,Heidegger and the Destruction of Tradition," WalterBenjamin'sPhilosophy:Destructionand Experience30. 48. Caygill 29.
