Translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin Mclaughlin PREPARED ON TIlE BASIS OF TIlE GERMAN VOLUME EDITED BY ROLF TIEDEMANN
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Translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin Mclaughlin PREPARED ON TIlE BASIS OF TIlE GERMAN VOLUME EDITED BY ROLF TIEDEMANN
THE BELKNA P PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIIlGE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND LO NDO N, ENGLAND 1999
CONTENTS
Copyright 0 1999 by the Praidcnt and FdIows oJ HlJ"\IWd CoIkgl: All righu rcscrvro Printed in the Uniled SCites of America
Translators' For eword
Thi" work iJ a lr.lIUlation of Walta Benjamin, Dtu PaJ.Sagt'n.WtTA:, edited by RolfTICdauann, copyright o 1982 by Suhrbmp \Ulag; volume 5 of w.aJta" Benjamin. Guammdu Sdtrijtnt, pttpan:d with the coopention ofTheodor W. AdQmo and Gcnhom Scholan, alitcd by Rolf Tw:douann and Hermann SchwqlpenhiU5Cl". wpyrigI:u 0 1972, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1989 by Subrkamp Verlag. "Diakctia 11.1 a ~till.ft by RQlfTlCdauann. wall fint publilhed in EngIiID by MITPr-eu. copyright 0 1988 bytbe Mauach.usetu Institute ofTcchnology.
Exposes "Paris, the Capital or the Nineteenth Century" (1935)
Publicatioo of this book has been 5Upponed by a grant from tht- National Endowment for the Humani· ties, all indepcndcnt fcdcral agalC)·.
"Paris, Capital or the Nineteenth Century" (1939)
Convolutes Overview
Coo,.-c- photo: Wailer lkJ~amin, ca.. 1932. PhOtographer unknown. Courtesy of the Thcodor w: Adorno Arch.iv, Frankfurt am Main.
Firs1l Sketches
FronliJpiccc: Pam~JOtIITroy, 1845-1847. Photographer unknQ....n. Courtuy MUJ~ Camavalct, Paris. Photo copyright C PhOlotheque des MusCa dt b. V.ue o:k Paris.
Early Or af18
Vignette.: pages i, 1, $25, 891. 1074. [m liml Frru>¢s d'Archilecture: pa~ 21, Hans Mcyu-Vedcn: pagt: 869, Robert DoUna.u. Library of Congress C3taloging.in·Public:a.oon Data ~amin,
Waiter, 1892-1940. [Pauagcn-\lkrk. English] l1w: an:ada ptqca I Walter Benjamin: lraluiated by How:W Eiland and K£vin McLaughlin: p~ on the ~is of the Germa.n m lume edited 1:.)' RolfTl'33513 1999 944' .361081--dc2 1 99-27615
Designw by Gwc:n Nefsky Frunkfcldt
99201 75
"Arcades" "The Arcades or Paris" "The Ring or Saturn"
Ad d end a Expose of 1935, Early Version Materials ror the Expose or 1935 Materials ror "Arcades"
I
'" 3 14 27
29 827
871 873 885
893 899 919
,J
"Dialectics at a Standstill," by RolfTtcdemarut "The Story of O ld Benjamin," by Lisa Ftttko Translators' Notes G uide to Names and TemlS lndCJt
929 946 955 1016 lOSS
nIustrations
Shops in the Passage Vero-Dodat
34
A page of Benjamin's manuscript from Convolute N
457
Class roof and iron girders, Passage Vivienne
35
A gallery of the PaIais-Royal
491
The Passage des Panoramas
36
A panorama under construction
529
A branch of La BellcJardinierc in Marseilles
47
A diorama on the Rue de Bondy
534
TIle Passage de l'Opera, 1822-1823
49
Self-portrait by Nadar
680
Strtet scene in from of the Passage des Panoramas
50
Nadar in his balloon, by Honore Dawnier
682
Au Bon Marchi: department ston: in Paris
59
I.e Pont deJ ploniteJ, by Grandville
65
Fashionable courtesans wearing crinolines, by Honore Daumier
67
Tools used by Haussmann's workers
134
Interior of the Crystal Palace, London
159
La Ca.sJt-ti ft-omanit, ou La Fureur du jollr
164
The Paris Stock Exchange, mid-nineteenth century
165
The Palai.s de I'lndusttlc at the world exhibition o f 1855
166
I.e Triomphr du knllid()Jcope, ali I.e tombeau dujeu (hinou
169
Exterior of the Crystal Palace, London
185
C h arles Baudelaire, by Nadar
229
The Pom-Neuf, by Charles Meryon
232
Theophile Gautier, by Nadar
17It Origin
ofPainting
683
Rut 7'mnmonain, It 15 avril 1834, by Hanori Dawruer
717
Honore Dawnier, by Nadar
742
Victor Hugo, by Eticlme Catjat
747
L'Artiste et {'amateur dll dix-neu uieme J;e&
~750
L'Homm e de I'arl danJ l 'nnbaTTaJ lk Jon m/Ii"
751
Alexandre Dumas ~rc: , by Nadar
752
L'Efrangomanie blamie,
0 11
D 'Em Franfilu if n 'y a pa.s d '~nl
783
Actu(J/iti . a caricature of th e painter Gustave Couroet
792
A barricade o f the Paris Commu ne
794
The Fourierut missionary J eanJoumet, by Nadar
813
242
Walter Benjamin consulting the Grand DictiormoiT( univuJeI
888
The scwcrs of Paris, by Nadar
41 3
Walter Ikojamin at the: card cataJogue of the Bibliothtquc Nationale
889
A Paris onmibus, by Honore Oaumier
433
TIle Passage Choiseul
927
Translators' Foreword
T
he materials assembled in Volume 5 of Walter Benjamin's Gesammelle &hrjflen, under the: tide Dill PtUJagen-W"* (first published in 1982), repre-
sent research that Benjamin carried out, over a period of thirteen years, on
subject of the Paris arcades-les pa.ssagt.s-which he considered the most imponant architectural form of the nineteenth century, and which he linked with
a number of phenomena characteristic of that century's major and minOT preoccupations. A glance at the overview preceding the "Convolutes" at the center of the work reveals the range of these phenomena, which extend from the litaary and philosophical to the political, economic, and teclmological, with all sOrtS of
intennediate rdations. Benjamin's intention &om the first, it would seem, was to grasp such diverse material under the general category of Urgtschichtt; signifying the "primaJ history" of the nineteenth cenrury. 1bis was something that could be realized only indirectly, through "cunning": it was not the great men and celebrated ev(~ts ofD'aditional historiography but rather the "refuse" and "detritus" of history, the half-concea1ed, variegated traces of the daily life of "the collective," that ''VaS to be the object of study, and with the aid of methods more akin-above all, in their dependence on dwtcc:-to the methods of the nineteenth-cenrury collector of antiquities and cwiosities, or indeed to the methods of the nineteenth-ttntury ragpicker, than to those of the modem historian. Not concepcu.aJ analysis but something like dream interpretation was the model. The nineteenth century was the collective dream which 'We, its heirs, were obliged to reenter, as patiencly and minutely as possible, in order to follow out its rammcations and, finally, awaken from it. TIlls, at any rate, was how it looked at the outset of the project, which wore a good many faces over time. Begun in 1927 as a planned collaboration for a newspaper article on the arcades, the project had quickly burgeoned under the influence of Surrealism, a movement toward which Benjamin always maintained a pronounced ambiva· lence. Before long, it was an essay he had in mind, "Pariser Passagen: Eine clialektische Feerie" (Paris Arcades: A Dialectical Fairyland), and then, a few years later, a book, Paris, die Hauptsladt ,us XIX. ]alzrhundulJ (Paris, the Capital of the Nineteenth Century). For some two-and-a-half years, at the end of the Twenties, having expressed his sense of alienation from contemporary ~ writers and his affinity with the French cu1rural milieu, Benjamin worked intermittently on reams of notes and sketches, producing one short essay, "Der
Satumring oder Etwas vom Eisenbau" (!be Ring of Saturn, or Some Remarks on Iron Construction), which is included here in the section "Early Drafts." A hiatus of about four years ensued, until. in 1934, Benjamin reswned work o n the arcades with an eye to u new and far-reaching sociological perspectives." The scope of the undertakillg, the volume of materials coUected, was assuming epic proportions, and no less epic was the manifest intenninabili~ ? f the task, which Benjamin pUJ'5ued in his usual fearless way-step by step, nsking engulfment-beneath the ornamented vaulting of the reading room of the Bibliotheque Nationa.le in Paris. Already in a lena of 1930. he refers to The AmuUs Project as "the theater of all my struggles and all m y ideas." In 1935, at the request of his coUeagues at the Institute of Socia.I Research in New York, Benjamin drew up an expose, or documentary synopsis, of the main lines of The Arcades Proj({J; another expose, based largdy o n the first but more exclusively theoretical, was written in French, in 1939, in an attempt to interest an American sponsor. Aside from these: remarkably concentrated essays, and the brief text ,;The Ring of Saturn; the entire Arcades complex (without definitive tide, to be sure) remained in the fonn of several hundred notes and reBections of varying length, which Benjamin re~d and grouped in sheafs, or " con~lutes," according to a host of topics. Additionally, from the late Twenties on. It ~u1d appear, citations were incorporated intO these materials-passages drawn mainly from an array of nineteenth-century sources, but also from the works of key contemporaries (Marcel Proust, Paul Val~ry, Louis Aragon, Andre Breton, Georg Simme1, Emst Bloch, Siegfried Kracauer. Theodor Adorno). These proliferating individual passages, extracted from their original context like collectibles, were eventually set up to communicate amo ng themsdves, often in a rat!ter subterranean manner. The organized masses ofhistoricaJ objects-the partirular items of Benjamin's display (drafts and excerpts)- together give rise to "a world of secret affinities," and each separate article in the collection, each entry, was to constitute a "magic encyclopedia" of the epoch from which it derived. An image of that epoch. In the background of this theory of the historicaJ image, constituent of a historicaJ "mirror world," stands the idea of the monad-an idea given its most comprehensive fomlUl ation in the pages o n o rigin in the prologue to Benjamin's book on German tragic drama, Ursprung rkJ deutschen rrauerspiels (Origin of the German Thuerspid)-and back of this the doctrine of the re8ective medium, in its significance' for the object, as expounded in Benjamin's 1919 dissertation, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romanek" (The Concept of Criticism in Genllan Romanticism). At botto m, a canon of (nonsensuous) similitude JUles the conception of the ArcaMs. Was this conception realized? In the text we have before us, is the world of secret affinities in any sense perceptible? Can o ne even speak of a "world" in the case of a literary fragment? For, since t.he publication of dIe Pa.su:gen- Werk, it has become customary to regard the text which Benjamin himself usually called the Pasjag~Ulrhl:it, Or just the PasJagen, as at best a "torso," a monumental fragment or ruin, and at worst a mere notebook, which the author supposedly intended to mine for mort' extended discursive applications (such as the carefully o utlined and possibly half-completed book on Baudelaire, which he ",,"'Orked o n from 1937 to 1939). CertainlYI the project as a whole is unfinished; Benjamin abandoned
work on it in the spring or 1940. when he was forced to Dee Paris berore the advancing Genoan army. Did he leave be1Und anything more than a large-scaJe plan o r prospecrus? No, it is argued, 17Ie Arcade; Project is just that : the blueprint for an unimaginably massive and labyrinthine arch.itecrure-a dream city, in effect. This argument is predicated on the classic distinction between research and application, FOrsr:llung and DarsJdlung (see, for example, entry N4a,5 in the "Convolutes"), a distinction which Benjamin himself invokes at times, as in a letter to Gershom Scholem of March 3, 1934, where he wonders about ways in which his research on the arcades might be put to use, or in a letter or May 3, 1936, where he tells Scholcm that not a syUable of the actual text (eigroJlichtTI 1i xt) of the Pa..uagroarb~;t exists yet. In another of his letters to Scholem of this period, he speaks of the futu re construction of a literary fonn for this text. Similar statements appear in letters to Adorno and others. Where 17re A1'CiUks Projut is conlXrned, then. we may distingui.sh between various stages of research, more or less advana:d, but then: is no question of a realized work. So runs the lament. Nevertheless, questions remain, not least as a consequence of the radicaJ starus of "study" in Benjamin's thinking (see the Kafka essay of 1934, or Convolute m of the Arcades, "Idleness"). For one thing, as we have indicated, many of the passages of reHection in the "Convolutes" section represent revisions of earlier drafts, notes, or letters. Why revise for a notebook? The fact that Benjamin also transferred masses of quotations from acrual notebooks to the manuscript of the convolutes, and the elaborate o rganization of these cited materials in that manusoipt (including the use of numerous epigraphs), might likewise bespeak a compositional principle at wo rk in the project, and not just an advanced stage of research. In fact, the montage fonn-with its philosophic play of distances, transitions, and intersections, its perperually shifting contexts and ironic juxtapositions-had become a favorite device in Benjamin's later investigations; among his major works. we have examples of this in EjnbalmsJra.ue (One-'Way Street), Ikrlitlt'r Kindh~;1 um Neunu lmhuntkrt (A Berlin Childhood around 1900). "Dba den Begriff der Geschichte" (On the Concept of History), and "Zenttalpark" (Central Park). What is d istinctive about 17u: .Arcade.; ProjecJ-in Benjamin's mind, it a1ways dwdt apan-is the working of quotations into the frame\\'Ork of montage, so much so that they eventually far o utnumber the commentaries. If we now wen: to regard this ostensible patchwork as, de facto, a determinate literary fo nn, one that has effectively constructed itself (that is, fragmented itself), like the Journaux inljmes of Baudelaire, then surely there ",,"'Ould be significant repercussions for the d irectio n and tempo of its reading, to say the leasr. TIle transcendence of the conventional book foml would go together, in this case, with the blasting apart of pragmatic historicism-grounded, as this always is, on the premise of a continuo us and homogeneous temporality. Citation and cOlmnentary m.iglu then be perceived as intersecting at a thousand different angles, setting up vibrations across the epochs of recent history, so as to effect "the cracking open of natural teleology." And all this would unfold through the medium of hints or "blinks"-a discontinuous presentation deliberately opposed to traditional modes of argument. At any rate. it seems undeniable that despite the infomlal, epistolary armounec.ments of a "book" in the works, an eigenllidufTl Buch, the resc.a.rcll project had become an end in itself.
,.
Of course, many ruders will cono.Jr with the German editor of the PaJJagrnWa-k, Rolf TIedemann, when he 3peak.s, in his essay "'Dialectics at a Standstill"
(fint published as the introduction to the German edition, and reproduced here. in trallslation). of the "oppressive chunks of quotations" filling its pages. Part of Benjamin's purpose was to document as concretely as possible, and thus lend a roasted whole will frisk on the: plain. And !3utttd pike will swim ill the: Sc:ioe. FricasSttd spinach will grow on the growld. Garnished with crushed Cried croutons; The treC5 will bring forth apple compotes, And fanners will harvest boots and coats. It will snow~, it will rain chickens, And ducks cooked with turnips will fall from the sky. -LangL! and Vanduburth, LAuiJ-Bronu et" Soint-Simonial (Tbd.tfC du Palais-Royal, February 27, 1832)10 I
\r\brld exlubitions are places of pilgrimage to the commodity fetish. "Europe is off to view the merchandise," say:. Taine in 1855. II The world exhibitions art: preceded by national exhibitions of indusay, the first of which takes place on the Champ de Mars in 1798. It arises from the wisb "to entertain the working classes, and it becomes for them a festival of emancipation." I! The worker occupies the forrground, as rustomer. The framework of the entertainment indusay has not yet taken shape j the popular festivaJ provides this. Chaptal's speech on indusay opens the 1798 exhibition.-The Saint-Simonians, who envision the indusaialization of the earth, take up the idea of world exhibitions. Chevalier, the first authority in the new field, is a student of Enfantin and editor of the Saint· Simonian newspaper Globe. The Saint-Simonians anticipated the development of the global economy, but not the class struggle. Next [0 their active participa· tion in industrial and commercial enterprises around the middle of the century stands their helplessness on all questions concerning the proletariat. \r\brld exhibitions glorify the exchange value of the commodity. They create a framework in which its use value rrcedes intO the background. They open a phantasmagoria which a person enters in order to be distracted. The entertainment industry makes this easier by elevating the person to the level of the commodity. H e sUITt.nders to its manipulations while enjoying his alienation from himself and others.- The enthronement of the commodjty, with its luster of distraetion, is the secret theme of Grandville's an. 1bis is consistent with the split between utopian and cynical dements in his work. Its ingenuity in representing inanimate objects corresponds l O what Marx calls the "theological niceties" of the commodity.'3They are manifest clearly in the spicia'jt~a category of goods which appears at this time in the luxuries industry. Under Grandvill~' 5 pencil, the whole of natut(' is transfonned into specialties. He presents them U1 the same spirit in which the advertisement (the term ridame also originates at this point) begins to present its articles. He ends in madness.
u
Fashion: ~Madam Deathl Madam Deathl" -Lcopardi. "Dialogue- between F:uhion and Ocath~1I
\\brld exhibitions propagate the universe of commodities. Grandville's fantasies confer a commodity character on the universe. They modemize it. Saturn's ring becomes a cast·iron balcony o n which the inhabitants of Saturn take the evening air. The: literary counterpart to this graphic utopia is found in the books of the Fourierlst naturalist To ussend . -Fashion prescribes the ritual according to which the commodity fetish demands to be worshipped. Grandville extends the authority of fashion to objects of everyday use, as well as to the cosmos. In taking it to an extreme, he reveals its nature. Fashion stands in opposition to the organic. It couples the living body to the inorganic world_To the living, it defends the rights of the corpse. The fetishism that succumbs to the sex appeal of the inorganic is its vital nerve. The cult of the commodity presses such fetishism into its savice. For the Paris world exhibition of 1867, Victor Hugo issues a manifesto: "To the Peoples of Europe," Earlier. and more unequivocally, their interests had been championed by dc:legations of French workers, of which the first had been sent to the London world exhibition of 1851 and the second, numbering 750 ddegates, to that of 1862. The latter delegation was of indirea importance for Marx's founding of the lntc:mational W:>rkingmen's Association.-The phantasmagoria of capitalist culture attains its most radiant unfolding in the world exhibition of 1867. The Second Empire is at the height of its power. Paris is acknowledged as the capital of luxury and fashion. Offenbach sets the rhythm of Parisian life. The operetta is the ironic utopia of an enduring reign of capital.
impinge on social ones. In th( formation of his private environment, both arc: kept o ut. From this arise the phantasmagorias of the interior-which. for the private man, represents the universe. In the interio r, he brings together the far away and the long ago. His living room is a box in the theater of the world. Excursus on Jugendstil. The shattering of the interior occurs via Jugc:ndstil arOlUld the tum of the century. Of course, according to its own ideology, the Jugendsri1 movement seems to bring with it the c0n:'ummation the. in~~r. Tbe tranSfiguration of the solitary soul appears to be Its goal. indiVIdualism IS Its theory. With van de Vc:lde, the hou~ becomes an expression of the personality. Ornament is to this house what the signa~ is to a painting. But the real meaning of Jugendstil is not expressed in this ideology. It represents the last attempted sortie of an art besieged in its ivory tower by technology. 'Ibis attempt mobilizes all the reserves of inwardness. They find their expression in the mediumistic language of the line, in the Bower as symbol of a naked vegetal nature confronted by the technologically anned world. The new elements of iron con· strucUon-girder forms-preoccupyJugc:ndstil. In o rnament, it endeavors to win back these fo nns for art. Concrete presents it with new possibilities for plastie creation in architecture. Around this time, the real gravitational center of living space shifts to the office. The itTeal center makes its place in the home. The consequences ofJugendstil are depicted in Ibsen 's M(J.It~ Buildn: the attempt by the individual, on the strength of his inwardness, to vie with technology leads to his downfall.
.0:
I belie~ ... in my 5oul: the TIUng. -UOI1 Dwbcl, CkwrfJ (Paris. 1929), p. 193
IV. Louis PhiUppe, or the Interior 'Ibe bead ... On m( night tabk, lik( a ranunculu5, R CSLS .
- Baudelaire:. ~ Un( Martyn:~l~
Under Louis Philippe, the private individual makes his enttance on the stage of history. 111e expansion of the democratic apparatus through a new c:lectorallaw coincides with the parliamentary conuptio n organized by Guizat. Under cover of this cOmJption. the ruling class makes history ; that is, it pursues its affairs. It funhers railway construction in o rder to improve its stock holdings. It promotes the reign of Louis Philippe as that of the private individual manabring his affairs. With theJuly Revolution, the bourgeoisie realized the goals of 1789 (Marx). For the private individual, the place of dwelling is for the first time opposed to the place of work. The fornler constinnes itself as the interior. Its complement is the office. The private individual, who in the office has to deal with realiry, needs the do mestic interior to sustain him in his illusions. 'This necessity is all the more pressing since he bas no intention of allowing his commercial consil1erations to
The interior is the asylum of an. The: collector is the true resident of the interior. He makes his concern the transfiguration of things. To him falls the Sisyphean task of divesting things of their commodity character by taking possession of them. But he bestows on them only COJUlOtsseur value. rather than use value. The collector d reams his way not only into a distant o r bygone 'world but also into a belter one-one in which, to be sure, human beings are no better provided with what they need than in the c:vc:ryday world. but in which things are freed from the drudgery of being useful . l 'b e interior is not just the universe but also the ctW of the private individual. To dwell means to leave traces. In the interior, these are accentuated. Coverlets and antimacassars, cases and containers arc: devised in abundance; in these, the traces of the most o rdinary objects of use are imprinted. In just the same way, the traces of the inhabitant are inlprinted in the interior. Enter the detective story, which pursues these tracc:s. Fbc:, ill his "Philosophy of Fumirure" as weU as in his detective fiction, shows himself to be the first physiognomist of the domestic interio r. The criminals in early detective novc:ls are neither gentlemen nor apaches, but private cititens of the middle class.
V. Baudelaire. or the Streets of Paris Everything becomes an allegory for me. - Ballde:birc. "Le Cygne""
Baudelaitt's genius, which is nourished On melancholy, is an allegorical geniu~. For the first time, VI1ith Baudelaire, Paris becomes the subject of lyric poetry. TIlls poetry is no hynm to the homeland; rather, the gaze of the allegorist, as it falls on the city, is the gaze of the alienated man. It is the gaze of ~e Saneur, ,;,hose way of life still conceals behind a mitigating nimbus the conung desolatlOn of the big-city dweller. The flMeur stillstands on the threshold~f ~e metropolis as of the middle class. Neither has him in its power yet. In neIther 15 he at home. He seeks refuge in the crowd. Early contributions to a physiognomi~ of the ~~d are found in Engels and Poe. The crowd is me veil through which the familiar city beckons to the ftineur as phantasmagoria-now a landscape, now a. ~m. Both become elements of the department store, which makes use of Sanene Itself to sell goods. The department store is the last promenade for the Si\n~ur. In the 8ineur, the intelligentsia sets foot in the marketpJace-ostCIlSlbly to look around but in truth to find a buyer. In this intennediate stage, in which it still has patrons' but is already beginning to familiarize itsdf VI1ith the markel, it appears as the boMme. To the uncertainty of its economic position corresponds the uncertainty of its political function. The latter is manifest ~O~l . ~early in the ~r~fe~ siona! conspirators, who all belong to the boMme. Therr uubal field of aCtlVl~ 15 the army; later it becomes the petty bourgeoisie, occasio~y th~ proletanat. Nevertheless, this group views the true leaders of the proletanat as Its advers.aT)" The Communist Manifesto brings their political existence to an end. Baudelarre's poetry draws its strength from the rebellious pathos of this class. H e sides with the asocial. He realizes his only sexual communion with a whore.
Easy the way that leads into Avemw.
- vuWI. 71re Ameid!l It is the unique provision of Baudelaire's poetry that the image o.f the ,,:oman an.d the image of death intenningle in a third: that of Paris . The Paris o~his poems IS a sunken city, and more submarine than subterranean. The chthoruc e1.ements of the city-its topographic formations , the old abandoned bed of the Seme-have evi.dendy found in him a m old. Decisive for Bauddaitt in the "death-frau,ght idyll" of the city, however, is a social, a modem substratc. The. modern IS a principal aC(%nt of his poetry. As spl~en.' it fracru~, the i~eal ("~pleen et ideal"1' But precisely the modern, la mOlunuti, tS always atmg prunal history. H ere, ~ occurs through the ambiguity peculiar to the social relations and products of this epoch. Ambiguity is the manifest imaging of dialectic, the law of dialectics at a standstill, ibis standstill is utopia and the dialectical image. therefore, dream image. Such an image is afforded by the conunodity per se: as fetish. Such an image is presented by the arcades, which are house no less th~ street. Such an image is the prostitute-seller and sold in one.
I travel in order to get to Know my geography. - Not Lafargue explains gambling as an imitation in miniature of the mysteries of economic Buctuation.~l The expropriations carried out under Haussmann call fonh a wave of fraudulent speculation. The rulings of the Coun of Cassation, which are inspired by the bourgeois and Orleanist opposition, increase the financial risks of Haussmannization, Haussmann tries to shore up his dictatorship by placing Paris under an emergency regime. In 1864, in a speech before the NationaJ Assembly, he vents his hatTed of the rootless urban population, which keeps inCKaSing as a result of his projects. Rising rents drive the proletariat into the suburbs. The quarh'm of Paris in this way lose their distinctive physiognomy. The "red bdt" forms . Haussmann gave himself the title of "demolition artist," artUie dimofisseur. He viewed his work as a calling, and emphasizes this in his memoirs. Meanwhile he estranges the Parisians from their city. They no longer feel at home there, and stan to become conscious of the inhuman character of the metropolis. Maxime Du Camp's monumental work Paris owes its inception to this consciousness.~ The JirimituleJ d 'uTl HauJS1nmmiJi give it the form of a biblica1lament.:l3 The true goal of Haussmann's projects was to secure the city against civil war. H e wanted to make the erection of banicades in Paris impossible for all rime. With the same end in mind, Louis Philippe had already introduced wooden paving. Nonethdess, banicades played a role in the February Revolution. Engels studies the tactics of barricade fighting. zl Haussmann seeks to neutralize these tactics on two fronts. Widening the stteets is designed [Q make the erection of barricades impossible, and new streets are to futnish the shortest route between tlle barracks and the wo rkers' districts. Contemporaries christen the operation "strategic embellishment."
Rcvealto these depraved,
o Republic, by roiling their plots, \bur great Medusa face Ringed by ~d lighliling. - l'¥brkers' 50llg from about 1850, in AdolfStahr; Zwei Mnnnle;f! PaTiJ (Oldenburg. 1851 ), vol. 2, p. 1992.'1
The barricade is resUITCcted during the Commune. It is stronger and better secured than ever. It stretches across the great boulevards. often reaching a height of two stories, and shidds the ~nche s behind it.Just as the Communist ManjftJto ends the age of professional conspiratOrs, so the Commune puts an end to the phantasmagoria holding sway over the early years of the proletariat.1t dispels the illusion that the task of the proletarian revolutio n is to complete tlle work or 1789
nus
hand in hand with the bourgeoisie. illusion dominates the period 183 11871 , from the Lyons uprisi.ng to the Commune. The bourgeoisic never shared in this error. Its battle against the social rights of the proletaria t dates back to the great Revolution, and converges widl the philanthropic movement that gives it cover and that is in its heyday under Napoleon III. Under his reign, this movement's monumental work appears: Le Play's Ouun'crJ europrem [European WOrkc,rsj .u Side by side with the concealed position of philanthropy, the bourgeoisie has always maintained openly the position of class warfare.2l' As early as 1831 , in the Journal dtJ dibaiJ, it acknowledges that "every manufacrurer lives in his factory like a plantation owner among his slaves." If it is the misfortune of the workers' rebellions of old that no theory of revolution directs their course it is also this absence of theory that. from another perspective, makes possible 'their spontaneous energy and the enthusiasm with which they set about establishing a new society. 11Us enthusiasm, which reaches its peak in the C ommune, wins over to the working class at times the best e1enlents of the bourgeoisie, but leads it in the end to succumb to their worst elements. Rimbaud and Courbet declare their suppon for the Commune. The burning of Paris is the wo nhy conclusion to Haussmann's work of destruction. My good father had been in Paris. - Karl Gutzkow, Briefl (,lUI Pa~ (Leipzig, 1842), vol. I, p. 58
Balzac was the first to speak of the ruins of the bourgeoisie. 21 But it was Surrealism that first opened our eyes to them. The developmelll of the forces of production shattered the wish symbols of the previous century, even before the monwnents representing them had collapsed. In the nineteenth century this development worked to emancipate the forms of construction from art,just as in the sixteenth century the sciences freed themselves &om philosophy. A stan is made with architecture as engineered construction. Then comes the reproduction of naruce as photography. The creation of fan tasy prepares to become practical as commercial an. Literature submits [Q montage in the feuiUeton. All these products are on tlle point of entering the market as conmlodities. But they linger on the threshold. From this epoch derive the arcades and i"tiroielm, the exhibition halls and panoramas. They are residues of a dream world. The realization of dream elements, in the course of waking up, is the paradigm of dialectical thinking. Thus, dialectical thinking is the organ of historical awakening. Every epoch, in fact, no t only dreams the one to follow but, in dreaming, precipitates its awakening. It bears its end within itself and unfolds it-as H egel alread y noticed-by cunning. With the destabilizing of dle market economy, we begin to recognize the monuments of the bourgeoisie as ruins evell before they have cnunbled.
Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century Expose
mann and its manifest expression in his transfonnauons of Paris.-Neverthdess, the pomp and the splendor with which commodity-producing society surrounds itself, as well as its illusory sense of ~curity, are not immune to dangen; the collapse of the Second Emp~ and the Commune of Paris remind it of that. In the same period, the most dreaded adversary of this society, B1anqui, revealed to it, in his last piece of writing, the terrifying features of this phantasmagoria. Humanity figures there as damned. Everything new it could hope for rums out to be a reality that has always been present; and this newness will be a.! little capable of furnishing it with a liberating solution as a new fashion is capable of rejuvenating society. Blanqui's cosmic speculation conveys this lesson: that humanity will be prey to a mythic anguish so long as phantasmagoria occupies a place in it.
Inlroduction History is lik(:Janus: it has twO faces. Whether it looks at the pa.u or al the present., it sees ~ same things. - MaximeOu Camp, /'ariJ, vol. 6, p. 315 e.xpres~d by Schopenhauer in the rauowing Cannula: to seize the ~ce of history, it suffices to compare Herodotus and the morning newspaper.l What is expressed here is a fttling of vertigo characlaistic of the nineteenth cmtury's conception of history. It corresponds to a viewpoint according to which the course of the world is an encUess series of raw congealed in the fonn of things. The characteristic residue of this concepcion is what has been called the "History of C ivilization," which makes an inventory, point by point, of humanity's life forms and creations. The riches thus amassed in the aerarium of civilization hencc:fonh appear as though identified for all rime. This conception of history minimizes the fact that such riches owe not only their
The subject of this book is an illusion
existence but also their transmission to a constant c:fTon of society-an effort, moreover, by which these riches are strangely altered. Our investigation proposes to show how, as a consequence of this reifying representation of civifu.ation, the new forms of behavior and the new economically and technologically based creatio ns that we owe to the nineteenth celltury enter the universe of a phantasmagoria. These: creations undergo this "illumination" not only in a theoretical mannel; by an ideological transposition, but also in the immediacy of their perceptible presence. They are manifcst as phantasmagorias. Thus appear the arcades-first entry in the field of iron construction ; thus appear the world exhibitions. whose link to the entertainment industry is signi6cant. Also included in this order of phenomena is the experience of the 8,ineur, who abandons himself to the phantasmagorias of the marketplace. Corresponding to these phantasmagorias of the market, where people appear only as types. are the phantasmagorias of the interior, which are constirnted by man's imperious need to leave the imprint of his private individual existence on the rooms he inhabits. As for the phantasmagoria of civilization itself, it found its champion in Hauss-
A. Fourier. or the Ar cades
I The: magic columns of these palais Show to cnthwiasts from all parts, With the objccu their porticos display, 1bat industry is the rival of the am. -MJU/NIIIlIl 7abltlJUX tit PllrU (Puis, 1828), p. Xl
Most of the Paris arcades are built in the fifteen years following 1822. The first condition for their development is the boom in the textile trade. Magasiru de TWuutautis, the first establishments to keep large stocks of merchandise on the premises, make their appearance. They are the forerunners of department stores. TIlls is the period of which Ba1z.ac writes : "The great poem of display chants its stanzas of color from the C hurch of the Madeleine to the Porte Saint-Denis." The arcades are centers of commel"Ce in luxury items. In fitting them out, an enters the service of the merchant. Contemporaries never tire of admiring them. FOr a long time they remain an attraction for tourists. An llluslrllltd GUIde to Paris says: "These arcades. a recent invention of industrial luxury. are glass-roofed, marblepaneled comdors extending through whole blocks of buildings, whose owners have joined t~ther for such enterprises. Lining bOth sides of the arcade, which gets its light from above, are the most elegant shops, so that the jJasJagt! is a city, a world in miniature." TIle arcades are the scene of the first attempts at gas
lighting. The second condition for the emergence of the arcades is the beginning of iron construction. Under the Empire, this techno logy was seen as a contribution to the revival of architecnm: in the classical Greek ~nse . The archit«rural theorist Boetticher expres5f!S the general view of the matter when he says that, "with regard to the art forms of the new system, the Hellenic mode" must come to prevail. The Empire style is the style of revolutionary tcrrorism, for which the Slate is an end in itself. Just as Napoleon failed to understand the functional
narurt of the state as an instrument of domination by the bourgeoisie. so the architects o f his time failed to understand the functional naturt': of iron, with which the constructive principle begins its domination of architecture. These architeclS design supporu resembling fbmpe.ian colunms, and factories that imitate residential houses, juSt as later the first railroad stations will assume the look of chalets. Construction plays the role o f the subconsciow. Nevertheless, the concept of engin eer, which dates from the revolution ary wars, starts to gain ground. and the rivalry begins bet\\un builder and decorator. Ecole Poly techruque and Ecole des Beaux-Arts.-For the first time since the Romans, a new artificial building material appears: iron. It will undergo an evolution whose pace will accelerate in the course of the cenrury. This development enters a decisive new phase when it becomes clear that the locomotive-objea of the most diverse experiments since the ~ars 1828-1829-usdully functions only on iron rails. The rail becomes the first prefabricated iron component, the precursor of the girder. Iron is avoided in home construction but wed in arcades, exhibition halls, train stations-buildings that serve transitory purposes.
II It is easy to understand that every mass-typc "interest" which assertS itself historically goa far ~nd iu rca1limiu in lhe "idea" or "ulllI.gination," when it lint comes on the sceru:. -~-tarx and
Engels, Die J/ci1W /W",i!ir
The secret cue for the Fourierist u top ia is the advent of machines. The phalanstay is designed to restore human beings to a system of relationships in which morality becomes superfluous. Nero, in such a context, would become a more usefuJ member o f society than Ftnelon. Fourier does not dream of relying on virtue for this; rather, he relies on an efficient functioning of society, whose motive forces ~ the passions. In the gearing of the p assions, in the complex meshing of the PassifmS m«anutes with the Pa.ui(JTI cabaliJte, Fourier imagines the collective psychology as a clockwork mechanism. Fourierist hannony is the necessary product of this combinatory play. Fourier introduces intO the Empire's world of austere fonDS an idyll colored by the style of the 1830s. H e devises a syste.m in which the products of his colorful vision and of his idiosyncratic treatment of numbers blend together. Fourier's "harmorues" are in no way akin to a mystique of numbers taken from any other tradition. They are in fact direct outcomes o f his own pronouncements-luOlbratioos of his organizational imagination, which was vcry highly developed. Thus, he foresaw how significant m~tings \vrn.dd become to the citizen. For the phalan· stery's inhabitants, the day is organized not around the h ome but in large halls similar to those of the Stock Exchange, where meetings are arranb"Cd by brokers. In the arcades. Fourier recognized the architecrnral canon of the phalanstery. '1tis is what distinguishes the "empire" character of his utopia, which Fourier himself naively acknowledges: "111e societarian state will be all the more brilliant at its inception for having been so long deferred . Greece in the age of Solon and
Pericles could already have undertaken it.'" The arcades, which originally were designed to serve commercial en ds. become dwcllulg places Ul Fourier. The phalanstery is a city composed of arcades. In this ville (71 pauoges, the engineer's construction takes on a phantasmagorical character. The "ory of arcades" is a dreanl that ....;n chaml the fan cy of Parisians well Utto the second half of the century. As late as 1869, Fourier·s "SDttt-galleries" provide the blueprint for Moilin's Pam en l'an 2000. 1 H ere the ory assumes a strucrnrc that makes it-with its shops and aparanent.s-the ideal backdrop for the fueur. Marx took a stand against Carl Crun in order to defend Fourier and to accentuate his "colossal conception of man.") H e considered Fourier the only man besides Hegel to have revealed the cssentia..l mediocrity of the petty bour~ois. The systematic overcoming of this type in H egel corresponds to its humorous annihilation in Fouricr. One of the most remarkable features of the Fourierist utopia is that it never advocated the exploitation of narurt by man, an idea that became widespread in the following period. Instead, in Fourier, technology appears as the spark that ignites the powder of nature. Perhaps this is the key to his strange representation of the phalanstery as propagating itself "by explosion." The later conception o f man's exploitation of nature reflectS the actual exploitation of man by the owners of the means of production_ U the integration of the technological into soc:iallife failed, the fauJt lies in this exploitation.
B. Grandville, or the World Exhibilions I Yes, when all the world from Paris 10 China Pays heed to your doctrine, 0 divine Saint-Simon, The glorious Golden Age will be reborn. Riven will flow with chocoIale and tea. Sheep roasted whole will frisk on the plain, And sauteed pike will swim in the Seine. Fricasseed spinach will grow on the ground. Garnished with cmshed fried croutons; The trees will bring forth apple compotes, And fanners ",,111 harvest boou and ccau. I! will ! now wine, it will rain chickens, And ducks cooked with turnips ",,111 fall from the sky. -Langlt and V:l.Ilderburch, uuu-Bnmu (lit Sai,,/·Simllli/CI (Thllllf(: du l:lalai.'I·RoyaI. ~bruary 27, 1832)
\\b rld exhibitions are places of pilgrimage to the conunodity fetish. "Europe is ofT to view the merchandise," says Tainc in 185S.6 1nc world exJlibitions were preceded by national exhibitions of industry, the first of which took place on the Champ de Mars in 1798. It arose from the ....-ish "to entertain the working classes, and it becomes for them a festival of emancipation.l!1 The workers would constitute their first clientele. The framework of the entertainment industry has not ~t taken shape; the popular festival provid~ this. Chaptal's cdebrated speech on
industry opens the 1798 ahibition.-The Saint-Simonians, who envision the industrialization of the earth, take up the idea of world exhibitions. Chevalier, the first authority in this new field, is a srudent of Enfantin and editor of the SaintSimonian newspaper Le Globt. The Saint-Simowans anticipated the dcvt:lopment of the global economy, but not the class struggle. Thus, we see that despite their participation in industrial and commercial enterprises around the middle of the cenrury, they were helpless on all questions concerning the proletariat. WOrld exhibitions glorify the occhan~ value of the commodity. They create a framework in which its use value becomes secondary. TIley are a school in which the masses, forcibly occluded from consumption, are imbued with the exchange value of commodities [Q the point of identifying with it : "00 not touch the items on display." \o\brld exhibitions thus provide access to a phantasmagoria which a person enters in order to be distracted. Within these diua-twtTllnlts, to which the individual abandons himself in the frarncv.'Ork of the entertainment industry, he remains always an dement of a compact mass. This mass delights in amu.scme:nt parks-with their roUa coasters, their "twisters," their "caterpillars"-in an attitude that is pure reaction. It is thus led to that state of subjection which propaganda, industrial as well as political, relies 00.-The enthronement of the commodity, with its glitter of distractions, is the secret theme of Grandville's art. Whence the split between its utOpian and cynical elements in his work. The subtle artifices with which it represents inanimate objectS correspond to what Marx calls the "theological niceties" of the commodity.' The concrete expression of this is clearly found in the spiciaJiti-a category of goods which appears at this time in the luxuries industry. \-\brld exhibitions construct a universe of sPicWlitiJ. The fantasies of Grandville achieve the same thing. They modernize the uni· vt:r5C. In his work, the ring of Saturn becomes a cast-iron balcony on which the inhabitants of Saturn take the evening air. By the same token, at world exhibi· tions, a balcony of cast·iron would represent the ring of Saturn, and people who venrure out on it would find themselves earned away in a phantasmagoria where they seem to have been transformed into inhabitants of Sarum. The literary counterpart to this graphic utopia is the work of the Fourierist savant Toussend. Toussenel was the natural-sciences editor for a popular newspaper. His zoology classifies the animal ","'Orld according to the rule of fashion. He considers woman the intermediary between man and the a.ni.maIs. She is in a sense the decorator of the animal world, which, in exchange, places at her feet its plumage and its furs . "The lion likes nothing better than having its nails trimmed, provided it is a pretty girl that wields the scissors.'"
natun:. It couples the living body to the inorganic. world. To the living, it defends the rights of the corpse. The fetishism which thus succumbs to the sex appeal of the inorganic is its vital nerve. The fantasies of GrandviUc correspond to the spirit of Cashion that Apollinaire later desaibed with this image: "Any material from nature's domain can now be introduced into the composition of women's clothes. 1 saw a charming dress made of corks . ... Steel, \\'001, sandstone, and 6.1es have suddenly entered the vestmentary am ... . They're doing shoes in \knetian glass and hats in Baccarat crystal."11
C. Louis Philippe, or the lnlerior
I I believe ... in my soul: the '"Thing. -Leon Ikubd, (hum (Paris, 1929). p. 193
Under the reign of Louis Philippe. the private individual makes his entry into history. For the private individual, places of dwelling arc for the firSt time opposed to places of work. The former come to constitute the interior. Its comptemem is the office. (For its part. the office is distinguished clearly from the shop counter, which. with its globes, wall maps, and railings, looks like a relic of the baroque fonns that preceded the rooms in teday's residences.) The private indio vidual. who in the office has to deal with realities, needs the domestic interior to sustain him in his illusions. This necessity is all the more pressing since he has no intention of grafting onto his business interests a clear perception of his social function. In the arrangement of his private surrowldin~, he suppresses both of these concerns. From this derive the phantasmagorias of the interior-which, for the private individual, represents the universe. In the interior, he brings together remote locales and mentories of the past. (-lis living room is a box in the theater of the world. The interior is the asylum where an takes refuge. The collector proves to be the true resident of the interior. He makes his concern the idealization of objects. To him falls the Sisyphean task of divesting things of their conunodity ch~cter by taking possession of them. But he can bestow on them only cOllno~seur value, rather than use value. The coUeaor delights in evoking a ,,"'Orld that 15 not just distant and long gone but also better-a world in w?ich, to be sure, bum~ beings are no better provided with what they need than m the real world, but m which things are freed from the drudgery of being useful.
II Fashion: "Madam Death ! Madam Death!"
II
-I...copm:Ii, "'Dialogue between F:uhinn and Ikath~'~
The. head . On the night table, like a ranuncu1us.
Fashion presaibes the ritua.! according to which the commodity fetish demands to be worshipped. Grandville extends the authority of fashion ta objects of everyday usc, as well as to the cosmos. In taking it [Q an extreme, he reveals its
Rr.ba nge and sWllre h y the heard of Proseq ,ine thllt thl' w(ml wall fllle wi th him ." Mytho logy The word is ulle,! initially, how"ver, o nl y for IU:I>ury items. La Grande Ville: Nouveau Tableall de Pari& ( Paris, 1&14), vol. 2 , )1 .5 7 (Marc .' o ur nicr. ,·Lt:s Spicialil&!! parisienoes" ), [AI ,5]
a
a
Names of a rc ade.: Pauage dee Pl,i no r amas . Pa~sage Ve ro-Dodat , Passage JII Deilir (leading iu earlier d ays to a houlle of ill repule), Pau age Colbe rl , Puslige Viv!C!lne. Passage till Ponl-Ne uf. Passage du Cllire. Puuage.de la Reunion , Passllge de l' Ope r a , Passage. de la 'frillite , Passage du Che val-Bla nc, Passage Pressiere cBessiere;;?), Pa~ ~ age tl u Bois de Boulugne, Passage Grosse-lete. (The Passage dee Panoramas was kn own at firs t a, Ihe Pailsage Mi res.) [Ala,2] The Pas.>age Ve ro-Dodat (built belween the Rue de Boulay and tbe Rue GrenelleSaini-Hono re ) " owes its na me to two rich pork butchers, Messie u rs Ver o a nd Oodllt . ",·ho in 1823 unde rtook il ~ cOIJstructlon logethe r with tha t of the adjace.nt Iwildings-an immense de velupment , T his led someone at the time to descri be this a rtatle ail a ' Iovdy work u( arl fra nled by two neighborhoods. ' " J, A. Dulaure, JljJtoire p hysulue, C;I)"'~ el morole de Pa ris dep uU 182 1 jusqu 'iJ Ro.jour. (Paris, [Al a,3] 1835) , \ ' 0 1. 2. p . 34. T he Passage Vern-Dodal ha d mar ble fl ooring. The actre88 Raehe llived there for a while. IAla,4)
No. 26, Galerie Colbert : "The re, ill the guise o£ a femlile glover, s hone a beauty thai WRlI IIPllroachahle hut thai , in the mallcr of youth, attached importance only to iLs own ; she required he r favo rites tu suppl y her with the finery from which ilhe hoped to make a fo rtulle . . . . This young lind beautiful woman under glae;; ",'as ca lled ' the Absolute'; but philosophy would h ave wasted its time pursuing her. Her maid was Ihe one who sold the gloves; she wanted it that way." O Dons Prostitutes 0 l\1ires . which thereupou b L"f:u m c the Passage des PrWI't!s (wilh thl; flllllOli S dining ft) i.lIII S of Pete r .. res t a u ~ I"Ullt) '-' lludl!lIllt'r g. p(lris bei SOlHumsc/H'iU ulld L.mlll)e ,.licht (Leipzig. 1867) ,
p . 98,
Some details concerning Avont. pendant. et apres ( Befo re, Duriug, and Afte r), by Scribe and Rou gemont. Pre mie r o n June 28, 1828. The first part of the trilogy re presents the slIde ty of the ancien regime, the second part depic hl the Reign of Terror, and the third takes place in the society of the Resto ration pe riod. The main characte r, the Ge ne ral , has in peacetime become an indus trialist and indeed a great manufacturer, " Her e manufacturing replaces, at the highest level, the field worked by the soldie r-laborer, The praises of industry. no less than tbe p raises of lVurrior$ and laureoles, were sung by Restoration vaudeville. The bourgeois class, with its various levels , was placed opposite the class of nobles: the fortune ae~ quired by work was opposed to ancient heraldry, to the turrets of the old manor house. Thill Third Estate, having beeome the dominant power, received in turn its flatt ere rs ." Theodore Mure t, L. 'Histoire par le theatre. vol. 2, p. 306 . [A2a,6] The Galeries de Bois . " which disappeared in 1828-1829 to make room for the Galerie d ' Od ean~, we re made lip of a triple line of shop s that could hardly be called luxurious. There were two pa r allel la nes cove red by canvas aDd planks, with a few glass panes to le t the daylight in. He re one. walked quite simply on the packed earth , which downpours sometimes transformed into mud . Yet people callie from all over to c rowd into this place , which was nothing s hort of mag~ nifieeot , aDd stroll be tween the rows of shops that would seem like mere booths compared to those that have come after them . These shops were occupied chieRy by two industries. each ha ving il8 own appeal. There were , fi rs t, a grea t many m.iIlin er~. who worked 011 large s tools fa cing outward , without even a window to Sel)a rate them ; and their s pirited eX"pression9 were, for many strollers , no lunall part of the place's attraction. Anll the n the Gule ries de Bois were the center of the new hook tl"ade.'· Theotlore Muret. L'Histoire par Ie theatre , vol. 2, I'P. 225---226 ,
[A2a,7]
[A2a, l ]
Cr y fl f Ihe vendo r>! of ~ t u ,: k~(:xchall g.. lists till the HI'eel : In Ihe c \'el1t uf II ri ~ c ill pricc ~. " Iusc in the 5t",:k markd l" ln till: o'vent of" fall . -- Vul"iutio ng in tlw ~ I"c.k ma rkt"l !" TIlt! te rm " full "' wa ~ fo rhiddc n liy the poli r.I', {A2,a,2]
In its imponancc for tJ1Caffairs of tJle c()uluJI!, the Passage de rOpera is compara· ble m the Kranzlercckc, Spccu!.uor 's argot "in the period preceding the outbreak lh e Germ a n war [o f 18661: the 3·perccllt intCJ·cst was c;aHcd Alplwn.rr"lIe; t.he.
or
" The arcades, nearly all of which date from the Restoration ." Theodore Muret , L'Huto;re por k theatre ( Paris, 1865), vol. 2, p, 300. [A2a,5]
Julill ~ Rode nbe rg 0 11 the small reading room ill the Passage de )' Opera : " What It cheerful air this ~lII a ll. half·darkened room has in my memory, with its high book· shel ves, its green tables , its red ·hllirctl 8arr;on (a grea t 10l·er of books , who was ul .... ays reading novels insteall uf hringing them to othe rs). ils German newspape rs , .... hich every Illuming glallJencd the heal"t of the Ge rma n ahroad (all exccpl the Cologne pa pe r~ which on ave rage mll,le an appea rance only unce in ten t.!a Yij). But when the re is a ny news ill Paris. it i~ here that one can receive it. SoftJy whi$pered (r ur th.: redhead keeps a sharp lookout to make sure that neithe r he nu r uther
readers " 'ilI he Jisludled hy this). it ItaMlleR from lipR10 ear. paRselJ almnst iDlIH'.r+ 1'~ pLiltl y f rum p e ll lit pUJlc.r. allIl finally fro lll writ.ing desk 10 nearh y letle.rbox, The
j.:ooJ (Ium .> till brl rtlUII has a fl'il~II"l y smiltl for 1111 , II l1d ,,"pcrs 1111(1 ~nve.lopcs for I'u rrd lllllllicnl!i. Tlw earl y mail is J is palCllc(1. Cologne and Augdmrg have their new,, ; und nuw- il ifl noontillw!- Io tllt~ tln ·e rn .'· Rodenbe rg, Puris bei Sonllen[A2a,8) sch eill I/ml Lam/llm licht (Leipzig, 1IJ67\, pp. 6-7, '"'The 1)"~lIage 1111 Caire ill highl y remini,.etml . 0 11 a smuUer IicalE'. of the PUIIl!uge du Su unlOn , which in the Jla61 exiilted on tlll~ Hue Montma rtre, 011 Ihe site of the IlI'esclIHluy Rile BachulInlont:' Pa Ld l...i:uUIIiLIII, " ViNlx Pa ris:' Mercure de fnlllce(O(:tober 15. 1927), p, 503. [A3,11
" Shll jltl 1111 Iht' 11111 mmld . devoted to trades fOlllll lllowherc else, liurmoun hld by a slIlaU , ol.l+fus hiolletl ml'uu nine "'ith windows Ilia I eadl hcur a number, on an csculch f'lI ssrn;;fltion, p. H .I [A3a,5) The Passage Ilu Caire adjoining Ih.· fornwr Cour .lcI Mirllcles. Built ill 1i990n th~ sit ~ of th!' old ga rden of tlltl CUllvt'nt of lhe D;t ugblcn of God. lA3a.6] Trade and traffic are the two components of the street. Now, in the arcades the second o f these bas effectively died out: the traffic there is rudimentary. The arcade is a strect or lasciviolls commerce only; it is wholly adapted to arousing desires. Because in Ulls street the juices slow 10 a standstill. tJle conmlOdity prolifcrlltcs along t.he m a rgins and emers into rantastic combinations. like the tissue in tUnlors.-The Bftn eur sabotages the traffic. Moreover, he is no burer. H e IAJa.7} is m erchand i.se.
ror the first time in history, with the establishment or department storu, consumers begin to consider themselves a mass. (Earlier it was only scarcity which taught them that.) H ence. the circus·like and theatrical element of commerce is quite atraordinarily heightened. [M, l ]
With the appearance or m ass·produced articles, the concept or specialty arises. Its relatio n 10 the concept of originality remains to be explored. !A4 ,2) .. , grant tha i busineu at the Pnhli.§· R() yal has had ils d ay; bllt I believe Ihal this should Ire altributetiliot to the ab8l!nce of streetwalkcrll but to the erectioQ of new arcades. alliliO the enlargement and refurbiilhing of s .... ver al others. I will mention the Passugell d ... I' Opera, du Grand·Cerf, du 5allllloli . lit' W!ro-Dodat. Delorme, de Choiselll , alld des Panoramall. ,. F: F. A. Bcraud . LeI! I'"m es publiqlles de Pu,-u et to police qui Ie! regit (Paris and Leipzig. 1839), vol. I , p . 205. [M.3)
.. , du not know if bUlIiness at the Palais· Royal has ~ally suffered froftltbe absence of femme. de debauche~ but ",hat is certain iii thai puillic deeelicy there has improvell enormously. ... It seellls to me, furthermore. thllt resp« tllble women now willingly do thei.r ~hoppin g in the shops of the gaUeries . . . ; tJlis hlls til be an ad\'antage for the merchants. Fill' when the Palais~ R oYll l was invadt:d by a Iwarm of practically nude pro~titut es , Ihe gue of the crowd wlll lurllt'tl towa rd Ihem. and the pf'oJlle who enjoyed this IIH!t.'tacle were never the onf!S wilo patronized the local businesses. Some were already ruined by their disurderl y life, while othen, yield. ulg 10 the aUllre of li.bertini~ m. had no thought Ihell of Jlurchasing any goods. even IIc~e6ij ities. I helieve I r.an affirm ... that, during tb o~tl times of inordinate toleralice. sevcral shops at the Palui,·Royal were c1olled , ulI ll ill others buyer l were rare. Thus. hUliut'u did not al aU prosper there, aotl it wOllld be more accurate to say th at Ihe I ta~a tion of husine8ll at thai time wall owing r ather to the free circulation of the flUes publiqlles Ihan to their absence. whid today has brought back iulu tht: gaUeries and the garden of thil palace numeroUil !>troUen ..... ho are far IllOre fa vo rahle tu Lusine8ll than prostitutes and Iibertinell." F. F. A. Beraud . Le. Pilles pllblil}ul!1 de Pari., Waris lind I...cipzig. 1839). vul. I . I'p. 207- 209. [MA) The catk are. nll t:I'c ure elevate,1 passages, slIPl'llrlcd by columllS, and a lsl> allrll uli~<e unrlcq;l"ollnd passages whi uh connect nllt.w parh ,,( Ihe Phalanx (md tlte acl j llining buildill g~. Thus. ,'\'erylhing is linked by II SI·ri,·s uf passagewa ys which a re sheltercIl , 1'11:g!lllt . ollli eumfurta ble in wiutl' r tlliluks 10 the help of Ilc a"'!'! alld vl'u til ntol"il .... The s lreN·gaUc.")'. 011 ils hc'IlI.- De!ge rmi.s; A Light fi Xlure?-Mfirtill; Thllt ill. my illcR nf sculpt ure: il IIIII ~ I ~e rve SOllie purpose .... All th o~ statues wilh all 111'111 or 1.1 II'!; ill the ai r- wlml are they good
fo r, lIince they've had no pipe inl talled to carry gall? ... What are they good for?" Theodore Barrier e, Les Po risien.t, produced at the Theitre du Vaudeville on December 28, 1854 (Paris, 1855), p. 26. [The play illlct in 1839.] [A6a3] There wall a Passage du De8ir. <See Ala ,2.)
[A6a,4]
Chodruc-Duc1o&--a l upernumerary at the Palai8- Royal. He was a ro yalisl , an oppo nent of the Vendee. a nd h ad groundll for complaining of ingratitude under Charlel X. He protested by appearing publicly in rags and letting his beard grow. IMa,5] Apropos of an engraving that pictures a shopfront in the Passage Vero-Dodat : " One cannot praise this arrangement too highly-the purity of its line8; the picture8(lue and bnlliant effect produced b y the gaslight giobes, which a re placed between the capitals of the two double columns bordering each IIhop; and fin ally the sbop partitions, which are let off by reRecting plate p 88I1." Cahinet dell Enampes (in tbe Bibliotbeque Nationale, Pan S). [A7,1] At No. 32 Passage Brady there was a dry-c1earungel tablishment , Maison Donmer. It was (fa mous) for its "pant workrooms" and itl " numerous personnel. " A contemporary engraving shows the IwcH tOry bwlding cr owned by small mansards; female workers in great number. are visible through the windowlI ; from the ceil[A7,2] ings hangs the linen . Engraving from the Empire: Th e Dance of the Shawl amons the Three Sultanw. Cabinet d es Eatampes. [A7,3] Sketch and Roor plan of the a rcade a t 36 Rue Hauteville , in black. blue . and pink. from the year 1856. on siamped paper. A hotel attached 10 the arcade is likewise represented. In boldface: " P ropert y for lease." Cabinet de8 Estampel .
IA',' I The firSt deparunent stores appear to be modded on orientaJ bazaars. From engravings one sees that, at least around 1880, it was the fashion to cover with tapestries the balustrades of the staircases leading to the atrium. For example, in the sto~ called City of Saint-Denis. Cabinet des Estampes. [A7,5] -rIle Passage de l'Opera , with itB two galleries, the Galerie de I' Horloge a nd the Galeritl tlu Ba rometre .. .. The opening of the Opera 0 11 the Rue Le Peletier, in 182 1. brought this arC811e into vogue, a nd in 1825 the duehe88e de Derry came in I lt:r~on to inaugurate a ' Eurol'ama' in the Galen e du Bar ometre . ... The grisettel of the Restoration da nced in the Idalia Hall , built ill the basemen t. La ter. a cafe caUed the Divali ti l' " Opera was e8lablil hed in the arcade . .. . Also to he found in the Passage de r Opera wal the arms manufacturer Car on. the music publisher
llle Passage de l'Opera, 1822-1823. Courtesy of the Must!e Camavalet, Paris. Photo copyright () PhotOlhcque des Musl!:es de la Yule de Paris. See A7,6.
,. \
,
'''('he Passa ge de. IJa no ra maJi, so nllmc..,,1 in me mo ry of the t wo l' Anoramas tha t slood 0 11 ei the r !jill., of illl enl r a llcewa y a mi I.h ul disuppea retl in 183 1. '- Pa ul d 'Aris l.e, I--t) Vie et Ie mm ule ,/ .. boufevtlrd ( Purill) . p. 14. [A7,7]
T he bCliutiful upotileosis of the ·'mane! of the Indian , h awl," in the section o n hlliiall IIrl ill Michl·lel 's lJiMe lie l'IuHtul/l i' e (Paris. 1864). [A7a,l } An d J ehud a he n Iiall',,)'. In her .iew. wo uld II/u 'e bee n IlO nored Qui le eno ugh hy being kepi in ,\n,' l'rell y box of ea rdboard
Wil" tome n~ ry BWllnk y Chinese decorah: il . Likea bonbon box {rom Marq uis In I.he Pauage Panorama.
Ara ht:~tIUe8 1 0
Heinric h Heinc. flebra isclle Melodic,... " J e hud a ben 1:lalevy," pa rt 4, in Ro[A7a,2)
man.:ero. book 3 (cited in a lette r from Wiese ngr und).·
Sign boa rds. Aft er the rebus s tyle came a vogue fo r lite rar y and military all usioDs. " If 1111 e ruptio n of the hilltop of Montma rt re ha p pened to swallow up Paris, as Vesuvius swalluwed up Pompeii, o ne wo uld be a ble to resycliulogillllily lIIore astute, Togt'llu:r wilh Ilw s~' come8 the flxcll,)rice. lhe known and .ullulegoliuhle cos t." II . Clo utol a nd H.-II . Va l c lI ~ i . l..e Par;, ,ie. '" l.,a Gomedie III/muine"; Hu/.";m c ~t $1'" !ollrniuellr, (Pal·is. 192(1), JlI' . 3 1-32 ( "l\1a ga~ in @ .It, 1I0U\' I'U UI CS'· ). [A8,3]
Sale$ c1c rk ~ : " The n ' are allellijl 20,I){)O ill Pari.s .... A grea tllumhc r ,,( sales d e rk~ ha\'1l Oc" 11 educated ill till! " lassies .. , : Ulle ~Vt' ll fi nd a mO Il ~ the m paintc r a nti urr hitectli ullaffiliut etl with un y wfH'ks hop , wh .. ust! u gr,:ut d" al of tlld r knowlellg" ... of I hese lwo hrllndll:s of a rl in cl.mstruttillg lli ~ pl a)"~, ill I I ~ t t" rminillg tllf; d esign of II('W ite ms, ill dirt,,·ting Ihe creatio n of (ashiuns. "' Pierrl' Laro u s~l' , Cnlnll Oic~ limllHlire IIni uer.scl till XI X' siecle., \,(,1. 3 ( Puri~, 18(17), fl . ISO (a rticle on "Cali· 1'101 ") . [A9,1 ]
Whl!lI a mORrlSin d~ 1I00wea llies re nted Ihe spacl': rurmeriy U""U I,i,',1 hy II c h:d. tilt' .:.lilOr uf to C01m~(lill l"mlllilw. B ~.lza(' wroll:: " 7'h l" liumlll! CQm eily IHI ~ yidded Ito
" Why llitllhe uuthor tlf ";'.u/e$ III" lIlQellrs" ~Stu. li es uf !\llluners) .-110051' to I)reSell! , in a ""ol'k O( fi ction. lifelike p'H'trllil s of thl' notabl c~ of hi" d ll)'~ DUllht lC8!1 fur
hill own amUlIeme nl first of all •.•. Thill e:J[plaio&the dellcriptio ru. Fo r the direct cit aliom., a n d llie r r eason nlWit be found- and ",'e lee none beller tJl a n his IIOmiS· taka ble aim of providing Iluhlicity. Bulzllc i, olle of the fi ra t 10 have divined the power of tile a dve rtiseme nt a nd. abo ve all, the disgu.i3ed a dve rtiiernent. In those
Ii
]
..
d ays. , .. the newspapen were unaware of such power, . . . At the ver y ruM! , around midnight . 8 8 workers wer e fin i5hin~ up the layo ut •• dverti. in~ writen might sLip in lit the bottom of a column lIom e lines on Pite de Regnauh or Brazilian Blend. The ne WHpape r advertisement al such Wa.8 unknown . More unknown , till wali a proeen 81 ingenious at citation in a Dovid .. . . The tradesmen nllme d by Balzac ... a re clearly his own .... No one under . tood better than the author of Celar Birotteult the unlimited potential of publicity... , To confirm thil, one need only look al the epithe18 .•. he attaches to his manufacluren and their productl. Shamelessly he dubl them: the renolVned Victorine: Plaisir, an iUwtriow h a ir~ dresser ; Staub . the molt celebrated tailor of ws age; Gay. afamow haberdasher . . . on the Rut1 de la Michodie.re (even giving the address!); ... ' the cu.illine of the Rocher de Cancale, ... the premier rel tauranl in Paris, .. , which is 10 lay. in the entire u:o,.ld ...• H. Clouzot and R .~ IJ . Valent i. Le Pori! de "w Comedic humoine"; Bol.:::oc et se.lfourniueura (Paris . 1926). pp . 7- 9 and 177- 179. {A9,21
The Pa88age Vero-DOOat conn«lt the Rue Croix.d ell- Peti18, Cbamps with the Rue Jean-Jacques- RouMeau . In the latter, a round 1840, Cabet held his meetin pl in hit rooms . We get an idea of the tone of Ihese gath ering8 from Martin Nadaud'a Memoires de Leonard, ancien ga~on ~on ; " Fie was still holding in lli» hand the towel anJ razor be h ad just been ul ing. He leemed filled with joy at seeing U I rellp« tahl y attired. with a lerious air : 'Ab, Meslieu rs,' he said (he did not say 'Citizens'), ' ifyour ad ver sa ries could only llee yo u now! You would diu rm their criticismll. Your dress and your bearing are. those of well-bred men .· .. Cited in Char les Benoist. " L' Homme de 1848." part 2, Revue de" deux monde. (February I , 1914). I'p. 64l-642. -1t was characteristic of Cabet to believe that worken nt,"ed not busy lhem5elves with writing. IA',31 S t rect -68 lo n ~: "1'he lar gest and mOllt favo rably siluated amon, these (street, galleries} were tUlefully decorated and sumptuousl y furnish ed . The walls and ct'.ilings were covered with .. . rare ma rble, gilding, ... mirrors. and paintings. Tlu' window! were adorned with splenditl hangings and with curtainll embroidered in marvelous patterns . Chairs. (auteuils. sofas ... offered comfortable sea tin ~ to tired stroUen. Finally, there were artistically designed objects, antique cabineUl •.. . glass cases full of c uri08 itie~ , ... porcelain va ses containing fre8h fl owers, aquarium8 full IIf live fi sh , and avia ries inhabited by ra re bir tls. The!le completed t.he decor ation of the 1I1reet-galleries. which Lit up the evening with ... gilt t:alldelabr u and cry5lal lam ps. The govel'llment had wa nted the st~'UI helonging 10 the people of Paris to surpllss in magnificence Iht: Ilrawing roonlll of the mosl powerful sovert:igns .... Finlt thing in tllll morning, the IItreet-galJcries al'f' lunlt~ d o ver 10 atlenJ llnUl who air them out . IIweep them ca refully, hrush , dun, nlld polish the furnilure , a nd everywhere impose the most scrupllloull cleanlinellS. T lltln , depending on the lleason , the windowlI a re either llpe.ned or closed, s nd
either a fire is Iii nr th(" blinds llre Ic,wer("d .. .. 8cl"·t."t'. n nine 8mllt'I1 ,,'dock Illis c1eanill5 is a ll cOlnpl,·It'11. alld flll 8sl·n;by. UIII.ill.hcn feW Rml far bdw('cn _ hegi n to nppeul' ill grt'8 Iel' number". I';nl I'unce 10 Ihe gallerics is 8tl'il·t! y foriJidd elJ to ullyo,u' who is d irt y nr 10 t'ar r icrs of heav), lomb; smoking Ullli lipill.ing i1.re lik{'wisc !>rohihit('d here: ' To ny Moilill , llu ris en I'fW 2000 ( Ilaris. 18(,9), fi JI. 26-29 ("AsJ>>:'I ·t (I~ ~~ ,·UeOII '/ii weekl y La Cur;CQlll re was in the Passage Vero-I)odal. [A9a.3]
Pa5sagc du Caire. Erecled afler apolcou's return frum Egypl . Contains l onle IwtlentiollS of Egy!>t ill the r elil'fll--8 f1h illx-likf' head s o\'cr the entrance. a mong ul lu:1' things. ''1'he ar("Ulles a re satl. gloomy, und al ....ay5 inh'.rsectillg ill a mllllller Ilis.agn.'eable to the eye .... They soom . . destined to house lithographers' IItll ~ ,lius and binders' IIhol1s, as the adjoi ning strL'et iii J estined ror the manufacture of slrlll'l' IIIIIA; pecIcstrillllS gellerall y avoid them. ~ Elie Oe rllll~ l. " R"e el Passage d" Caire," Pflri.! chez lIoi (Pllris ( 1854)) . p. 362 . (AIO. l ] ;"In 1798 alld 1799. Ihe Egyptian campaign lellt frightful importance to the fashion
for 6hawls. Some generals in the expeditionar y army. laking IIllvantage of tJle I"'ox imit y of InJin, sell I hallie sll o....11> ••• of casllmcre 10 Iheir wivcs a011 lOlly fricnds .... From then on. the di.!lease that Inight Le calle(1 cashmere fe\'er took on ~ignifi ("lI nl proloortiolls. It lwgan to spr('atl Juring tht., Consula te, grew greater " IHler till' Empire. lIeeume gigu ntic tluring the ltestlll'1l1ioll , r CIlr.hcd "olos8ul size 1Il1llt·r the Jllly MOllllrchy, 8,HI hus fiu ull)' a,o;~ um ed Sphinx-lik .. dillU'lI ~ ion s s ill ('\! Iht' Fd,r ua,.), Ut'volution of I8i hopH . !.Ie coultllUlvl' written an u quil!ite romalU'e ('ailed 7'lIe Buker i Shop: II llother called Th e Chemist $ Shop: another called Tlt e Oil SIIOI)' to keel' t'OlllpallY with TIIt~ Old Cu riosi'y Shop ." G. K. C I I~il t crlulI , Dickel/s. tra ns. Laurent lind Marti n-Dupont (I'liris, 1927), PI" 112-83. 1.1 [A 11 .3] "O IH~ lIIay wOllllt·1' tn wllal ,')C h' nt Four ier him ~cU Iwljeve\1 in hi fu ntu sies. In hi ~ ma nuscripts Ilt~ j llmeLimes cnmpl uins nf crilics \0\' 110 tnkt· Iilcl'lIl1y whal ill meant as fib"l.U·u tiYc, a nd wllu in ~ i51 IIIl1rC()Ycr UII Slteuki ng of IIi!! 'stUlli"11 whims.' TIIl'r!' may have been a l least a modil'tUII of JdiJ,f'I'u tl' dlUrlulauism III WlJrk in 1111 thi_all II lIcmJlI 10 luunch Ilis lIyslem li y mellns of Ihe II-w lies of cOlllmerdu l udvertisin!.
wruch had begun to develol•." F. Armand anti R. Maublanc. FOllrier (Puns, 1937), vol. I.p . 158. 0 E1I:hihition 8 0 [Al h.l ) Proudhou', confe!lsiOIl ncar tilt: end of his lire (ill his book De la jll ~ ljcell--{:;o lll "arc witll Fourier 's vision of the p halallstery): " It has been neces5ar )' for me 10 becoflle civilizl."41. Dul m:cd I approve? The lillie hit of civilizing I've rt!CeiveJ di!guSI8 mtl .... I hale houses (If more than one slory_ houses in which, by conll'ust with the social hierarchy, the mcck are r ai8et1 on biJ;h while tile grea t are lidded ncar the grollnd .'- Citell in Armand Cuvillier, Ma rx ct Proudllon: II ia 'limiere tlu MlIrx i&me. vol. 2, part 1 (Pun!. 1937), p . 211. [All a.2] Blantlui: " ' I wore, ' he say" ' the fi rs t tricoloretl cockade of 1830 . Illade by Madame Bodill in th(! Pa!sage do Commerce. '" Gustave Gtffroy, L 'Enferme (Paris, 1897), II . 2'W . [Alla,3] Baudelaire call still write of " a book as dazzling as an Indian handkerchief or Ihawl ." Baudelair e, L 'A rt romantilluc (Paril). p. 192 (" Pierre Dupollt"). 1. [AlIa,4] The Craur.ut Colk'1:tioll possesses a bea utiful rep roduction of the Pasub'C des Panoramal frolll 1808. Also found ther e: a prospectus for a Iltlotblacking I hop, in which it ill a question mainly of Puss in Boots. lAlla,S) Baudelaire to his mother 011 December 25, 1861, concerning an atlemplto (lawn a shawl: " I was told that , with the approach of New Year's Day, there was II glut of eashmerel in the stores, alld that they were tryi ng to discourage the puhlic from bringing any more in. " Ch arles Baudelaire, LeUreJ a Ja mere ( Parill. 1932), p. 198 . {All a,6] " Our epoch will be the link betwccn Ihe age ()f isolated forces rich ill oriJ;inai creativeness and thaI of the uniform bul Icvc(jllg forcc which gives monotony to its products . casting the.m in maUd, alld foUowing out one ullifyillg idea- the uhi1IIIIIe expression of lIocial eomlllunjticiI.'" H. tie Balzac. L '/filutre ClIIuJiJSrr rt, cd. Calmann-Le"y (Paris. l83i), p. I .I~ [Ali a.']
Sales at Au Bon Marc.he, in the years 1852 to 1863, rose frolll 450,000 to 7 million francs. The rise in profits could have been considerably less. "High rumover and small profitS" was at that lime a new principle, one tha t accorded with the {\\'o dominant forces in operation: the multirude of purchasers and the mass of goods. In 1852, Boucicaut allied himself" with Vidau, the proprietor of Au Bon Marche, the magaJill d~ nouueautis. "111e originality consisted in seUing guaranteed merchandise at discount prices. Items, firs t of all. \vcrc marked with fixed prices, another bold innovation which did away with bargaining and ....ith 'process sales' -I.hat is to say, "ith gau ging the price o f an article to the physiognomy of the buyer; then the 'return' was instituted, allowing the customer .to
Au Boll Marche departmcill store in Paris. \MxxICut, ca. 1880. Sec AI2,1.
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caned his purchase at will; and, finally. employees were paid almost entirely by commission on sales. These wttr: the constitutive elements of the new organization:" George d J\vend. "Le M ecanisme de la vic modemc: Les Grands Magasins," & tJue de; tkux mondu, 124 (Paris, 1894). pp. 335-336. [A12 ,1]
TIle gain in time realized for the retail bwiness by the abolition of bargaining may have played a role initially in the calculations o f department Stores. [A12 ,2} A chapter, "Shawls , Cashmeres;' in Borne's Indwtne-Au.JItelkmg im Louvre <Exhibition of Industry in the Louyre) , Ludwig Borne , GeJammelte Schriften (BarnLul'g a nd Frankfurt am Main , 1862), vol. J, p. 260. [AI2,3] The physiognODIY of the ar cade emerges with Baudelaire in a H:ntence at the beginni.ng of " Le J oueur ginerewt"': ..It seemed to me odd that I couJd have passed this enchanting haunt so orten without l uspecting that here was the enlran«:." dlaudelaire. Oeu vres, ed . Y.-G. I.e Danlce (Paris, 1931 ),) vol . I, p. 456. 17 (A12 .4]
Specifics of the department store: the rustomers perceive themselves as a mass ; they are confronted with an assortment of goods; they take in all the Boors at a (A12,5} glance; they pay fixed prices ; they can make exchanges. " In those p ar llJ of the city wbere the theatera and public walks .. . are located, wht!n! therefore the majority of foreignera live and wander, there is hardly a buildin g witbout a shop. It takes only a minute, only II step. for the forces of attraction 10 gather ; II minule laler, a Ilep furth er on, and the pal&erb y iJ standing before a different shop . •. . One'. attention is spirited away III though by violence, aud one has no choice hUI to sland there and remain looking up until it r eturns. The name of the shopkeeper, the name of his mer chandise, inscribed a daMn times 0 11 placards that hang on the door. and above the windows_ beckon frum all l ide.; Ihe exterior of the ar chway reflembles the exercise book of II .choolboy who writes Ille few words of a paradigm over and over. Fabrics are not laid oul in sampleR but are hung before door and window in completely unrolled bolt•. Often they are attached high up on the third story and reach down in . undry foldt all the w.y to the pavement. The shoemaker hili painted different-colored shoes, ranged in roWI like Laltaliolls, acr08S thetntire fa\,ade of his buildin~ . The sign for the locknmiths i.ll a ~ iJo: -foot - high gold-plated key; the giallt gale!! of heaven could require no larser. On Ihe hosien ' shops are p ainled wrute sloclUoga four yard. high, and they will starlle y,'u in Ihe dark when they loom like ghOStR.•. . But foot and eye are Il rre~ t ed in a nobler ami more charming fasbion b y the paintin g~ displayed before man y I!torefronu . .. . Th ~se painting" are, not infrequently, true works or art, a nd if they were to hang in the Louvr e, they "" ould inspire in connoisseur. alleast pll·/tslIl'f' if nlJl admiration . .. . The 8hol> of a wigm aker is adorn!!'! with a picture I.hat. 10 he ~ 1I1'f:. is poorly executed hut distinguished by an amusillg cunception . Crm'"11 I' rinct AJ ,~ alo m hangs by his hair frum a Iree and is pierced by thl:! lance of (u l l'lIemy. Undernea th runs the verle: ' Uereyou see Absalom in,hili hopeI quite
Ilebunked , I Had he wor n a penlke. he'd 1I0t be defunct : Another ... pit'ture , repn'!!leptiog a village maide n ali t he knee-II 10 receive II. &ur land of rU~I:!a--t(l k ell {I f her virtue--from the hands of a dlt~va li cr. urll H mellt ~ the door of a milliner '. shop." Lliliwig Burne. Schildenmgen (IIU Paris ( 1822 IHld 1823) . 011 . 6 ("Die Uden" (S h opl ~), in Gesammelte Schriflen (Hamburg and Frankfurt a m Main , IAl2aJ 1862). vul. 3. p". 46-49 .
On Baudelaire's "religious intoxication of great cities'!:'· the deparunent stores arc: temples consecrated to this intoxication. (AI3]
loutish, measures the century by the yard, serves a" ~uin himself to save costs, and manages single-handedly the liquidation that in French is called rivoluHan. For ~ashion was never an . g other than the panxiy of the mod cadaver, and bitter COlloquy with deca w rovocabon of death throu the wo perc:d between sluill bursts of mechanical laughter. t IS as on. And that is wfiy s e changes so quickly; she titillates death and i" a.Jn:ady something differem, something new, as he casts about to aush her. For a hundrm years she holds her own against him. Now. finally. she is on the point of quitting the fidd . But he ~as on the banks of a new Lethe, which rolls its asphalt Stream through arcades, the annature of the whores as a battle memorial. 0 Revolution 0 Love 0
B [Fashion] Fashion: Madam Dealbl Madam Death! -Giacomo Leopardi, "Dialogue bctwttn Fashion and Dcath~ L
Nothing dies; all is u-arufonncd.
[B l ,' ]
- Honoridc Balz.ac, FhshJ, JujtlJ,jragmmlJ (Paris. 1910). p. 46
S qullre~. 0 .quare in Paril . infinile 8howplace. where the mooillle Madame Lamort winds and bind. the restle.. w.y. of tbe world, thuee endle&t ribbon •• 10 ever-new crt.tions of bow. frill . Rower. cockade, . nd frnil-
R. M. Hilke. Duine&er Eleg~n (U:ipzig, 1923), p. 23.2
And boredom is the grating before which the courtesan teases death. [Bl,l] Ennui 0
o
Similarity of the arcades to the indoor arenas in which one leamed to ride a bicycle. In these halls the figure of the woman assumed its most ~ductivt as~: as cyclist That is how she appears on contemporary posters. Chertt the palnter of this feminine pulchritude:. The costume of the cyclist, as an early and unconscious prefiguration of sportswear. corresponds to the dream prototypes that, a little before or a little later. are at work in the factory or the automobile. Just as the first factory buildings cling to the traditional form of the residential dwelling. and just as the first automobile chassis imitate carriages, so in the clothing of the cyclist the sporting expression still wrestles with the inherited pattern of d.e~c.e, and the fruit of this struggle is the grim sadistic touch which made this Ideal
[BI ,5]
"Nothing hae II p lace of ita own . lave fashion appointe that place." L 'EJpm d'Al phonJe Kurr: of an degant mall , houltl a lwuYII hll\·e ... something il·ritatef.l uuo convulsive IIholl t it. One 1;.1111 attribute thcse fa cilll agilatioDl! either to a natural ~a t.anilim_ III II..! f,,\·..r of the p asiliQn.'!, or flnuU y to anytbing one IikeB," Puris-l'il."t!ur. hy the aut hun ..( till' memoirs of HithOer (:6UJI of men'. "Inthing: He think /! that " our gelleral avenion to hrif;ht colun;. t.'!Ipel·ially in c10thiug (or men , evinc:u very d ea.rly a n oft -uoted peculiarity of our cha racter. Gray is all theory; green-and not only Veen bUI also ret! , yeUow, blue-ill the goMell tn:e of life.%: In OUr prediJeclion for the various sluulell of gr ay . .. rU.llning tu IJlack , we find an unmista kable social reAecriori of ulLr tendency to privilege t111~ thenry of the fonnalioll of intellect above aU d Ie. Even lhe heautiful we clln 110 longer just enjoy ; ralher, ... we must finl llubjecl it tu crilic:iSOI , with the consequence that ... our i pirituallife becomell ever more cool aud colorless. " Thcodor LipPII, "Uber die Symbulik unserer KJeidung, n Nord und Sijd, 33 (Bres.lau and Bcrlin , 1885), p . 352. fB9,4]
Fashions are a collective medicament for the ravages o f oblivion. The more short[B9a,!] lived a period, the more susceptible it is to fashion. Compare K.2a,3. Focillon ou the phantasmagoria of fa shion : "Most often , .. it creates hybrids; it imposes 011 the human being thc profile of an auima). . , . Fashion thU!! illvenlll an artificial humallilY which is 1101 the pas8ive decora tion of a formal environment , but that very environllwnt itself. Such a humanity-b y turns heraldic, theatrical, raDtastical , architectural- ta kes , all its ruliug principle, the lwetics of ornament, and what it caUs ' linc' ... i3 llf.:rhal)s but a subtle compromise between a certain physiological calion . , , aud imaginative design ." B enri Focillon , Vie da /Omlf!' (Parill, 1934). p. 'lI .:3 [B9a,2]
Thue is hardly another article of dress that can give e."Pression to such divergent erotic tendencies, and that has so much latitude to disguise them, as a woman's hat. Whueas the meaning of male headgear in its sphue (the political) is smetly tied to a few rigid patterns, the shades of erotic meaning in a woman's hat are virtually incalculable. It is not so much the various possibilities of symbolic reference to thc= sexual organs that is chic=Oy of interest hc=re. More surprising is what a hat can say about the rest of the o utfit. H (dc=m Grund has made the ingenious suggestion that thc= bonnc=t., which is conlemporanc=ow with the crinoline, acrually provldes men with directions for managing the lanu. Thc= wide brim of the bonnet is rurnc=d up-thereby dc=monstrating how the crinolinc= must be mrnc=d up in ord er to make sexual access to the woman c=asiu for the man. [B1O,l )
For the females of the species 'lOrno Jflpiens-al the earliest conceivable period o f
its existence-the horizontal positioning o f the body must have had the greatest advantages. II made pregnancy easier for them, as can be dc=duced from the back-bracing girdJes and truSses to which pregnant women today have recourse. Proceeding from this consideration, one may perhaps venrure to ask : Mightn't walking crect, in general, havc= appeared earlic=r in men than in. womc=n? 10 that
case, the woman would have btt:n the four-footc=d companion of the man, as the dog or cat is today. And it seems only a step from this conception to the idea Utat the frontal encowlter of the two parmers in coitus would have been originally a kind o f perversion; and perhaps it was by way o f this d eviance that the woman would have begun to walk uprigbL (See note in the essay "Eduard Fuchs : Der Sammler und dc=r Historiker.,,)24 [810.2]
" It would .. . be interesting to trace the effects exerted by this 1liSItosilioll tu uprigbt pOllture o n tbe structure and fun ction of the rest or the body. There it uo doubt that all the particulal'l of an organic f:.lltity are held logethel' in intimate cohesion, but with the IIresent state of our scientifiC knowledge we mUllt maintain that the eXl1'aordinar y influences ascribed herewith to sta nding upright CalUlot ill fact be proved .. , . No lignificant reperCUll8iOIi can be demonstrated ror tlle struc· ture a nd (unction of the inner or gans, and Herder'iJ hypothesu--accordillg to ",·hich aU force. would react differently in tbe upright lIostu re. and the blooil stimulate the nervel differently-forfeil all credibility al Boon all they are r eferred to differences manifestl y important for behllvior," Bermann Loue, lItikrokol mo. (Leipzig, 1858), vol. 2, p. 9O.!S [lllOa, l]
A panage from a C08metica prospectus, characterilltie uf the fas hioull of the Second Empire. The manufacturer recommends "a cosmetic . .. hy mean s or which ladie••
if they .0 dellire. can pve tl.eir complexion the gJon of rose tafreta ." Cit ed in Ludwif;: Borne, Ce,ammelle Schriften (Hamburg and Frankfurt am Alain . 1862). vol . 3. p . 282 ("Die Indu. trie--AuuteUung im Louvre"'). fBlOa.21
this tiny spot on the earth's surface. Authentic guides to the antiquities of the old Roman city-Lutetia Parisonun-appear as early as the sixteenth cenrury. The catalogue of the imperiall.:ibrary. printed during the reign of Napoleon Ill, contains nearly a hundrt:d pages under the rubric "Paris; and this coUection is far from complete. Many of the main thoroughfares have their own speciaJ literature, and we possess written accounts of thousands of the most inconspicuous houses. In a beautifuJ tum of phra.!!e. Hugo von Ho&nannstha1 called
dillc(Jvered belwee.n Ca lH! Horn and the lIouthern territories ill the yea r 2500"
(p.347).
(C'.'J
" There was . at the Chatelet ,le Paril, a broad 10llg cellar. This cellar was eight feet {Ieep below the level of the Sdne. It had ueither wi.ndows nor ventilators ... : men couJd enter, but ai r could nOI . The cellar had fur a ceiling a stune arch, and for a floor. ten inchetl of mud .. . . Ei~t feet above the fl oor. a lOllS manh'e hellm crossed tbis vault rrom side to Bide; from this beam there hUllg, at illtervaill. chains ... and at the end of thelle chain8 there were iron collar,. Men condemned to th t'. galleY8 were put into tltis cella r until the day of tbeir de parture for Toulon . They were pus bed un.ter this timber. wbere eacb bad his iron 8winging in the darkness, waiting for him . . . . In order to eat. they had to draw tht'.ir bread, which was thrown into the mire, up their leg with their heel, ~'ithin reach of their band ... . In tills hell-Bepuleher, what did they do? What can be done in a sepll1cher: they agollized. And what can be done in a hell: they 88ng .... In this cellar, almost all the argot song8 were burn. It is from the dungeon of the Grand Chatelet de Paris that the melancholy gaUey refrain or Montgomery come8: ' Timaloumisawe. timoulamison. · Most of these 80ng8 are Ilreary; some are cheerful." Victor Hugo, Oeuvres comp~fe5 novels, vol. 8 (Pari!! . 1881). PI'. 297-298 (Les Mi! erables).'% DSubterranean Paris 0 [C5a, l]
011 the theory of thresholds: ''' Between those who go on foot in Paris and th08e ..... ho go by carriage, the ollly difrerence i8 the running board.' a8 a peripatetic pbilosopher haa said . Ah , the runnin ~ board! ... It is the point or deparlure from onecouotry to another. (rom misery to luxury, from thoughtlessness to thoughtfulnen. It is the hyphen between hinl who is noth.in~ and him who is all . The quetltion i8: where to put one's (oot." Theophile Ga utier, Ettules philosophique.5: Paris et lu ParisiefU au XIX" .riicle (paris, 1856). p. 26. (CSa,2] Slight fores hadowing of tile Metro ill thill description of model houses of the future: " The basements. ver y 8pacious and well Iii . art all connected . ronning long galleries which follow the course o( the 8lree18. Here an underground railroad has been built-not ror human travelen, to be s ure, but exclUl;ively for cumbersome mercha ndise, ror wine . wood , coal. and 110 rorth , which it deliver s to t.he interior of the horne . . . . These undcrgroun.1 trains acquire a steadily growing imllOrtance.'· TOllY Moilin , Puri! en Can 2000 (Puris, 1869). pp. 14-1 5 ("Maisons-modeles"). [C5a,31 Fragment8 from Victor Hugo's Utle " A rAre de Triomphe":
"
Ah... YII Panl erie. aud mulle....
Whocan tell- unfat.hllmahlequeiuonWhat would be 10l t from the uni ver.. 1 c:lamnr On the day th ai ,>ani rell ~ ilenl !
III Sile nt it wi lilw. II onetheletlll!-AIter 110 mlln y d llwnl, So m a n y mont~ a nd yun. 110 m a ny played-out « nlurie.. When Ihill Lank , where the , Iream breaks again. ! the echo ing hridp ,
II return ed 10 the modell l a nd murmurin g r eed!!; Willm Ihe Seine ~h a l1 flee th e ob~tructing atones, C(llUlurnin g some old dome coll, paW into ita depth. , Heedful of the !leotle breeze th at u rriel 10 the cloud.
The rui llinr; of the leave. a nd th#. IIOD8 Olf binI.; When it , h llll Row, al ni&ht. pale in the d llrkD_. Hapl)Y' in the drow! ing of itt long-troubled coune, To Iieten allast 10 the countlen voicel Pan ing indil linc ti y beneath the Btllrry Ilty; Wh en thit city. mad and churlith aU- llnert'. Tha ' hu lenl the r. le reacrved for iu walla , And . IU m ing to d Wit under the biowl of ill h.allUMr, CODvertJ! b rnn U! 10 coinA I nd ma rble to fl qllone.;
When the r OOr8, th e bell •• the tortuous hi ve.. Porchu . I)",dimeo!" archei fu11 of pride That ma ke- ul' this dly. many-voiced and tumu1luou" Stiflio !!, inCllrieable, and 1« .mDl 10 Ihr- eye, When from the wi de plain alllh",e lhinp have paucd, And nOlhing r emain. of pyramid and p antheon 8uliwO !!r anile lowen buill by Char lema gne And II hron:Ee column raiBed by Napoleon . \'o u , th!:.n . will complete the sublime lriangle!
IV T hll,l, arch . you wilJloom elern al and intact When a ll th at the Seine now mirro ... in itJ llurfa ce Will have vanished forever , When of that cily- the equ l l, yet, of Rom __ Nothin l! will be left exce pt In I nl!ei . an elgie, a man Surmou nting Ihrff summi lll!
V
No . time ta ke. notbing away from things. More tha n one IlO rtico wro ngly va unted I.n it. "rotracted mellmorpholiU Come. 10 bea uty in the end . On the monumenlJ we !"evere T;me C &&I I II 80mber IIpell . SIn:I"h in8 (ron, fatade 10 al'lIf:· N",Yer . thou!!h it crlleu and rulli ,
1, Ii,,,, ro be ... h;",h timt. p.~.:J. fr om tht. m Worth the one it pu u hll" k on .
II i. time who ehisels a grOO Yt In an iOlligenl arch-.tone: Wh o r lllu hi~ knowing thumb On Ihe corner of. ha rren marhl e . Iab ; It i! l it: who . in co rrec ting till: work. IJltrod u L~1 a living anake Midst the knots of a gra nite hydra. I think ' _ a Golhic roof 81a rt la ughin g When . from iu and ent fria e . Time r emOYe6 a 810ne and pllt8 in a IIe8t .
"Ill No. IEvery lhing will be dlEad . NOlhinl!! lefl in th i. campagna But a va nished po pulation , lIiJI ar ound . Dul th.., dull eye of man a nd th il living t.ye of Cod, But a n ar ch, and a column , lind Ihere, in The mi,l,ile or thia . ih·ered-over riYt.r. still . foam, A ch urch half-Ilranded in the mili t. February 2. 1837 .
Victor Hu ~o . Oeu\.Ire. complete• • Poetry, vol. 3 ( Paris , 1880), PI). 233-245.
IC6; C6a.lJ Demolition ~ it elJ: ~ ources for teac hin ~ the theor y of cons truction. " Never have circums tanceli been more fa vorable ror thili genre of IItu!! y than tbe epoch we live in IOday. During the past twelve yean, a multitude of buildings-among them, churches and c1oistera--bave been demolis hed down to the fi rst layers or their foundatiollS ; they have all proYitled . . . useful in. truction ." Chllrl es- Fran~ois Viel, De /,lmpu~~ance de~ mal"em(J.tiqlle~ pour on lLrer in ~oiidile des batimeM (Paris , 1805), pp . 43-44. (C6a,2]
Demolition l ite8: " T he hi,;h wa1l8. wi th their biste ....c(llored Linea around the chimney Ruea, reveal, like tbe cro88-seclion of an architectura l p lan , the myster y of intimale di&l rihutiollll . . . . A curious spectacle. tlu:lJe (J pen houses, with thd r lIoorboardli l UBpen,)ed over the nb yu, their clJlorful fl owered wallpaper l till ~ howing the s hll ile IIf the r ooms .•hcir s tairt:ascs leatling nowhere 1I 0 W, their edln r8 upen To Ihe sky. their bizarre collapsed iuteriorli nnd haW' red ruins. It all relem· I.l eli • thougb without di e gloomy 10 ll C, Ihm e uninhahil nhle str uctu rea which Piranesi outlined wilh s uch feveris h inielliiil y in his etchings." Theophile Ga utier, Mo!ai'q ue d e ruir,e,, : Paris er ie. "a ris iell~ WL XIX' . i.ecle, " y Alexa ndrr- Dumas. Thcophile Gautier. Arlene lI ouu uye. Puul de M\J ~~et . Louii EnDuh . II..lld DIL .'uyl ( Puris. 1856), I'p. 38-39. (C7, I]
CUlldu,.ioll o( d .•(Jui ~~ Lurinc'6 article "Le6 Boulevards": "The hC)ul e vanl~ will die o( Oil IHieurism: the explosion of g 0 8." P(Jri.f chez soi (Paris ( 1854), 1" 1i2 (anthulogy issllctl II)' Pa ullJoiza r(I ). [C7,2) Ba utlelaire to POlllt:l - M ll l a ~s i ~ Oil January 8. 1860. c:oncernillg Mer yo u : " In uuc of his large !lillles. lie Iitlhlltiluted fur iI little l.ilJI(){)1I a cloull of prcdalury hirlb . a nd wlwlI I poin tc,1 oul t o him thai it WIIS implausihle thai so mllny eaglell cUllld be f01l 1lt1 ill tI Parisian sky, he anlil'\'eretl tllIH it WIIS not without a basis in fact. since ' those nlt'll ' (the cml'(~ro r 'e gO\'ernmellt) had often reieB9t'd caglt."'fI to stud y the pn~.ugcs according tu the rites, lind that this had been rellorled in lile newspal}Cn-·~_ven in Le Monitellr. "1 1 Cited in Gustave Geffroy. Cli arks Meryo ,. (Pa rill, 1926), Pl>. 126- 12 7. [C7.3) On tbc triumphal arc h : " The trillml'h was all institution of the Romall sta te and was Cflnllitioned on the Iw sliession of the field -commander's righi- the rip;bt of the milita ry imfJf~ rium~which, however. wall extinguillhed on the da y of the triumph . . . . Of the VIl.';OIlIl provisiollil attaching to the right of triumpb , the most important wall thai tile terrilorial bounds of the city. , . were 1I0t to be crossed prematurely. Otherwise the. commander would forfeit the rights of the a Ullpicell of war- which held olil y for olH!ratiollll conducted olltsille till: citY-liud with them Ihe claim ItJ triumph , . . . Every defilement . all guilt for the nlllrll e rO Il ~ haltle{and perhaps originally this included the da nger POtied hy the II pirit8 of the IIlaill). ill removed from the cl.lmlllll nder and the arm y; it remains .. , ou tside the lIacred ga tewa}'.... Such II conception ma k" it clear ... that the p o rIa triumpllUlis Will nothing less than a monument fo r the. glorification of victory." Ferdinanli Noack. 1'riumph IIlId Triumphbogen. Warburg Lilirary Lecturefl. vol. S (Leipzig, 1928), I'p. 150- ISI , 154 . [C7.4) "Ed~ar Poe crealed a ch aracu."r who wanders the streel8 of capilal citi!!!!; lib called him the Man of tllt~ Cr owd . The resllessly inquiring engra\'cr is the. Man of Stolle•.. , , Here we Ila ve . .. an . , , artist who ,lid not stull y and draw. like Piranesi, the remoants of a bygone existence. yet wboile work gives one the 8ensatioll u( p1" 'lIi,;tent nostalgill .. .. This is Charles Meryon . His wurk a8 1111 cllgraver rCllrt'1lent8 one of the profoundest potmltl ever wrilten aLflul a city" ami what is trul y original ill all these &triking pictures is that they seem to he. the image. despite Iwing drawn directly from life. of things that are finished. that are Ilea,1 or almut to die. , .. Thi ~ imJlre88ion exists independentl y of the most scrullulous Hlld realistic reprOtlUt:liulI nf s uhj ~ t s chosen by the artisl , Tbere was sonwt hing of tile visionary ill Merynn . and he undouhtedly divined that these rigjd alld un yielding forms \'n :l'c I:phellll'ral , Illut tht:l>~ singular beautiell were going thr wa y of all fl esh . lie li"h!lIf'ti tn the language dPokeu h y st.rcels a nti alleys thill , since the ('arliest da YIi of the !'il),. wt're hcing continually torll Ull II n ti rt.'tIone. alld that is wh y hi" evoca ti\'e poctr y J»akeH cfllll act with llll'" lolidtlle ,\ ges through tIle ninrlt..'t'lith-cciltury cilY, .... hy it ra;!iutcli eterllul nlelancilOly Ihrough the vision of illllllt"diatc appearllllcef " '·OM Parill ill gone ( II U IlUmall hea rt I c:.hal1ges half so (ast as II city's fa e,e) ,·,It Th e~r
two linea by Baudelaire could .erve a. an epigraph to Meryon'li cutire oeuv re,," Gustave Geffroy, Chllrle, Meryon (Paria. 1926). PII . 1-3. [C7a,l ) " There i~ no need to imagine that the allcient porW triltmphllm was alr eady au arched gateway. On the contrary, l inee it served an entirely symbolic act , it would originally have lH:cn erected by the simple8t of mean&--namely, two posts and a straight lintel. .. Ferdin and Noack. Triumph urad Triumphbogen. Warburg Library Lectures. vol. S (Leipzig, 1928), II , 168. [C7a,2) The march through the triumphal arc h a. rite de pauoge: " The. ma rch of the troops through the narro .... gateway hae been ctlmpared to a ' rigorous passage through a narTOW opening,' something to which the significance of a rebirth attacheli:' Ferdinand Noack, Triumph und Triumphbogen , Warbur g illrary Lc.-clUres, \'01. 5 (Leipzig, 1928), p . IS3 , [C7a,3}
The fantasies of the decline of Paris are a symptom of the ract that technology was not accepted. These visions bespeak the gloomy awareness that along with the great ciries have evolved the mearu to raze them to the ground, [07a.4] Noack mentionli " tbat Scipio'! arcb stood not above but opposite the road that leads up to the Capitol (adversus viam , qua in Capitolium ascenditur). , .. We are thus given insight into the purely monumental character of these structu res. which are without any practical meaning." On the other hand , the cultic significance of these structures emerges a8 clearly iu their relation to special oocasioll8 88 in their isolation : " And there, where mllny .. , later ar cheslitaod-at the beginning and end of the &tree!, in the vicinity of Lridgcs . at the entrance to the forum , at tile city limit- there was operative for the , .. Romans a conception of the sacred n boundary or thres hold ." Ferdinand Noack , Triwnph und 1iiumphbogen , Warburg Lihrary Lecture • . vol. S (Leipzig, 1928), pp. 162 , 169 ,
(C8. ' ) Apropos of the bicycle: " Actually one II bould nol de
ance of vaults and underground pan ages." Roger Caillo~, " Paris, mythe ruudcrne." NUlllIelk Revue !rmlliC1ue. 25 , no. 284 (May 1, 1937), p. 686.
[ca,.]
"The whole of the riveS6uche, aU the wa y from the Tour de Nesle to the Tombe .Issoire .. . , i@nothing but a hatchway leading from the surface to the depths. And if the moderll demolitions reveal the mysteries of the upper world of Paris, perhaps one day the inhabitants of the Left Bank will awaken startled to discover the mysteries below. " Alexandre Dumas, Le, Mohicaru rk Pam , vol. 3 (Paris. 1863) , [Ca ,5] " This intelligence of Blanqui's •... this tactic of ! ilence, this politic! of the catacombs, must have made Barbes hesitate occasionaUy, a8 though confronted with ... an une1tpected stairway that suddenly gapes and plllDges to the cellar in an unfamiliar house:' Gustave Geffroy, L'Enfenne (Paris, 1926), vol. I , p , 72, [Ca,']
Messac « in Le " Detective Novel" et l'injluence ch to
pen.,~ scwntifique
[Paris, 1929].> p . 419) quotes from Vidocq's Memoires (chapter 45): "Paris is a spot on the globe, but this spot is a sewer and the eJ!lptying point of all sewers:' [C8a, lj
fA Panorama (a literary and critical revue appearing five times weekly), in volume 1, number 3 (its last number), February 25, 1840, under the title "Diffirult ~estions ": "Will the universe end tomorrow? Or must it-enduring for all eternity-see the end of our planet? Or will this planet, which has the honor of bearing us, outlast all the othu worlds?" \hy characteristic that one could write this way in a literary revue, (In the first number, "To Our Readus," it is acknowl· edged, furthennore, that fA Panorama was founded to make money.) The founder was the vaudevillian Hippolyte Lucas, (C8a,2j Saint who each nighlled back The entire flock to the fold . diligent shepherdeu. When the world and Paris come to the end of their term, May ),ou, with II firm ijtep and a light hand, Through the last ya rd and the laMl portal. w d back, through the vault and the folding door, The entire Rock 10 the right hand of the Father. Charles Peguy. La Tapu,erte. de Sainte·Genevieve, cited in Marcel Raymond, De Baudelaire au Surreawme (Paris , 1933). p . 219. I ~ [C8a,3j Di8l.rUlil of cloi ~ te r8 and clergy during the Commune: "Even more than with the incident of Ihl' Rue P icpus, eve r ything I)Os8ihle was done to excite the popular inHlthnatiull thanks tu the vaults of Saint-laurent. To the voice of . , the preu was ~.
,
added publicizing through images . Etienne Carjat phologra plu:-d the skelelolllJ , ' with the aid of electric light. ' , .. Mter P icpus. after Saint-laurent , at an intervaJ of ~o me dIl YS, tile Convent of the Aii!;umption and the Churcll of Not.re· J)ame-desVir-lOires, A wave of madJleU (lvertl)uk tile capital. Everywhere peoVlc thought they were fmding Luried vaultlJ and skeletonil.·· Gilur ges laronze. lIilfoire de la Commune de I B7J (Parill, 1928), p . 370. [C8a,4j 1871: "The popular imagination could give itself free reign , and it took ever y opportunity to do so, There wasn' l oll.e civil-service official wlto did nOI seek to expose the method of treachery then in fallbion: the s ubterranean rut~lhod . In tbe prison of Saint-Lazare. they searched for the underground passage which was sahl to lead from the chapel to Arge nteuil- that is, to cross two branches of the Seine IIlId some ten kilometers as the crow flies . At Saint -Sul pice,the passage suppolledly ab utted the chateau of Versailles. 'I Georges Laronze, flu toire de to Commune de 1871 (Paris . (928). p. 399. [C8a,5] " A8 a matter of fact , men had indeed replaced the prehistoric wate.r. Many centurie~ after it had witbdrawn, they had begun a similar ovt·rflowing, They had spread themselves in the same hollows, pushed out in the same directions. It was down there--toward Saint-Merri , the Temple. tbe Hotel de Ville, toward Les Ualles. the Cemetery of the Innocenl.ll . and the Opera, in the places where water had found the greatest difficult y el caping, 1>laceli which had kept oozing with infiltrations, with subterranean streams-that men , too, had most completely saturated the soil. The most densely populated and busiest qltartwrs still lay over wbll! had OlU!e been marsh ." Jules Romain~ , Le, Homme' de bonne volonte.. Look I , Le 6 octobre (Paris caking of the presenl time and of lhinge gener ally cOlisidered fri,·olous." Baudelaire, L 'Art romantique , vol. 3, ed . Rachette (Pa m ), pp .94....95. 1-
[05.IJ
Bauclelnirll ,Iest'ribcs the imJlre~8ion thai the. consummate d andy must convey: " A ri"h 111[111, perhaps. but more likely an oul-of-work Hcrcule. !" Baudelaire, L 'Art romllflfique (PHril). p. 96. 19 [05,2] Ln the eS!lIy on Guyt, the crowd appears as the supreme remedy (or boredoru : "'An y man . ' he said Olle day, in the counle of one of thMe convenations which he illumines with burning glance and evocalive gesture, 'any man ... who can ye t be bored ill th e heart of the mldtitude is a blockhead! A blockhead! And I despise him !" Baudelaire, L jl rt romantique, p . 65,!O [05,3]
Among all the subjects first marked out [or lyric expression by Baudelaire, one can ~ put at the forefront: bad weather. [05,4] Ali attributed III
cutain "Carlin," the well-known anecdote about Debur8u (the actor affii cle(l with horedom) forms the piece de resi8tance of the venified Eloge de l"mnlli <Encomium to BoredoDl>, by Charles Boiu iere. the Philotechnical Society (Paris. 1860).-" Carlio" is the oameo( a breed of doga; it comes from the Srst name of aD Italian actor who playt!.1.l Ha rlequin . (05,5] II.
or
"Mollotony feeds on the new." Jean Vaudal, I.e Tuble"" flair; cited in E. J.loux.
"L' Esprit lit's livrell," NO ltvell.e! litteruire., Nlivembllr 20, 1937.
[05,6)
Coumerpan to Blanqui 's view o[ the world : the universe is a site of lingering catastrophes. (O5.7] On L'E/~ili par Ie; wires: Blanqui, who, on the threshold of the grave, recognizes the Fort du Taureau as his last place of captivity, vmtes this book in order to o~n new doors in his dungeon. [05a.I) On L'Elmliti pur Ie; (Islrrs: Blanqui yields to bourgeois society. But he's brought ttl his knces with such force that the throne begins to totter. [D.'ia.2] On L'Elrrn ili par I~J aJlre;: The people of the nineteenth century see the StarS against a sky which is spread Out in this text. [05a.31
It may be that the figure of Blanqui surfaces in the "Litanies of Satan"; "You who give the outlaw that serene and haughty look" ( Baudelaire, OawreJ, > cd. Lc
Danu=:c, (vol. 1 [Paris, 193 1],) p. 1 38).~1 In point of fact, Bau delaire did a drawing from memory that sh ows the head o f Blanqui. {D5a,41
j
]
f "
To grasp the significance of nourxQuti, it is necessary to go back to novelty in everyd ay life. \Vhy d oes everyone share the newest thing with someone else? Presumably, in order to triumph over the dead . TIlls only wh ere there is nothing really new. [05a.5] Blanqui's last work, written during his last imprisonmen t, has remained en· tircly UlUloticed up to now, so far as I can sec. It is a cosmo logical speculation. Granted it ap pears, in its opening pages, taSteless and banal. But the awkward deliberations o f the autodidact are mOOy the prelude to a speculation that o nly t.h.i.s revolutionary could develo p. ~ may call it theological, insofar as heU is a subject of theology. In fact, the cosmic vision of the world which Blanqui lays o u t, taking his data from the mechanistic natural sciener of bourgeois society, is an infernal vision. AI. the same time, it is a complement of the society to which Dlanqui, in his o ld age, was forerd to concede victory. What is so unsettling is that the p resentation is entirely lacking in irony. It is an Wlconditio nal surren der, but it is simultaneously the mOSt terrible indicunent o f a society that p rojects this image o f the cosmos-Wlderstood as an image of itself-across the h eavens. With its trenchant style, this ...."rk displays the most remarkable similarities b oth to Baudelaire: and to Nietzsche. (Letter ofJanuary 6, 1938, to Horkheimer.}t'l [D5:.1,61 From B1anqui'a L 'efem ite par ks aslre,; " Wha t ma n d oes not fmll hinu elf sometimei faced with Iwo opposing courBes? The olle he declines would make for a fa r differeot life, while leaving him his p articular individ uality. One leads to miIIer y, shame, servitude; the other, to glory a nd liberty. Here, a lovely woma n and h appi· !less; Ihere, fury and tlesola tion . I am spea king now for both sexes. Take your chances or yo ur choice--it makes no difference, for you will nol escape your destiny. But IlenillY finds no footing in infinity, which knows no alterllalive and makes room for every thin&;. There exist5 a world wh4'! re a DIan follow! the road thai , ill the other world , his double did not take. His existence divides io two. a g10he fllr each; it biIurcalea a aecond time, a third time, tho u ~a nd8 of times. He thus pOSBeues fuD y formed doubles with innumer ahle variants , whir h, ill In ulti· plying, always represent him a8 a IJer aon but capture only fragment ~ of his tics tiny. All that one might bave been ill thil world , olle is ill another. M Ollg with one's elilire existeoce from birth to death . experienced in a moltitutle of places . olle also liv!'lI, in Yl't olher placea, ten thousand llifferen t veuionll of it. " Citell ill Goslave Cdfroy, t 'Enferme (Paris, 1897), p . 399. [06,1] From the conclusion of t 'Eternite par les uslres: " What 1 wri te al thill mOllwllt in a cell of the Fort Ilu Tllureao I have written alld "hall write throughout all eter · uily-Itl II tuble, with II pell, clothed ail J am now, in circ umst" n!!e8 like Ihese:' Cited in Gustave Geffroy, L 'Enf ermi (Paris, 1897), I). 401. Right It fl er ·th i~. Cd·
froy writes: ·'I.! e th us inscr ibes his £ate, al ellch in8hwl of its Iluration, a!!r OSS ~h e UUJllber leil~ IIta r@. Hi~ IIrlllon eell is multiplied to i.nfinit y. Throughoul 1.lIe enbre IIrtt. ven t:, h • ." the same confined m un thai he is 0 11 this ea rth , with his rebellious ~Irellgth a nd his freetlom of thought." [D6.2] From the conclusion o£ L 'eternili pu r Ie... (/S tres: " At the present time, t.he entire life of our "Ianet , fr om birth to death, with all its erimee and miseric~, is being Iive{1 pa rtly here and p artly tilere, day by day, on myriad kind red planelll. What we vu ll ' progreu' ie confined 10 each pa rticular world. and vauishes with il . AJ· ""ay ~ and ever ywhere in the lerrestriailire na, the same ,Irama , tbe same selling. on the same lIurrow tage.-a noisy humanity infutualed with ils own grandeur, bt"lieving itself to be the univer ile and living in its prison &8 though in 80me im· mense realm , only to foomler at an earl y date along with il8 gJobe , which has borne ",; tll II ~ pes l disd ain , the b urden uf human arrogance. The slime monotnny, the same inullobUily. on other heavenly bodies. T he ulilven e repeals iuelf endlessly and paws the grouDtI in plalle ." Ciled in Gustave Ce£froy, L 'Enfe rme (Paris, 1897), 1" 402. [06a,11 B1anqui expressly emphasizes the scieutilic charHcler of hill th e~e8, which would have nothing to do witb Fourierist fr ivolitit': s. " One mUill coocede thai eac.h particular combina tion of materials and people ' i8 bound to be repeated thousa nds of time~ in order to satisfy Ihe demands of infinity.'" Cited in GeCfroy, L 'Enfe rme [06a,2] (Paris, 1897) , p. 400 . B11Ul11Ui's misanthropy: "'The varialions begin with those living creatures that have" will of thl!ir own , or something lik~ eal'ricea . All soon as buman beings enter the 8CCntl:, inulgination enler t with them. It is not aa though thtl:y havtl: much effecl on Ihe plauet. ... T heir tur bulent activity never 8t'riou Nly disturhs the nalural progreniou of physical phenomena, Ibough it dis rup ts bumanil)·. It iMtherefore ;uh i sable 10 a nticipate thi, subversive influence, which ... tear s apa rt nution8 and hri ngs down empires. Certainl y these bruta lities r UII their course witllOut e,'en scr atching the terrestri al surfau. The disappearance of the disroplorfl would leave no tr ace of their self· ttylcd sovereign presence, and would suffice to return nat ure to il. virtually unmolested virginity." Blantlui , L 'E' ernite <pa r le8 asfre. (Paris, 1872», pp . 63-64. [06a,3) Final ch apter (8. ··Uesome") of Blanllui's L 'Etemite p (lr Ie! fl 5Irp.s: "Till' entire tt nivt' r~e is composetl of alltral sylilems. To Cn)alc them, lIature has unly a hulltlrctl simllle bodies a t illl tliSJl08al. De.lpile thc great ad vantage it ,Ierives from thcse resuurces , and the i llnllmt~r a bl e combin8tions that Illest: resourcea aifurli i ~ feo cuntlity. Ihe resull is nl!1!euaru y afini,p. Illllnher, like thai of th., clellleliU tJu~ m· lit:lvcs; and ill order to flU ils expanse , nature mUMt re ,,"~ LII to infi nity .. ach nf iu origi1lal combinations or ' ypes. I 5u each hea vt~ nl y Lotl y, whutcver it lIIiJ;ht bl', e"iu&in infillite num ber in time 8.nd sp ace, not mJ1y ill orle of i!! aspects h ut as it i& at eadl St.. lIla te. Tl, ruIIghuul )'CUlr Lrillialltl"limr.! wo) 10llg to ~ee- NOlllri, h fore ... t r Ih ... r hildn n "f lif,.; And u n~ ,lay nlan l'.erh. I '~ ' hi. lit·.ti n,- fulfill,.,I. Will rerl>ver in you aU lhc: Ihi np he lo u lo~ t. , pp. 49.48. [0 10.4] Life within the magic circle of eternal return makes for an existence that never em erges from the auraec. [DtOa, l]
As tife becomes mon= subjeet to administrative norms, people must learn to wd..it more. Games of chance possess the great charm of f~eing people from having to [01 0a,2] wait. The boulevardier (feuilletonist) has to wait, whereupon he really waits. H ugo's 'Waiting is life" applies first of all to him. [0101.3] The essence of the mythical event is n=rum. Inscribed as a hidden figure in such events is the futility that furrows the brow of some o f the heroic personages o f the underworld (Tantalus, Sisyphus, the Danaides). TIUnking o nce again the thought of etemaJ recurrence in the nineteenth century makes Nietzsche the figure in whom a mythic fatality is n=alized anew. (The hell o f eternal damnation has perhaps impugned the ancient idea of eternal recurrence at its most fonnida · ble point, substituting an eternity of tormen ts for the eternity of a cycle.) [0 10a.4] TIle belief in progress-in an infinite perfectibility understood as an in.finite ethical task- and the representation of etemaJ rerum are complementary. They are the indissolu ble antinomies in the face of which the dialectical conceptio n of historical time must be d eveloped, In this conception. the idea of eternru return appears precisely as that "shallow rationalism" which the belief in progress is accused of bcing t while fai th in progress seems no less to belong: to the mythic mode of th ough t than d ocs the idea of eternal n=tum. [0 10a.5)
truted lite s pirit IIf tllf' linlr~s Q ~ a mi rro .. eOllcent ru te, IllI' ray~ of the SlIn , a book "" hieh lo'....er\!1J up ill lIIaj e~ l i e g1nry I tl the heuvens like II prime.val fore, l. II book in whid' ... u bouk fvr which ... fin ally, a book wh ich . . . by whjch and th rough which [ the n1ll8t lung-windt.-d SI}t!i'ifications follow] ... a book ... a hook . .. this IJilok was Iht· Dilli"e Comedy.' Loud appla use." Karl Gutzko w, Brk/e Uu,f Pari.! (Leipzig, 1842), vol. 2, Ill" 151- 152. [E1,3]
E [Haussmannization, Barricade Fighting] TIle nov.~ry realm of decorations,
11l(: chaml orlandsca~, of architccrurc:, And all the effect of scenery rest Solely on the law of pcTsp=ctlvc. - FnlIll BOhle, 1At1l/rr-CaltclliJIIIIIJ, odLr ltu.,flristiJcJu Erll/anmg """. Kltitlimcr wniiglich im Biill1lnrkbrn iibliflln mmm. oiirtl'r (MwUcb), 1'. i4
I \'OlC7lItc the Beautiful. tht' Good, and all thing! great; lkautiful nature, on which great an resl5H ow it cndlaJ1Ui the car and channs the cyt!! 1 love spring in blossom: womCll and f'Q.'Ie5. -CJ,yrJJion d ',m 111m drot7l1lllitux (Baron HaUSlimarul, 1888) 11lt
breathless capitals
Opelled thcl15ch "CI to the cannon. - Pim'c Dupont,
~
ChaN dtJ iludiotlb (PariJ. 1849)
characteristic and, properly sJ>(aking. sole decoration of the Biedcrmeier room "'was afforded by the curtains, which-e.xtremeiy refmed and compounded prefenlbly from several fablics of different colors-were furnished by the uphol. Mcrcr. For nearly a whole century aftez>vard, interior decoration amo wlts , in theory, to providing insuuctiolls to u pholsterers for the tasteful arrangonent of d r.lperies." Max von Boehn, Die Modr. ;111 XIX. Jahrhunder/J vol. 2 (Munich, 1907). p. 130. This is something like the interior's perspective on the window.
· nlC
[EI ,I]
P'·'·-'I'f'/·th·ul l'l,uraClcr 'IC lilt' 'Till"I]"". wilh ~i ... 1... l til'olll ~ Wl' I'C wo .. " ulul.·.. 'lI'a lh.
il li
IIIUllif(llll
f101l1l .·..1I.
AI I"ulIt fi ve to {EI ,2]
l'I"' p -~ hi,)", l"iwlvri(·. p,·nil',·ttivul figul't," "f ~ pef"c h : " '"ddt' nl ally, tile rlgure of
\::rl'ah' I .·fT.· ... I. l"lIlpluyt'cllJy all Frt'llI'll oralor8 fro m their p(H,l i lllll~ llulil rilrunes, lIuII II,I;; !,!"I'll y mu e h like Ihi g: ' Tllt'rt' Wll~ in tile Middle Ages a hOt)k which CUDce.n-
Strategic basis for lhe perspectival articulation of the city. A contemporary seeking 10 justify the construction of large thoroughfares under Napoleon I I I speaks o f them as "unfavorable ' to the habitual tactic of local insurrection.'" M arcd Poete, V"e u;e de cit; (Paris, 1925), p. 469. "Open up this area o f continual disturbances." Baron Haussmann, in a memorandum calling for the extension o f the Boulevard de Strasbourg to Chatelet. Emile de Labedolli~re, it Nouut:au Pam, p. 52. But even earlier than this: "They arc= paving Paris with wood in order to deprive the Revolution of building materials. Out o f wooden block.s there will be no more barricades construaed." Gutzkow, Bn'¢ nUl Pam, vol. 1, pp. 60-61. What this means can be gathered from the fact that in 1830 there wel'e 6,000 barricades. (E l.'] " In Paris . .. they lire fl eeing the IIrcade8. 8 0 lung in fa shiun , as one flees stale air. The arcades un' d ying. From ti me to time, one of them is closed, like the sad Passage Delllrllle, where, in Ihe wilderness of the galler y, fema le figures of a tawdry an tiquit y used tu dance along the shopfronls. as in Iht' scene, from Pumpeii inlf'rl'reted by Guerinon Henehl , T ire arcade Ihat for Ihe Parisian was .II sort of slIluu·walk . where yo u strollt.-d and smoked and chatted , is now notbing more than a species of refuge which yo u think of when it r aiu8. Some of the arcade!! main lain II cert ain a tt raction on acco unt of this or that fallled esta blishment still to be found the ..e. Bul it is IIle lena nt 's renown thai prolongs the excitement. or rat her the tlca th Uglllly, of lire plncc. Tire arcades have one grell t defect for moder:1I Parisians: yuu r.o uld say thut , just like certaill paintlngll dOlle from stilled perspecti ve!!. II,tfre in 1It!t!t1 of air." Jul,'s Clan·tie, La Vie Pari!. 1895lParil. 1896). PI" 47£(,
a
[E1,5]
Th~ radical transfom13tion of Paris was carried OUt under Napoleon HI mainly along the axis running through the Place de la Concorde and the H 6tel d e Ville. It may be that the Flllllco·Prussian War of 1870 was a blcssing for the architectural . r Pan.5, seemg . th at Napoleon III had intend ed to alter whole d is. . wlage 0 Incts of the cit)'. Stahr thus writes, in 1857, that one had to make haste now to sec lht: old Paris, lo r "the new rulel; it seems, has a mind to leave but little of it standing." (Adolf Stahr, Jfac/tfiirifJaJjml, vol. I (Oldenburg, 1857), p. 36.) [EI .O]
111e stil1cd perspective is p lush for tlte cycs. Plush is lhe material o f the age of louis Philippe. DDusl and Rain 0 (E 1,7)
Regardin g "stifled perllpecLives": "'Yo u can come 10 Ihe p"noramnlo do Jrswinp from nature .' David l uiIJ Ilill s tude llt8 .·· E mile de LahedoUiere, Le NUI/ IleU U Pam (Paris).!>. 3 1. [EI ,8)
]
iJ '"
Among the most impressive testimonies to the age's unquenchable thirst for perspectives is the perspective painted on the stage of the opera in the Musee Grevin. (This arrangement should be described.) [E1.9) " Having, as they do , the a ppearKuce of walling-ill a UI 8l1iive eternit y, IbulSma nn', urban work~ a re u wholly app ropria te repl'esclitUlioli of the absolute gov_ ernin g principles of the E mpire: repressioll uf every ind ivid ual fo rma tion . every or gluu c leU·development , ' fund amental haIred of aU individuality. ,,, J . J . H one~_ geT, Gnm tUteine ciner allt$emeinen Kulturgeschichte der n e~sten Zejt. vol. 5 (uipzig, 1874), II. 326. BUI Louis Philippe was alreatl y known all the Roi.-Mm;on <Maso n Kin g>. [E la,l ] th ~ trall5fornla tion of the cit y unde r Napoleon III : " The SUb 80il hal been profoundly disturh(:d hy Ihe insta Ua tiou of gas nlailill a nd the construction o( sewen . . .. Ne\'er hefore in Paris h ave 80 nlany building s upplies been moved about . $0 many hOU HC~ and aparlllu:.llt buildings cons tr uc led. 80 man)' monume n18 res tored or e recte d, 80 ma ny fa\~ades dre81ed with cut ~ tlm e . ... It wa. necell8ary to ac t quic kly and 10 take advantage of properties al:ll" irell a l a ve r y high 0081: a doub le stimulus. In Paris. sha llow b a~menl il ha"e taken the place of lleep cellare, wlLicil r~ lui red excavations a full I tory deep. The use of COlu;r ete and cement , whic h was firilmad e p088ible by the Iliscovcries of Vieat. has contribUled both to the r eailonable COll i a nd to tlll~ boldne88 of thelle , ub ~ tru ctions." E. Levasseur, Histoire deJi ciaueJi ouvr wr eJi e l de l'induJl trie en Fnlllce de 1 789 1870 , vol. 2 (Parillo 19M) , pp. 528-529. 0 Arc ades 0 [Ela,2]
dise t haI ufH!n wall lIothing more tha n logs wrapped ill pape r. It wo uld .. ve il procure gro Upll of c us tomer! 10 fillihe shup 011 t he day thej llry nlade their prescribed \'isil. It fllhrif'a led leaM!~xlIggera l ed . ,·xtended . a lltc(la tcd--t)1I sliceu of old puper be ll rin g offi cia l IIla mpli. which it hat! ma uagell to pn)(' ure. It would have stores nllwl y repa inte d lind daffed with improvised clcrkll, whom it (laid three francs a d ay. It was a 80rt of midnight gang Iha t r iflcd the till uf the city governme nL " Ou Camp , Paris . vul. 6, pp. 255-256. (EIa,4] Engels' c ritil(ue of barricade lac tics: "The 11I 08t that t he ins urrection caD a ctuall y implel1lt:llt ill Ihe way o£ l ac tinl practice is tJ lII co r recl cOlls tructio n a lld defe nse of p single h llrriclldc." Bul "eyen in t he d.llllllic period o £ st reel fightin g, . . . the ba r ricpdtl produced more or II mora l t han a ma te ria l eJfec.t . It was a means of ;;haking Ihe I leadfastne88 uf the military. U il held o n Wllililus was a u a ined. the n \'iGlory W iUI WOIl ; if not , there was de f~at. ·' Friedrich E ngds. Ilitroduction to Karl Mar;.;:, Die KllU senkampfe if! Frcmkre idl, .18'UJ- 1850 (He rlin , 1895) , pp . 13.14. I (Ela.5)
On
a
. No less retrOgrade than the tactic- of civil war was the ideology of class suuggl.e. Marx on the February Revolution: "In the ideas of the proletarians, ... who confused the finance aristocracy with the bourgeoisie in general; in the imagination of good o ld republicans, who denied the very existence of classes or, at most, admitted them as a resuJt of the constirutional monarchy; in the hypooiticaJ
phrases of the segments of the bourgeoisie up till now excluded from power-in 0/ the bourgroisie was abolished with the introduction of the
all these, the rule
republic. All the royalists were transfonned into republicans, and all the millionaires of Paris intO workers. The p hrase which corresponded to this imagined liquidation of class relations was fratemiti." Karl Marx. Die KitwenAiimpfi in
FranRrnch (Berlin, 1895), p. 29.2
[£la,6)
" Paris. liS wt\ bud it in t11t~ pe riod fo Uowing the Re vo lution of 1848, was abou t to heco m ~ uni nhabitable. Its populatio n bud been greatly e nla rged and unsett1ed by the illt"eS8a nl acti vity or the ra ilruad (wlwlIf! ra ils extenued furlber eac h day and linketi llp with t.hose uf neighboring countries), aod now Ihis Ilopulutio n Wail suffocaling iJI the narrow, hmglell , putrid alleywll.Ys in which it was forcih ly confined ." ~Maximtl) 011 Camp . l'(lr i.s, \'01. 6 <Parill, 1875>. p . 253. [Ela,3)
o
Expropriatioll' uUtler Ha Uu malill . "Cert llin harri8tr rs ma de a s pecialt y of this kind of cuse .... They de£ellded real I:Ml.ltc f'x prop ria tio Il8. indUijlriul expropriations . II:II HIII exprOprill.lilJlIs. sentime ntHI f'x pro priHtiulIs; they s pok,~ IIf a roof for fa t1 u:rs allli II. cradle fur iufanls .... ' li ow did yu u make YUll r fortulle? · a pnrvellu waij as k ~.I : ' I'''e be('ll ex propriated .' came t hc n-spu n!e .... .A III"W imlns tl")' was (' reu ted. which, (JII the lu't:lext of t uking in hand tile ill"'rclits of IIIC' expropriated . ditl nul s hrin k fro m the " lIs,·, 1 fruml. . .. It soughl u ul ~ mall mlllluful'lurcril a mi cqlliPI'l.'1 lllic m wit.h tlt'luiled UI:CUI/III I!uuk ll. fuille i.ll vl·lIl oric;;, a lltl fuke mcrc han·
" Pa ris is (flllsty a nd dOlle.·· wuill V,,-ujJIut , I..es Odeurll d l! Puris ( Paris. 19 14). [E2 .2J p. I 't
In a ma nifestu in which he proclaimll the righl 10 wo rk, Lamartine I pellks of tile "atl vcni llf I.he indus lrial Chri$I. '" l ournal des economiste.s. 10 ( 1845), p . 2 l2 .J Indus t ry 0 [Ela,7]
·'The reconst ruction of till" city ... . hy uhligiug 11m workers 10 find Iutlgillgs in .)utiying urrondiueme nll. h us dissoh'ed Ihe bo uds ur neighllorhootl tha t lIrevio us ly united t hem with I h~ bo urgeoisie.'· U:.vasllcnr, Ili&toire d elf ciflsself ou· "rierel et de f'indlllltrie e n Fran ce, "\'1.11. 2 1861), semester 2, vol. 3, pp. 143- 144 ("D ie Pariscr Kunst· ausstellung von 1861 und d ie bildcnde KUIl.'it des 19 .... Jahrhundel1s il~ Frankreich"). The aUlhor probably J ulius Meyer. These rem arks are aUlled at Haussm rum. D Plush 0 [E2a.3] Remarkable propensity ror stnlctUrtS thal convey and connect-as, of cour~e. the arcades d o. And this connecting o r mediating function has a literal and spaual as well as a figurati ve and Stylistic bearing. One thinks, above aU_or th~ way th~ Louvre links up with the Tuileries. ~TIle imperiaJ government has built pracu-
cally no ncw independent buildings, aside from barracks. But, then, it has been all the more zealous in completing the barcly begun and half·finished works of previo.u~ ccntu.rics .... At first si~t, it seems str.mgc that the governm ent has made It Its bllSIl~CSS to preserve CXlsting 1ll0 nwnclllS .... TIIC govcnullent, however, does not aun to pass over the people like a storm; it wants to engrave itself lastingly in their existence .... Let the old houses collapse, so lo ng as the old monuments remain." Di~ Grt:mbol(1/ (1861), semestCT 2, vol. 3, pp. 139-141 (~ Dic Pariser KUTlStausstelJung von 186 1"). 0 Dre."UIl H ouse 0 [E2a,4} Connection uf Iht, r ail r oads 10 fl aussmunn', proj ects. From a memorandum b y lI auu manll : "The railway Sialions un:' lod ay tJle prilll:illul enlr yways inlo Puris. To pul them ill f!nnllllUlliea lion wilh lhe cil y center Ity means of large arter ies is a fII'l!el!si l y uf Ihe firsl order:' E . de Lahetlolliere. lIu toire du no u veau PcJru, p . 32 . This aJl plies ill p81'licu lar to Ihe so-called Boulevard du Centre: the exle,ulion of till' lJutdCl'UI·d lie Strasbourg to Ch il lell'! by what is Iml ay the 8 0ulevllrd Sf!h allw pu!. [E2a,5} ,Openin g uf lhe 80ultwa r d S ,~bast opollike Ihe Ilu vdling of a munumenl . "At 2:30 iu li lt· a(II'rlloOI1 . ul Ihe IIIOIDent the [imperial) procell~ i o l1 WO !; uppruuchil1g (rom the Boult'.\·ul·d Sa inI -DelLis. an imm en ~e seri ul. whid. hud mas ked Ihe entrance to tbe Buulevard lit' Seh aSlopol frmn this side. wu dr8Wl1 like 0 curtain . This drapery IlUd h t."t'.D I.. ,ng IJt'.I ~'eell Iwo Moorish ('oillmns . 0 11 Ihe pcdelltals o( whiGh wl!re Iii,'lll'cs I·eprcsenl.illg the artll. Ihe scienccs, iudustl·Y. and commerce:' Labcdollii-re. f1i~ t oire (/u fI(.l u veuu Pu ris. 1" 32. [E2a,6J
H aussmann's predilection for perspectives, for long open vislaS, represents an attempt to dictate an fo rms to technology (the technology of city planning). 'Ibis always results in kitsch, {E2a,7] 1.I 0 \l ~S m 1LOII 0 11 himsdf: " Born ill Paris, in the old Faubourg du Roule, whieh is juin,',1 no,,- 10 Ih,· Fa ubourg Suinl -liollure at tile poillt where the Boulevard II UlIss nlU ll1i I'utls ami the t\\'CIlII C d., Friedl nlld be9flS; studen l a l the CoUege 1l "nri I V ami till' 01.1 Lyci-e Na poieull. which is situaled on the Mont agne Sainte(;1.' 1lI ' \' i \~ \'I·. wl1('.re I laler s tll (lit~d at Ihe Inw sehoul und , at odd mOl/wnlS, al the S.. ..J )Ot Ill It! II lJd tilt' College II., Frll llce . I took walks, mort'Over. thrlJ ugh all paris o ( 1111' f' il y. alllil ",' IU u(lell a luur h"II , du rillg my yo ulh , ill prolracted ('onteml'lutiuli "f II 111111' o( Ihis lII ull y-sidl,,1 I'aris , II mup which reveall:d tu me wea knesses in the lIelllO"III·k 1)( I)ultli .. ~ lreC I li'. I n" li pit£: m y lung reliidellG" ill Ilu~ provinces (110 leslI Ih:lI1 1IIO"t'IJty-lwu )'t'a r!J!) . I Ita v.' 1I111f1 l1gl~d In rNa ill my nh~mo ri~s lind illlprf" !Jion,; .. f ('lI·nlt·.· tillll'!! ...'I thaI. ",' 111"/1 I ,,'as "'/lI,II'lIly callell UpOIl . so me days ago . IcJ flin'Ct tht· II'u nsfo nnaliull of lilt' Cll pitlll of ti lt' Empire (u" t' r which lile l 'uileries IIIltI City lI ull lll'" "III'/"l'lltly ulif'i;S,el"ill'!l rlll), I f,·1! llI y ~elf. in fucl. I.ellech a nd d ' Espezcl. p . 423 . [ES,4!
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.g .~
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"At the e ud of his wide avenues, HaullHlllann constructs-for the sake of pcrsptletive--va riou s mOllument.: a Tribunal of COlllmerce at the e lltl of the Boulevard Siballtopol, and bastard churches ill aU styles , s uch as Saint-Augustin (where Bahard copies Byzantille structures), a new Saint-Ambroise. and Saillt - Fran ~o i8Xavier. At the end of the Chau811t!e d ' Nltin . the Church uf La Trinite imitatell the Ren aissance style. SlIillte-Clotiide imitatell the Gothic Htyle. while Saint-J ean de Belleville, Saint-Marcel , Saint-Bernlml, and Silint-Eugi!ne a r~ all products of iron con~ tru ct-ion and the hideous ... mbrllllllreS of false Gothic .... Though Hauu mann had s om ~ good idea8, he realized them badly, Ue de pendetl heavil)' on perspectives, for example. and took ca re to pili nlOlIIlJIlen!& at tile end of hill rectilinear streeU. Tht' idea was exceUcnt . but what awkwardne811 in the €!Xl."t;ulion! The Doulevard de StrlU! bourg fra mes the enormOU8 fli ghl of s tel" at the Tribunal of COIIIIUerCtl. lind the Avenne de l' Opera providell a vil;la of the porter ', looge at the wu\·re." Duhech ami d·£8pe7.el, pp . 416, 425, [E5,5) " Above all. the Pa rili of the Second Empire ill crueUy lacking in beaut)·. No t out: of these grcat straight avenues has the chMrm of the mllgllificent curve of the Rue Saint-Antoi.ne. and no hOllse of th.iil period Mfford/l anythi ng like the tender delight. of an eightcenth-c~tury fa~ade . with illl rigorous and gracefuJ order s. FinaU y. thi ~ illogica l city is struclllraUy weak . Alread y the architecu an:; saying that the Opera i8 cracked , that Ltt Trinite is ennnbling, and that Sllint-AlIglIsUn ill britt le," Duhec:h and d 'Es()ezel. p . 427. [ES,6)
" In Hauilsmann's time, there was a need for new roads, IllIt not ne(:essaril y for the new rQad a he Imih. ... The 111081 u riking featu re of Ius projecu is their scorn for historical eXIH'.rience, . .. HaUilsmann lays Ollt all a rlificial city, like something in Cannda or the Far West . . . . His thuruughfares ra rel y pU8liess any utililY and IH~vel' an y belluty. MO$l a re ali toniah.ull! architectural illtrullion8 that bepn jus t about an ywhere allil cnd lip nowhere. while dClltroyi ng el'er ything in their path ; to c urv~ thcm would ha ve been enough to pl't:St!r\'e prt.-ciouti old huildillg@ ... , We IIIU!!t nOI accuse hilll of too mucll I-I aulls ma llnizatioll . hut of too little. In spit e of Ihe megalulIJoniu of Iii;; theol·ies. his visiull .....as , in Ilrll clic~, lIul large enuugh . No wher e 41id he Bnticipllte the future. Ilis ViiltU8 lauk 1II11I'IiIudt·: hi!; st l'eelS art! too narruw. Ilis I!llIIcclltion is gramliolle bill not grlllUl ; IId tller ill it j u ~ t or pruvidl" nt. ,. Dllbedl li lld tl ' Espezel. PI" 424-126 . . [E5a, l]
'' If we hud to Ilefin e, in a wonl , I.he new s pirit that WIIS CHilling 10 I're~ id e uv,' r the Irallsfornlati on of Pari..'!. we would hllve 10 {'a ll it IllegalunllIllia. The emperor' lllld hili preff:cI aim IU ma ke Paris tht' capitalliut unly of Frll nce bU I IIf till" worll!. , .. CO~lII opll l itan (Jari.'! will h~'lhe result ," Dubecll und d 'Esl'czd, p . 404 . [E.5a.2) " Three fa cts will duminate the projt"(;t to transform Paris: a s trategic fact tll at demand" at the city', centcr, the break-up of the ancient capital alul a nt·w arrangemelll of the huh of Pari,>;; a naturul fa ct, the pusll westwa rtl : and II fact entailed by the !ystemalic megalomania of the idea of unnexing Ihe 8uburhll." Dllhech Ilnd d'Espezel , p. 406. [E5a.3] J .. 11!8 Ferry, upponent of lfall8smallll, at the lIeW8 of the sUI'I'Clider at Se(lan : "The II rmies of the t'- rnperor a re defeated !" Cited in Dubech alld d' EII!)flzci , p. ,130. (£5 • •41 " Until flau lsmllnn , Pa ris had been a city of moderate 41imcnlliollS, where it WDS l ogi~:al to let experience ruJe; it dCl'e1oped according to prt-8Sures dictated by nature. according to laws inscribed in the fll cts of his tory a lld in the face of the landscape. Brusquely, Haun mann aCl.'t;lleratetl ami crowns the work uf revolutionar y and imperial centrilliza tion . . . . All Mrtificial IIl1d inordinate creation , emerged like Minerva from the head of Jupiter, born amid the abuse of the s pirit of Duthority, thiMwork had need of Ihe spirit .If au thority i.ll ortlc.· to develop according to its own logic. No sooner Will it burn , thlln it was cut 0(( at die stlUI·ce .... Here was the p aradoxical lipectar.le of a construction artificial in principle but a bandoned in fact olily to ruJes imposed by nature." Dubeell and tl'Espezei. pp.443-444. {E.5a,5! " Hauu mann cut immenlle gaps right through Paris. and carrit.'ii out Ihe moet startling operations. It seemed li S if Paris wouJd ne\'cr endure Ilili surgicill ('x veriInellIS. Aud yet , tOO M)" docs it not exillt merel y III a colIsl!qllence of hill d uring lind courage? Hill equipment wu meager: the Iho\'j·I , the pick , the wagn n , the trowel , the wheeUlarrow-t he lIimpit' tools of every race. , . before the mech lUliclli agl.'. His achievement was trul y admirllble." LA! Cor hll ~ie r. U rb(/fli~ me (pari ..