Th. W. Adorno ushered in the reflection on Denkbild as literary genre, by describing Walter Benjamin’s Einbahnstraße (One Way-Street) as a “collection of Denkbilder”. Adorno takes Thought-Images to be rather “scribbled picture-puzzles, parabolic evocations of something that cannot be said in words” (“Es sind eher gekritzelte Vexierbilder als gleichnishafte Beschwörungen des in Worten Unsagbaren”). They establish “a kind of intellectual short-circuiting (eine Art von intellektuellem Kurzschluß”), which does not hold back conceptual thinking, but shocks through its enigmatic form and by that get thought moving (Th. W. Adorno, Benjamin’s One Way-Street in: Notes to Literature, vol. 2, New York 1992). In light of this, Adorno includes among image-thoughts several different texts such as description of cities, report of dreams, montage and aphorisms. All these texts share the feature of brevity and the figurative element fosters the reflection. The history of Denkbild still has to be drawn. In fact, such a genre does not only belong to Benjamin and to some thinkers closer to him such as Ernst Bloch, Siegfried Kracauer and Adorno himself (thinks of Minima Moralia). Many other writers employ it frequently such as Stefan George, Paul Sheerbart, Robert Walser and Franz Kafka. It was a long-lasting phenomenon; circulation and genealogy of which should be investigated deeply, by taking in count groups and individuals, cultural and editorial contexts and all aspect pertaining to the literary field. This will be the first goal of this volume. The second will be the textual analysis of Thought-Image’s structure. It is necessary a close reading of several texts. Further contribution could be given by comparing Thought-Images with other genres sharing with it similar structure or historical relations. For instance, thinks of the short story (in German Kalendergeschichte, then Kurzgeschichte), aphorism, prose poem (Prosagedicht) and the journalistic constellation of the feuilleton.
Denkbilder. «Thought-Images» in 20th Century German Prose
ROSSI, FRANCESCO;
2017-01-01
Abstract
Th. W. Adorno ushered in the reflection on Denkbild as literary genre, by describing Walter Benjamin’s Einbahnstraße (One Way-Street) as a “collection of Denkbilder”. Adorno takes Thought-Images to be rather “scribbled picture-puzzles, parabolic evocations of something that cannot be said in words” (“Es sind eher gekritzelte Vexierbilder als gleichnishafte Beschwörungen des in Worten Unsagbaren”). They establish “a kind of intellectual short-circuiting (eine Art von intellektuellem Kurzschluß”), which does not hold back conceptual thinking, but shocks through its enigmatic form and by that get thought moving (Th. W. Adorno, Benjamin’s One Way-Street in: Notes to Literature, vol. 2, New York 1992). In light of this, Adorno includes among image-thoughts several different texts such as description of cities, report of dreams, montage and aphorisms. All these texts share the feature of brevity and the figurative element fosters the reflection. The history of Denkbild still has to be drawn. In fact, such a genre does not only belong to Benjamin and to some thinkers closer to him such as Ernst Bloch, Siegfried Kracauer and Adorno himself (thinks of Minima Moralia). Many other writers employ it frequently such as Stefan George, Paul Sheerbart, Robert Walser and Franz Kafka. It was a long-lasting phenomenon; circulation and genealogy of which should be investigated deeply, by taking in count groups and individuals, cultural and editorial contexts and all aspect pertaining to the literary field. This will be the first goal of this volume. The second will be the textual analysis of Thought-Image’s structure. It is necessary a close reading of several texts. Further contribution could be given by comparing Thought-Images with other genres sharing with it similar structure or historical relations. For instance, thinks of the short story (in German Kalendergeschichte, then Kurzgeschichte), aphorism, prose poem (Prosagedicht) and the journalistic constellation of the feuilleton.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
