文档介绍：Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin (1936)
The Work of Art in the
Age of Mechanical
Reproduction
Source: UCLA School of Theater, Film
and Television;
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden 1998;
proofed and corrected Feb. 2005.
“Our fine arts were developed, their types and
uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of
action upon things was insignificant parison with ours. But the amazing growth of
our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits
they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient
craft of the Beautiful. In all the arts there is a ponent which can no longer
be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern
knowledge and power. For the last twenty years neither matter nor space nor time has
been what it was from time immemorial. We must expect great innovations to transform
the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps
even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.”
Paul Valéry, Pièces sur L’Art, 1931
Le Conquete de l’ubiquite
Preface
When Marx undertook his critique of the capitalistic mode of production, this mode
was in its infancy. Marx directed his efforts in such a way as to give them prognostic
value. He went back to the basic conditions underlying capitalistic production and
erence/subject/philosophy/works/ge/ (1 of 24)8/18/2006 2:01:19 AM
Walter Benjamin
through his presentation showed what could be expected of capitalism in the future.
The result was that one could expect it not only to exploit the proletariat with
increasing intensity, but ultimately to create conditions which would make it possible
to abolish capitalism itself.
The transformation of the superstructure, which takes place far more slowly than that
of the substructure, has tak