Research On Benjamin’s Allegorical Criticism

Walter Benjamin is a philosopher,thinker and critic with far-reaching influence in the contemporary west,with a wide range of academic fields.Benjamin is well-known in academic circles today,which is in sharp contrast to the unknown situation before his death.No matter in the west or in China,the academic research on Benjamin is mostly concentrated in the fields of "Aura",mechanical reproduction,popular culture and so on,and has made rich achievements,but the research on his allegorical criticism needs further deepening.Benjamin’s allegorical criticism developed on the basis of his original allegory theory,and it is the practical model and methodological weapon of his unique theory,and it has extremely high theoretical and practical value.This paper tries to sort out and explain Benjamin’s allegorical criticism theory comprehensively by firmly grasping the core viewpoint,theoretical premise,aesthetic characteristics,practical operation and theoretical value.The introduction defines the perspective of topic selection,research methods and innovative ideas.In this part,this paper focuses on allegory theory and allegorical criticism,and reveals the origin and purpose of Benjamin’s academic thought by combining Benjamin’s Jewish identity and tracing his allegorical life.On this basis,this paper also combs the research status of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism in China and abroad,and expounds the theoretical premise of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism.At the same time,this part also introduces the methods used in this research,that is,literature collection and induction,text reading and theoretical interpretation.Finally,the innovation points of this paper are expounded: First of all,in terms of research ideas,this paper tries to grasp Benjamin’s allegorical criticism holistically and comprehensively from theory to practice,and explores the internal relationship between the theory and practice of allegorical criticism.Secondly,in the theoretical discussion of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism,this paper tries to make a novel expression and orientation.The concept of allegory and allegorical criticism is expressed cognitively;the Baroque Trauerspiel characteristics and modern characteristics of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism are refined and summarized;the practical paradigm of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism is generalized and extracted.Thirdly,this paper tries to explain the theoretical value of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism from different angles.The second part combs the theoretical premise of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism.First of all,from the perspective of literary generality,this paper summarizes the connotation changes and developments of allegory in different historical periods.Secondly,it further summarizes the four theoretical sources of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism: theological religious view,natural historical view,linguistic philosophy view and Marxist thought,and makes an in-depth analysis of their correlation.In addition,before the formal explanation of his allegorical criticism,this paper introduces the criticism theory used by Benjamin before the construction of allegory theory,and tries to deeply grasp immanent criticism and criticism of redemption as the precursors of allegorical criticism theory.On this basis,the purpose of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism and theoretical construction is summarized,and the hypocritical essence of "progress" in capitalist society is revealed through a calm analysis and in-depth discussion of his era.The third part summarizes the theoretical characteristics of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism.Because Benjamin is cautious and responsible for the use of concepts,he didn’t put forward a clear and constant concept in the process of theoretical construction and critical practice.Therefore,in order to sort out and explain Benjamin’s allegorical criticism theory in more detail,this paper starts from Benjamin’s works,and on the basis of criticizing and inheriting previous research results,makes an exploratory and necessary clarification of its related concepts.Then,according to Benjamin’s unique cognition and interpretation of the allegory,this paper reveals the keen concern of allegory for the decaying scene from the theme and content of Trauerspiel,the redemption guidance to human destiny from the characters and contradictions of Trauerspiel,and the unique observation of the allegory on the breaking from the structure and meaning of Trauerspiel,and explains the Baroque Trauerspiel characteristics of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism from these three dimensions.In addition,it expounds the modern characteristics of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism from three dimensions:experience,history and spirit.Finally,it summarizes the aesthetic characteristics of allegorical criticism: emphasizing the fragmentation of the text,paying attention to the polysemy of interpretation,highlighting the melancholy of aesthetics and revealing the redemption of the theme,and the relevant theoretical explanation is carried out..The fourth part discusses the practical operation of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism.Benjamin had specific ways and basic perspectives to use allegorical criticism theory to guide criticism practice.In his criticism practice,he formed a unique critical dimension and constructed novel,in-depth and highly operational practical ways.This paper refines these practical ways into the following four specific paradigms.First,from the dimension of daily life and allegory construction,he took allegory as a writing method;Secondly,from the perspective of historical collision and critical consciousness,he took criticism as a value orientation;Thirdly,from the perspective of allegory text and interpretation space,he regarded theoretical explanation as a critical method;Fourthly,from the perspective of poetic politics and the concept of redemption,he regarded redemption as an ideal appeal.Benjamin’s practice of interpreting Baroque Trauerspiel,works of Baudelaire and Kafka,is the concrete operation of allegorical criticism practice paradigm.The fifth part expounds the theoretical value of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism comprehensively.This paper discusses the theoretical value of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism from four dimensions: experience reconstruction,image reconstruction,political reconstruction and technical reconstruction.Firstly,This paper analyzes Benjamin’s assertion about the phenomenon of real experience reduction and false experience increase,and discusses the experience reconstruction value of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism.Benjamin believed that allegorical criticism could save people’s false individual experience.Secondly,this paper introduces the thinking mode of "dialectical image",and then discusses the image reconstruction value of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism through Benjamin’s allegorical interpretation of urban crowds and urban scenes.Thirdly,inspired by Brecht’s epic theatre,Benjamin’s academic thought had a certain political tendency,and this paper discusses the political reconstruction value of Benjamin’s allegorical criticism.Finally,this paper discusses the technical reconstruction value of allegorical criticism combined with the technical development and film presentation.Films and allegory have internal connectivity,and they both rebuild their value through fragmented artistic expression.Films show a dynamic and panoramic allegory world artistically through their own technical means.