From aesthetics of poetics: The Benjaminian turn in Paul de Man
Abstract
This study traces Benjaminian motifs in Paul de Man's work from the standpoint of de Man's turn from aesthetics toward poetics. Several protocols guide this project. First, I deliberately distance my assessment of de Man from the common habit of interpretation that links him with "deconstruction" be it a literary, philosophical practice or an academic movement. Instead, I adopt two key categories, aesthetics and poetics, as the frame of this study because in my view they are more germane and productive in analyzing de Man's entire work, including his wartime writing. Second by choosing Walter Benjamin for a study of de Man, I do not mean to systematically compare and contrast these seemingly disparate theorists. Rather, I want to argue that Benjamin became an allegorical figure for de Man, reinforcing de Man's intellectual journey from aesthetics to poetics. This study consists of five chapters. Following an introductory preview about the frame of this study in chapter one, chapter two deals with de Man's poetics of negation which problematizes traditional romantic scholarship. Several key concepts are at issue here--consciousness, temporality, and intentionality. Chapter three explores de Man's revalorization of allegory, which is part of his poetics of romanticism, together with Benjamin's turn against the aesthetics of the symbol. In the next chapter I examine how their reevaluation of allegory leads them to formulate a new theory of history, declining to view history as a genetic, organic process. Finally, I investigate the question of aesthetics, politics, and ideology in de Man, paying special attention to his wartime journalism and its possible implications for his later course of thinking. Benjamin's analysis of fascism and aesthetics serves as an illuminating reference point.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Leitch, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Literature|Comparative literature|American literature
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