Walter Benjamin's Phantasmagoria

Author(s): Margaret Cohen

Source: New German Critique, No. 48 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 87-107
Published by: New German Critique
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Walter
Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria

MargaretCohen

Confrontingthe ruinsof theJamfOlfabriken Werke(JamfPetrole-

um FactoryWorks),in thelightthatbreaks"some nightat too deep an
hourto explainaway,"Thomas Pynchon'sEnzian reachesan "extra-
ordinaryunderstanding. slag-heap... isnota ruinatall.
This serpentine
It is inperfect order."'If readers of Walter Benjamin sometimes
working
graspthePassagen-Werk in an Enzian-likeepiphany,at othermoments
theyapprehend it in a fashionmore suitableto Coleridge.Briefly
imaginingthistextin all its completedmajesty,theysee fullydevel-
oped conceptswhereBenjaminleftonlyfragments. The followinges-
say resultsfrom one such glimpseinto Benjamin's Kubla Khan,forit
elaboratesa conceptthatI imaginewould have become a keystoneof
thePassagen-Werk, had Benjamineverbroughthis projectto comple-
tion.This conceptis thephantasmagoria, whichrecurswithtroublingin-
sistence throughoutBenjamin's arcades project. Suggestingthat
Benjamin'sinterestin the phantasmagoriaderivesprimarily fromits
technological as
manifestation, 19th-century visualspectacle, willre-
I
is
veal how thisconcept particularly well-suitedto figureBenjamin's
Marxist-Freudian theoryof base-superstructure relationsin a society
ruledby thecommodityform.In addition,I willarguethatthephan-
tasmagoriafascinates Benjaminforitspowerto capturehisownmeth-
od of criticalillumination.Challengingan Enlightenment opposition
betweenideological mystification and culturalcritique,Benjamin's
phantasmagoriaemblematizes one of the Passagen-Werk's central
methodologicalprojects:to freeMarxistanalysisfromitsoverwhelm-
ingvalorizationof rationalformsof representation.
Rainbow(New York:Viking,1973) 520.
1. Thomas Pynchon,Gravity's

87

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88 MargaretCohen

FromDream to Phantasmagoria:
The Transformation
ofBenjamin'sParisianResumes
The importanceofthephantasmagoria to Benjaminemergesin his
"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury,"a 1935 resumbof the
arcadesprojectwritten fortheInstitute forSocialResearch.2 In thistext,
Benjamin associatesthe with
phantasmagoria commodity culture's ex-
perience of itsmaterialand intellectual
products,echoing Marx's use of
the term in Capital.Benjamin quotes Marx in the Passagen-Werk's
KonvolutG: "'This fetishism of commoditieshas itsorigin... in the
peculiarsocialcharacter ofthelaborthatproducesthem.... It is onlya
definitesocial relationbetweenmen thatassumes,in theireyes,the
phantasmagorical formof a relationbetweenthings"'(PW 245).3As has
oftenbeen observed,Benjamin extends Marx's statementon the
phantasmagorical powersof the commodityto coverthe entiredo-
mainofParisianculturalproducts,a use ofphantasmagoria thatMarx
himselfinitiatesin TheEighteenth Brumaire.4 If the commodities dis-
played withinthe Universal Exhibitions manifest themselves as a
-
phantasmagoria "the phantasmagoria of capitalistculture reaches
itsmostbrilliantdisplayin theUniversalExhibitionof 1867" - intel-
lectualreflection in the 19thcenturyalso takeson a phantasmagorical
cast.5Benjamindescribes,forexample,"the phantasmagoria of 'cul-
turalhistory,' in whichthe bourgeoisie savors itsfalseconsciousness to
the last," and the phantasmagorical illusionsof the proletariat: "the

2. I haveincludedthedefinite articlein thetranslation Die

oftheessay'stitle(Paris,
Hauptstadt to distinguish
desXIXe.Jahrhunderts) itfromBenjamin's1939 essayentitled
duXIXieme
Paris,Capitale WhenBenjamindropsthedefinite
sidcle. articlein his 1939es-
say,he respondsto a commentin Adorno'sHornbergletter:"As a title,I shouldlike
to propose Paris,CapitaloftheNineteenth not TheCapital" (Theodor Adorno, let-
Century,
terto WalterBenjamin,2 August1935,Aesthetics [London:New LeftBooks,
andPolitics
1977] 115). The 1935 essayappears in Englishin ed. PeterDemetz,trans.
Reflections,
EdmundJephcott(New York:Harcourt,1978). I havemodifiedthetranslation where
it seemed necessary.The 1939 essayappears as partof thePassagen-Werk (Frankfurt:
Suhrkamp,1982).Allreferences to thePassagen-Werkwillbe citedin thebodyofthear-
ticle with the abbrcviatilonl '. All (ir 1fthc Palsstge-l4 k aFr unlcss
otherwiseindicated. '~nlati Iiil,
3. I havemodifiedslightly thetranslation ofthispassageoffered
bySamuel Moore
and Edward Aveling,who translate"phantasmagorische"as "fantastic."See Karl
Marx,Capital,vol. 1 (New York:Modern Library,1906) 83.
4. See Susan Buck-Morss,"RedeemingMass Cultureforthe Revolution,"New
German 29 (1983): 213; and RolfTiedemann,"Dialecticsat a Standstill,"
Critique On
Walter
Benjamin,ed. GarySmith(Cambridge,MA: MIT Press,1986) 277.
5. WalterBenjamin,"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury"153.

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 89

Commune puts an end to the phantasmagoria thatdominates the free-

dom of the proletariat.It dispels the illusion thatthe task of the prole-
tarian revolution is to complete the work of 1789 hand in hand with
the bourgeoisie."6
But it is only with the 1939 expose of the arcades project, "Paris,
Capital of the 19th Century,"which Benjamin produced to attractfi-
nancial aid froman American patron,thatthe phantasmagoriaassumes
a key methodological position. The increased importance assigned to
the phantasmagoria is one of many differencesbetween this and the
1935 essay. As Buck-Morsspoints out, the 1939 expose is written"in a
lucid, descriptivestyle,with a totallynew introductionand conclusion,
in which the dream theory is strikinglyabsent."'7 Consonant with
Benjamin's turn away from dream theory,his 1939 sketchof the ar-
cades project drops the controversialconcept of the dialectical image.
In addition, it analyzes the transformationsof 19th-centuryParis in
more rigorouslyMarxistterms,takingpains to link Parisian culturalin-
novations to specific economic factors.Benjamin also abandons the
section entitled"Daguerre, or the Panoramas," which describes how
the new 19th-century visual technologiesof the panorama and photog-
raphyexpress the century's"new feelingabout life."8For our purposes,
however, the most importanttransformationin the 1939 sketchis the
rise in importanceof the phantasmagoria,which I will suggestto be the
resultof Benjamin's turn away fromthe dream.
The phantasmagoria figuresprominentlyin the introductorysection
of the 1939 essay, where it, ratherthan the "dialectical image" that is
"a dream image,"9 becomes the expressiveformtaken by the products
of 19th-centurycommodity culture. Benjamin writes:

Our inquiryproposes to show how, as a consequence of the

reifyingrepresentationof civilization,the new formsof lifeand
thenew economicand technologicalcreationsthatwe owe to the
last centuryenterinto the universeof a phantasmagoria. These
creationsundergo this 'illumination'not only in a theoretical
manner,by an ideologicaltransposition, but also in theimmedia-
of
cy perceptiblepresence.They manifest themselvesas phantas-
magorias(PW 61).

6. Benjamin,"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury"158, 160.

7. Buck-Morss238.
8. Benjamin,"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury"150.
9. Benjamin,"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury"157.

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90 MargaretCohen

Nowheredoes Benjamin'stransformation ofthedream-like experi-

of
ence thecommodity intotheexperience thephantasmagoria
of ap-
pear morevividlythanin theconclusionto the 1939 essay.Whilethe
1935 essayendswithBenjamin'ssuggestion thatthedemystificationof
19th-century Paris is an of
experience awakening("the realizationof
dreamelementsin wakingis thetextbookexampleofdialecticalthink-
ing"'0),the 1939essayconcludesbyaccordingthepowerofideological
demystification to thephantasmagoria itself.
AugusteBlanqui'sEternit6
par les Astres,writes Benjamin, is "a last phantasmagoria of cosmic
whichimplicitly
character, includesthemostacerbiccritiqueofall the
others"(PW 75). Benjaminthustransforms the 1935 oppositionbe-
tweendream and awakeninginto the difference betweenmystifying
and critical(illuminating)
phantasmagorias.

"TheImmediacy Presence":
ofPerceptible Robertson's
Phantasmagoria
While Marx's use of the phantasmagoria explains why Benjamin
applies the term to the 19th-century's"ideological transposition" of
"new economic and technological creations," it does not explain why
Benjamin describes this experience as an "'illumination"' of "percep-
tible presence" (PW 61). True, ideological transpositiondoes accord
humancreationsa strangesortof perceptiblepresence,but thispres-
in eithera literalor a figur-
encewould hardlyseemto be illuminating,
ativesense.Benjamin,however,providesus withan alternative wayto
understand the illuminations of phantasmagoric manifestation.Pano-
rama, the Passagen-Werk Konvolut devoted to popular forms of 19th-
century visual spectacle, opens with the followingfragment:

Therewerepanoramas,dioramas,cosmoramas,diaphanoramas,
navaloramas,pleoramas Eo I travelby sea, boating),phanto-
(rX, and phan-
scopes, phantasmagorical
phantasma-parastasias, experiences
ones,picturesquetripsin a room,georamas;opti-
tasmaparastatic
cal picturesques,cineoramas,phanoramas,stereoramas, cyclora-
mas, dramaticpanorama(PW 655, emphasisadded).

One of these spectacles, the "phantasmagorical experience" or, as it

was also called, the phantasmagoria,was literallyilluminating.Using a
movablemagiclanterncalled a phantoscope,itprojectedforitsspec-
tatorsa parade of ghosts.

10. Benjamin,"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury"162.

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 91

If we examine the phantasmagoria as a 19th-centuryspectacle, we

discover that its subject matter exemplifies the 19th-centurycultural
manifestationsstudied by Benjamin. Invented in the late 1790's by the
Belgian "doctor-aeronaut" Etienne-Gaspard Robertson, the phantas-
magoria enjoyed its greatestvogue in the hands of its creator,with ac-
counts of Robertson's popular performancesappearing in newspapers
of the time." A 1798 spectacle reviewed in L'Amides Lois opened with
Robertson's answer to a member of the audience who demanded to
see the ghost of Marat:

"Because I have not been able to re-establish thecultof Marat

in an officialnewspaper,I'd at leastlike to see his shade."
Robertsonpoursonto a hot stovetwoglassesof blood, a bottle
of vitriol,12 drops of brandy,and two copies of theJournal des
hommes libres.Rightaway,a small,lividghostgraduallybeginsto
appear,armedwitha daggerand wearinga redcap. The manwith
bristlinghair recognizesit to be Marat; he wantsto kiss it, the
ghostmakesa terrifying grimaceand disappears.12

On thisnight,the phantasmagorianalso called beforehis spectatorsless

ghosts:the mythicfounderof the Swissrepublic,WilliamTell,
horrifying
who appeared "withrepublicanpride"; the ghostsofVirgiland Voltaire;
and the ghost of a woman in a Parisian dandy's gallant adventure:

A youngdandybegs fortheappearanceof a womanwhomhe

tenderlyloved and whose portraitin miniaturehe showsto the
phantasmagorian, whothrowsontotheburnersomesparrowfeath-
ers,a fewgrainsof phosphorus,and a dozen butterflies.Soon, a
womanis tobe perceived, herbreastuncovered,herhairstreaming,
who fixeson heryoungfrienda tenderand sorrowful expression.
A seriousman sitting nextto me cries,carrying
his hand to his
forehead:"Oh myGod! I thinkthat'smywife,"and he runsout,
fearingthatit is no longera ghost.'3

11. For mydiscussionof Robertson'sphantasmagoria, I relyon G.-M. Coissac's

Histoire
du Cinimatographe(Paris:Editionsdu 'Cineopse,' 1925). All translations
from
thistextare mine.Sincemyinitialresearchon thesubject,TerryCastlehas published
and entertaining
an illuminating articleon theevolutionoftheconceptofthephantas-
magoriain the 19thcentury, whichprovidesinformation on thephantasmagoria not
found in Coissac. See TerryCastle,"Phantasmagoria:SpectralTechnologyand the
Metaphoricsof Modern Reverie,"Critical Inquiry15.1 (1988).
12. L'AmidesLois,28 March 1798; quoted in Coissac 22.
13. Coissac 22.

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92 MargaretCohen

Robertson's performancereached the followingspectacular climax:

"Citizensand gentlemen,"said Robertson,"untilnowI haveonly

showntoyouone shadeat a time;myartis notlimitedto thesetri-
fles,theyare onlythepreludeto thesavoir-faire of yourservant.I
can showto kindlymenthecrowdofshadeswho,duringtheirlife,
havebeen helpedbythem;reciprocally, I can makeevilmen sur-
vey the shades of theirvictims."
Robertsonwas invitedto thistestbyalmostunanimouscheers.
Two individualsalone wereagainstit;buttheiroppositiononlyir-
ritatedthe desiresof thosegathered.
Rightaway,the phantasmagorian throwsonto the burnerthe
reportsofMay 31 - thosepertaining to themassacresat thepris-
ons of Aix,Marseilleand Tarascon;a collectionof denunciations
and decrees;a listof suspects;the collectionofjudgmentsof the
RevolutionaryCourt; a bundle of demagogic and aristocratic
newspapers;a copy of the Reveildu Peuple.Then he pronounces
withemphasisthemagicwords:conspirator, humanity,terrorist,justice,
Jacobin, alarmist,
exaggerated,
publicsafety, hoarder, Girondin,
Moderate,
Orleanist.
Immediately, one sees groupscoveredwithbloodyveils
risingup; theysurround,theypressthetwoindividualswho had
refusedto givein to thegeneralwish,and who,frightened bythis
terriblespectacle,run out of the room hastily,givinghorrible
howls... One was Barrbre[sic],theotherCambon.'4

If the ghosts haunting Robertson's phantasmagoria resemble the

ghosts in Benjamin's arcades, the phantasmagoria performson these
spectral presences a transformationthat exemplifies the ideological
transpositionof material realityBenjamin describes. Robertson turns
the bloody events of recent historyinto aestheticapparitions,fantastic
nightmaresof an evening's entertainment.Divested of their material
reality,however, these historicalfiguresare more than merely enter-
taining.Robertson helps them to entrerdansla le'gende,integratingthem
into the pantheon of "the phantasmagoria of 'cultural history,"'where
theyplay the role of evil demons to the proud hero who founds Swiss
bourgeois liberty.Robertson's representationthus seeks to exorcise
the demonic power of the revolutionarymemories haunting Parisian
imagination,an exorcism which thejournalist, Poultier-Delmotte,well
understandswhen he personifiesit in the flightof two ex-members of

14. Coissac 23.

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 93

the Committee for Public Safety,Cambon and Barere. What better

synecdoche for the ideological transpositionworked by "the phantas-
magoria of 'cultural history"'and "the phantasmagoria of civilization"
than the phantasmagoria itself?.

In TheCameraObscuraofIdeology
"Concerning the doctrine of the ideological superstructure,"writes
Benjamin in a key passage from Konvolut K:

At firstit seems as ifMarxwantedonlyto establisha causal rela-

tion betweensuperstructure and base. But the observationthat
theideologyof thesuperstructure reflectstheserelationsin a false
and distortedmanneralreadygoes beyondthis.The questionis,
namely:ifthebase, to a certainextent,determines theconceptual
and practicalmaterialof thesuperstructure - thisdetermination
is,however,notone ofsimplereflection- howis itthento be char-
acterized,leavingaside the question of the causes forits emer-
gence?As itsexpression - the superstructureis the expressionof
thebase (PW 495, emphasisadded).

Objecting to Marx's descriptionof a mimeticbase-superstructurerela-

tion, Benjamin points out that this description does not do justice to
the complexityof the relation that Marx himselfimplies. If Benjamin
privilegesthe phantasmagoria as an emblem forMarxistideology, it is
in part, I would suggest, because this concept allows him to correct
Marx's falselymimeticrepresentationby simultaneouslyretainingand
refiningthe technologicalmetaphor forideology employed layMarx in
the notion of the cameraobscura.
When Benjamin takes Marx's description of ideology to task, he
challenges a common Marxist representationof ideology inaugurated
by a celebrated metaphor from the early Marx: "in all ideology men
and theircircumstancesappear upside-down as in a cameraobscura.. ."15
Substitutingthe phantasmagoriaforthecameraobscura, Benjamin corrects
the over-simplifiedrelationbetweenideological representationand reali-
typrojected in Marx's metaphor. While, like historical"vulgar natural-
ism," the cameraobscuramechanicallyreversesthe externalworld in the
darkened chamber of thought,the magic lanternof the phantasmagoria

15. Karl Marx and FrederickEngels,TheGerman PartOne,WithSelections

Ideology:
PartsTwoandThree
from andSupplementary ed. C.J.Arthur(NewYork:International
Texts,
Publishers,1976) 47.

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94 MargaretCohen

invertspainted slides which are themselvesartisticproducts (PW 575).

It does not project a reflectionof the objective world but ratherthe ob-
jective world's expression, representationas it is mediated through
its
imaginative subjective processes. The aesthetic effectof the phantas-
magoria also more closelyresembles the subjectiveexperience of ideo-
logical transpositionthatMarx describes. While the cameraobscuradoes
not attemptto fool its audience into mistakingits two-dimensionalin-
versions of realityfor the outside world, the phantasmagoria endows
its creations with a spectral realityof theirown. Robertson's phantas-
magoria expresses not only the non-mimeticinflectionthat Benjamin
works on Marx's representationof ideology as the cameraobscura,but
also the content of Benjamin's own relation to these representations.
The forerunnerof the magic lantern,the cameraobscuraprovided the
optical principles which this later technologyrefined.
In suggestingthe 19th-century phantasmagoriaas a spectacle thatel-
egantlycaptures Benjamin's non-mimetic modificationof Marxist ac-
counts of ideological representation,I extend Benjamin's interestin
thisspectacle well beyond its briefmention in Konvolut Q. This exten-
sion, however,is consonant withBenjamin's approach to the technolo-
gy of visual representationthroughouthis Parisian production cycle.
From the cycle's firstwork, One-WayStreet,Benjamin seeks to nuance
equations ofvisual and ideological illusion throughan appeal to histori-
cal occurrence,and itwould be instructiveto examine closelyhis repre-
sentations of stereoscopes, panoramas, dioramas, and photographic
and earlycinematicprocedure in lightof thisconcern. Speaking gener-
ally,we mightsay thatBenjamin invokes these spectacles to investigate
how, as Marx put it,the contentgoes beyond the phrase. The 19th-cen-
turyexperience of illusoryvisual representationsadds complexityto the
rhetoricof visual illusion prominentin Marx's discussions of ideology
- indicating,also, the extentto which these discussions are the prod-
uct of a particulartime and place. Puttingtheoryand historyinto a mu-
tuallychallengingrelation,Benjamin's treatmentof 19th-century visual
representationfurthershis attempt to forge a historicallynuanced
Marxism thatis capable of apprehending both 19th-century commodi-
ty culture and its implication in the culture that it describes.
In consideringBenjamin's interestin the linkbetweenvisual technol-
ogy and tropesof ideological illusion,let me suggestthatBenjamin's in-
creasing fondness for the phantasmagoria explains a previouslymen-
tioned differencebetween his 1935 and 1939 Parisian exposes. I have

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 Phantasmagoria 95
Benjamin's

pointedoutthatthe1939exposeabandonsthesectionofthe 1935essay
entitled"Daguerre,or thePanoramas."One could arguethatBenjamin
turnsawayfromphotography becausehe has alreadydevoteda substan-
tialessayto thesubject,exceptthathe seemsto have no qualms about
retaininga largesectionon Baudelaire,aboutwhomhe had alreadywrit-
ten and publishedelsewhere.Rather,it seems to me thatBenjamin's
turnawayfromphotography and thepanoramais evidenceofthephan-
tasmagoria's increased conceptualpower.WhileBenjamintoysin 1935
withphotography and the panoramaas vividexpressionsof the 19th-
century's"newfeelingaboutlife,"'6by 1939he has settledon thephan-
tasmagoria as thevisualemblemofthisfeeling. He thusrelegatesalterna-
tiveformsofvisualrepresentation to a distinctly
subordinateplace.

Phantasmagoria as theAfterlifeofAllegory
Robertson'sspectaclecontainsyetanotherattraction forBenjamin,
ifwe are attentive to itslinguisticcontent.The termphantasmagoria
was coined by Robertsonin 1797 to describehis ghostlyperform-
ances,althoughtheetymology underwriting his neologismis unclear.
Littreproposesthe followingetymology: "E. 4&v0r aopa, apparition
(see ghost,and 6yop ieW,speak:speakto theghosts,call theghosts."'7
Le Robert, in contrast,suggeststhatthe word comes from"the Greek
phantasma 'ghost,'and agoreuein 'to speak in public,'undertheinfl.of
allegory
( - > for
Phantasm); Guiraud,'popularhybrid'offantasme and
gourer,agourer 'to fool."' s While Littr's etymologycapturesRobert-
son's procedure,the principaletymology offeredbyLe Robert is more
for
significant Benjamin. Deriving phantasmagoriaetymologically
fromallegory,itlinksthistermto Benjamin'sprivilegedmetaconcept
of allegoryin TheOriginofGerman Drama.The suppositionthat
Tragic
Benjamin's interestin phantasmagoria stems partiallyfromtheterm's
etymological relationto allegoryis supportedby Benjamin'srepeated
associationof the Passagen-Werk project to this earlierwork.When
Benjamin writes to Gershom Scholem, forexample,ofhis newly-con-
ceivedarcadesproject,he describesitas a ParisianversionofTheOrigin
ofGerman Tragic Drama:

16. Benjamin,"Paris,the Capitalof the NineteenthCentury"150.

17. Emile Littri,Dictionnaire
de la languefrangaise,vol. 3 (Paris:Gallimard,1963)
1407; mytranslation.
18. LeRobert, dela languefrangaise,
Dictionnaire vol. 4 (Paris:Le Robert,1985)404; my
translation.

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96 MargaretCohen

WhenI havefinished theworkwithwhichI am nowoccupied,

... theproduction
provisionally.
carefully, Street
cycleofOne-Way
willbe closedforme inthesamewaythatthetragic dramabook
closedtheGermanone.The profane motifsofOne-WayStreet
will
paradeby in hellish
intensification.19

Grantingthe phantasmagoria a place of honor in his hellishparade,

Benjaminprivileges a termwhich modifiestheetymology ofthe Ger-
man cycle'skeymetaconcept in a fashion an
expressing important dif-
ferencebetween 17th-century Germanyand 19th-century France.
Whileconstructed on themodel ofallegory,theword"phantasmago-
ria" is comprisedof somewhatdifferentetymological components-
ratherthan allegory'sallosand agoreuein.
ofphantasmaand agoreuein The
difference betweenthe etymologiesof allegoryand phantasmagoria
expressesa significant difference betweenthe worldsthatBenjamin
uses thesetermsto conjureup. Allegory'setymology can be read to
mean,amongotherthings,"speakingother"withintheagora- a term
thatmeansthemarketplace as wellas thepublicplace. True to itsety-
mology,17th-century allegoryremainsforBenjaminwithinthe mar-
ketplace,but italso indicatesan alternative
to it.The fallenaspecttak-
en by the sacred in the realm of the profane,allegorycontinuesto
pointtowardsthesacred,and hencetowardsa possibletheologicalre-
demptionof secularhistory.
Allegory'setymology impliesthe possibility of redemptionand as
suchcontrasts withtheetymology ofthephantasmagoria, whichsubsti-
tutesghostsfortheallosthatsignifies allegory'stranscendence.Appear-
ing as allegory'sdemonic the
Doppelglinger, phantasmagoria remains
firmlyrooted in thehaunted realm of commercial Its
exchange. etymol-
ogythuswell expressesBenjamin'sconclusionsabout the commodity
originsof 19th-century Parisianhelland abouttheinescapability ofthis
Indeed,Benjamin's1939exposeon thearcadesexplicitly
hell.20 suggests
the phantasmagorical commodityas the 19th-century equivalentto
17th-century allegory.He writes:"to thesingulardebasementofthings

19. Walter Benjamin, Briefe(Frankfurt:Suhrkamp, 1966) 455; my translation.

20. I invoke the term "hell" with the simultaneous despair and playfulnessBenja-
min gives it; what betterevidence of the ambiguityof Benjamin's designation than his
decision to privilege the phantasmagoria as its emblem? For the playfulness of this
designation, see also the wittilyhellish characterization of Paris in the minor genre of
Parisian panoramic literaturedear to Benjamin and exemplified by Hetzel's Le Diablea
Paris (Paris: 1846).

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 97

by theirmeaning,which is characteristic of 17th-centuryallegory,corre-

sponds the singular debasement of thingsby theirprice as commodi-
ties" (PW 7 1). This sentencesubstantiallymodifiesthe translationof alle-
goryinto the 19thcenturythatBenjamin proposed in his 1935 resume
of the arcades project: "as in the seventeenthcenturythe canon of
dialecticalimagerycame to be allegory,in the nineteenthit is novelty."21
Benjamin already contraststhe permanentlyfallenexperience of the
phantasmagoriawithprovisionallyfallenallegoryin the finalpages of The
OriginofGermanTragicDrama:

In God's worldthe allegoristawakens.... Allegory,of course,

therebyloses everything thatwas most peculiarto it: the secret,
the
privilegedknowledge, arbitrary rule in therealmof dead ob-
jects, the supposed infinityof a world withouthope. All this
vanisheswiththisoneabout-turn, in whichtheimmersionofalle-
goryhas to clearawaythefinalphantasmagoria oftheobjectiveand,
leftentirelyto its own devices,rediscoversitself,not playfullyin
theearthly worldofthings,but seriouslyundertheeyesofheaven
(emphasison phantasmagoria added).22

Interestingly, Robertson's spectacle enacts Benjamin's contrastbetween

the temporarilyfallenallegoryand the permanentlyfallenphantasmago-
ria. Robertson's phantasmagoriaoftenended withthe topos of the me-
mento moridear to the allegoricalimagination.Displayingthe "skeletonof
a youngwoman standingon a pedestal," Robertsonpronounced thefol-
lowingadmonition: "'You who have perhaps smiled at my experiments,
beauties who have experienced a fewmoments of terror... this is the
fatethatis reservedforyou, thisis whatyou willbe one day. Remember
the phantasmagoria."'23While related to the allegorical memento mori,
Robertson's finalgesturedivergesfrom the final allegorical use of this
topos as it is described by Benjamin. Ratherthan turningenchantment
into death, the finalmoment of allegoryturnsdeath into eternallife,a
transformationwhich Benjamin invokes by citing a passage from

21. Benjamin,"Paris,theCapitaloftheNineteenth Century"158. Fora generaldis-

cussionof how Benjamintranslateshis 17th-centuryconceptof allegoryintothe 19th
century, in theWorldoftheCommodity:
see LloydSpencer,"Allegory The Importance
Park,"NewGerman
of Central 34 (1985).
Critique
22. WalterBenjamin,TheOrigin ofGerman Drama,trans.JohnOsborne(Lon-
Tragic
don: New LeftBooks,1977)232.
23. From an account in Le Courrier 22 February1800; quoted in
des spectacles,
Coissac 27.

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98 MargaretCohen

Lohenstein: "'Yea,whentheHighestcomesto reaptheharvest fromthe

graveyard, thenI, a death'shead,willbe an angel'scountenance."'24
In his Mimoires, Robertsonmakesexplicitthathis spectaclecharac-
terizesa worldin whichthe possibilityof theologicaltranscendence
has been lost. Recountinghis interestin the supernaturalinvestiga-
tionsof the 17th-century Jesuit,FatherAthenasiusKircher(whowas,
not so coincidentally, the inventorof the magic lantern),Robertson
writes:"FatherKircher,itis said,believedin thedevil,and theexam-
ple could be contagious,forFatherKircherwas endowedwithsuch
greatknowledgethatmanypeople would be temptedto thinkthatif
he believedin thedevil,he had good reasonsforthis."25Robertson's
attemptsto imitatethe occult knowledgeof Kirchersoon revealto
him,however,thedivideseparatingthelate 18thfromthe 17thcentu-
ry.He inventsthephantasmagoria, he goes on to tellus, as consolation
forthisdivide:"'The devilrefusing to communicateto me thescience
of wonders,I set myselfto makingdevils,and mywand had onlyto
move in order to force the whole infernalprocessionto see the
light."'26Turningto technologyas an imperfect substitute forthe au-
thenticallysupernatural,Robertsonassociates the phantasmagoria
withthesame disappearanceofthereligiousdemonicas Benjamin.In
continuing, nonetheless,to linkhistechnological creationto some sort
of supernaturalpower,Robertsonnot only mocksthe demonic but
also pointsto thedemonicpotentialofhumaninvention. His phantas-
magoriathuswell expressesBenjamin'sMarxistunderstanding ofthe
strangely supernatural power evinced by "the new creations" in their
ideologicallytransposed forms, a powerhumanly created rather than
in
theological origin.
WhileBenjamin'sfamiliarity withRobertson'swritings is difficult
to
determine, italtersneitherhisinterestin thetechnological phantasma-
gorianor myfundamental premisethatBenjaminprivileges phantas-
magoria as the Passagen-Werk'spotentialallegory. synecdocheforthe
A
culturalproductsof the Parisian19thcentury,thisconceptis suffi-
cientlypolyvalent to invokethetheoretical apparatusBenjaminuses to
rendertheseproductsmeaningful.

24. Benjamin, TheOriginofGermanTragicDrama 232.

25. Memoiresrecr'atifs, et anecdotiques
scientifiques, du physicien-aironaute
E.-G. Robertson;
quoted in Coissac 20.
26. Coissac 20.

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 Phantasmagoria 99
Benjamin's

Phantasmagoria and Benjamin's Dream

Marxist-Psychoanalytic
In givingan account of the phantasmagoria'shistoricalorigin,I
have stressedabove all thisconcept'srelationto Benjamin'sMarxist
concerns.But Benjamin'sinterestin the phantasmagoriaextends,I
would suggest,beyonda concernwiththeideologicaltransposition of
materialrealityin a commodifiedworld.The psychologicalsignifi-
cance of the conceptalso suitsit to invokethepsychoanalytic theory
thatBenjaminfuseswithMarxismto explainwhyideologicaltranspo-
sitiontakesdisfigured form.
The Passagen-Werk's fusionof Marxistand psychoanalytic theoryis
notonlyone ofitsgreatestseductionsbut also one ofitsmostrecalci-
trantaspects,largelybecause Benjaminneverclearlyworkedout the
detailsofthisfusion.Benjaminused Freud'sdescription ofthedisfigu-
rationsproducedby repressionto characterize theopacityofideologi-
cal transposition - the "expression"thatwe saw him substitute for
Marx's"reflection" in thepassagefromKonvolutK quoted above. But
whethermorethanaestheticfactorsmotivatethecomparisonofideol-
ogy to repressedrepresentation is a questionwithwhich Benjamin
struggledthroughoutthe 1930's.27 Buck-Morssgivesthe mostcoher-
entsystematization of Benjamin'sfragmentary commentson the sub-
ject when she discussesBenjamin's translation
of Freudiandreamthe-
ory to thecollectivesphere.PositingBenjamin's interestin a collective
unconsciousthatis class-bound,she refutesAdorno'schargethatthe
arcades'dreamingcollectiveis a classlesscollective."Class differentia-
tionswereneverlackingin Benjamin'stheoryofthecollectiveuncon-
scious,"Buck-Morsswrites,"indeed,even in his earliestformulatiqos
he consideredit an extensionand refinement of Marx'stheoryof the
superstructure: the collective
dream manifestedthe ideologyof the

27. On the psychoanalytic inflection thatBenjamingivesto Marxisttheory,see

Buck-Morss'sessays"RedeemingMass Cultureforthe Revolution,"NewGerman Cri-
tique29 (1983),and "WalterBenjamin- Revolutionary Writer,"NewLeftReview128
(1981). See also Tiedemann's"Dialecticsat a Standstill," On WalterBenjamin,ed. Gary
Smith (Cambridge,MA: MIT Press, 1986); Bernd Witte,"Krise und Kritik.Zur
Zusammenarbeit BenjaminsmitBrechtin denJahren1929-1933,"PeterGebhardtet
al., Walter
Benjamin - ZeitgenossederModerne (MonographienLiteraturwissenschaft, vol.
30 [Kronberg: ScriptorVerlag,1976]);and Winfried Menninghaus'ssectionon therela-
tionbetweenthe Freudianmythand the Benjaminiandream in "WalterBenjamin's
Theoryof Myth,"also in On Walter Benjamin. BarbaraKleineroffers a surrealist
viewof
the matterin "L'eveil comme categoriecentralede l'experiencehistoriquedans le
Passagen-Werk de Benjamin,"as do, less successfully,
RitaBischofand ElisabethLenkin
"L'intrication surreelledu reveet de l'histoiredans les Passagesde Benjamin."These
lasttwoessaysare publishedin Walter Benjamin etParis(Paris:Editionsdu Cerf,1986).

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100 MargaretCohen

dominantclass."28Buck-Morss'sargumentis richand sophisticated,

butto understandBenjamin'sinterestin thephantasmagoria, itis im-
portantto considerone of his hypothesesabout ideology'srepressed
characterthatBuck-Morssneglects.This considerationsuggestsBenja-
min'sturntowardsthephantasmagoria as theobverseofhisturnaway
fromthe dream.
Buck-MorsscitesBenjamin'sambiguouscomparisonofideologyto
the dream of an overfedsleeper- a comparisonwhichfollowsthe
passage fromKonvolutK on the expressivecharacterof the super-
structure- in order to argue "the bourgeois class .. . [as] the genera-
torofa collectivedream."29Butthecause ofideologicaldistortion pos-
itedbyBenjamin'scomparisonis,in fact,moreambiguousthanBuck-
Morss'scoherentaccountofitallows.WhenBenjaminwrites"theeco-
nomicconditionsunderwhicha societyexistscome to expressionin
thesuperstructure,just as withsomeone sleeping,an overfilled stom-
it
ach, although may causally 'determine' the contents of the dream,
findsin thosecontentsnot itscopied reflection but ratheritsexpres-
sion," he suggeststhe dream as "causally'determined"'not only,as
Freudand Buck-Morss would haveit,bytheunconsciousprocessesof
thesleeper,butalso bytheexcessiveactivity ofthematerialrealm(PW
495).30Ifwe translatehis metaphor to the bellyof thesocial body,we
inferthatthedreamwillbe determinedby "the economicconditions
underwhicha societyexists."Describingthedreamthatis ideologyas
theproductof obscuredforcesof production,Benjaminembarkson
an enterprise whichwillfinditsfullelaborationin Althusser.31 True,
he neitherrepresentsthe forcesof productionin unconsciousterms
norarticulates theirrelationto thesleeper'sunconscious,buthe none-
thelessproposesdisfigured ideologyas causallydeterminedby an ob-
jective materialrealm. Benjamin's interestin desubjectivizingthe
realmthatproducesdisfigured ideologybecomesincreasingly appar-
ent as his workon the arcades projectproceeds.Notably,Benjamin
grappleswiththisquestionin "On Some Motifsin Baudelaire,"where

28. Buck-Morss229.
29. Buck-Morss229.
modifiedBuck-Morss'stranslation
30. I have slightly of thispassage. See Buck-
Morss229.
31. Buck-Morss229. The Althusserian is not,I suspect,co-
ringto thisenterprise
incidental;thereexistsmuch evidencethatBenjamin,likeAlthusser(via Lacan),de-
fusionofMarxand Freud.
rivedhis idea ofthematerialunconsciousfroma surrealist
in myforthcoming
I discussthismatterextensively a Post-Realist
Towards TheoryofIdeolo-
and Walter
gy:Paris,Surrealism, Benjamin.

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 Phantasmagoria 101
Benjamin's

thesubject'sFreudianmannerofrepresenting objectiveconditionsbe-
comes a responseto thetransformation ofnatureintosecond nature.
If Benjaminsees thedreamas a temptingpivotbetweenMarx and
Freud,it is not onlybecause it occupies a centralpositionin Freud's
theoryof repression,but also because Marx describesideologyin
dream-like terms.32Nonetheless,thedream'spsychiccausality(atleast
in a Freudianworld)preventsitfromencompassingthematerialcom-
ponentwhichplaysa definitive role forBenjaminin theformation of
ideology. Adorno raises such an objection to the dream in the
Hornbergletter:
If the disenchantment of the dialecticalimageas a "dream"
it,
psychologizes by thesame token it under
falls thespellofbour-
geoispsychology.Forwhoisthesubjectofthedream?...Theno-
tionofcollective wasinvented
consciousness onlyto divert
atten-
tionfromtrueobjectivityanditscorrelate,alienated
subjectivity.33
WhenBenjaminturnsfromideologyas dreamto ideologyas phantas-
magoriain his 1939 rewrite of the 1935 Parisexpose,he seemsto ac-
knowledge Adorno's objections.However,in order to understand
how thephantasmagoria solvestheproblemofthedream'ssubjective
the
agency, concept'spsychoanalytic needsto be clarified.
significance
Like the dream, the mentalphantasmagoriais an irrationalphe-
nomenonwhose psychically motivatedcontentFreudwould seek to
reveal.ButwhileFreudindubitably demonstrates thesubjectiveorigin
of the dream,his successwithseeminglysupernatural, wakingoccur-
rencesis lessassured.WhileFreudsuggeststheseexperiencesto be the
productsofpsychicrepression, hisambiguousexplanationsofthemin
"The 'Uncanny"' amplydemonstratethattheyare also responsesto
collectivehistoryand to objectiveeventswhich,at times,entirelyblur
the distinctionbetween objectiveand subjectivecausality.34 Castle
makesa similarpointwhenshe discussesthesignificance ofthehistor-
ical phantasmagoriaforFreud'sattemptto masterghostlyoccurrence.
She writes:

32. As theepigraphto KonvolutN, Benjamincitesa passagefromMarx'sletterto

ArnoldRuge about Parisas "the newcapitalofthenewworld":'"The reformofcon-
sciousnessconsistsonlyin this:to wake theworld. .. fromthe dreamof itself'"(PW
570). (KarlMarx,letterto ArnoldRuge, September1843, TheMarx-Engels Reader,ed.
RobertTucker[NewYork:Norton,1978] 12).
33. Adorno to Benjamin,Aesthetics and Politics
112-13.
34. Freudwrites, forexample:"An uncannyexperience occurseitherwhenrepressed

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102 MargaretCohen

Freud struggledwiththe paradoxesof spectralization,

largelyby
attempting to definea cognitivepractice- psychoanalysis -
whichwould exorcisethese"ghostlypresences"once and forall.
But ... Freudneverfullyescaped thepervasivecrypto-supernatu-
ralismof early19th-centurypsychology.35

If Benjamin turnsfromthe dream to the phantasmagoria,I would sug-

gest thatit is preciselybecause phantasmagoricalmental activityproves
problematic for Freud. A moment when Freud's recuperationof psy-
chological processes for subjective causalitystartsto break down, the
phantasmagoria liberates Benjamin from "the spell of bourgeois psy-
chology" withinthe terms of bourgeois psychologyitself.36

Benjaminas Phantasmagorian
"A LastPhantasmagoria":
Benjamin concludes his 1939 expose by designatingas phantasma-
gorical the ideological product thatis criticalof ideology. We have seen
him call Blanqui's Eternite par les Astresa "last phantasmagoria" that
"implicitlyincludes an acerbic critique of all the others" (PW 75). To
conclude our examination of Benjamin's interestin the phantasma-
goria, we need to understand why he uses the term in a fashion op-
posed to his use of it in the essay's previous sections. If the phantasma-
goria's polyvalence in the realm of ideological mystificationis clear
enough, what aspect of this concept suits it to designate practices of
ideological critique?
The answer to thisquestion lies as much in Benjamin's understand-
ing of contemporarycritical activityas in the phantasmagoria itself.
Throughout the Parisian production cycle, Benjamin states that the
Enlightenment's critical procedures no longer function in today's
world.37With all experience saturatedby the phantasmagorical power

infantile
complexeshavebeen revivedby some impression,or whentheprimitive be-
liefswe have surmountedseem once more to be confirmed.Finally,we mustnot let
our predilectionforsmoothsolutionand lucid expositionblind us to the factthat
these two classes of uncannyexperienceare not alwayssharplydistinguishable."
SigmundFreud,"The 'Uncanny"' [Das 'Unheimliche'](1919), TheStandard Editionof
WorksofSigmundFreud,vol. 17, ed. James Strachey (London:
the CompletePsychological
HogarthPress,1953-74)249.
35. Castle59
36. Adorno to Benjamin, Aesthetics
and Politics113.
37. See, for example, One-WayStreet's"Imperial Panorama," in One-WayStreetand
OtherWritings,trans.Edmund Jephcottand KingsleyShorter(London: New Left
Books, 1979).

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 103

of the commodity,even the criticcannotachievethe distancedand

multi-dimensional relationto his/herobject necessaryfor rational
thought. "Criticism [Kritik]is a matterof correctdistancing,"writes
in
Benjamin One-Way "It was at home in a worldwhereper-
Street.38
spectivesand prospectscountedand whereitwas stillpossibleto takea
standpoint.Now thingspresstoo closelyon human society.The 'un-
clouded,' 'innocent'eye has become a lie.""39 Because of theimpossi-
of
bility gaining criticaldistance, rational demystification can no longer
be thecritic'stask.Rather,thecriticmustseekto appropriatethedis-
tortedand distorting power of ideologicaltransposition to ideologi-
callydisruptiveends.
When Benjaminuses the phantasmagoria to designatecommodity
culture'sacerbiccritique,he solves a problemthataccompanieshis
post-Enlightenment redefinition of criticalactivity:how to represent
criticalthoughtwhen itstraditional metaphysical configuration breaks
down?For in invalidating Enlightenment "Kritik,"Benjamindeprives
himselfof the traditional metaphysical rhetoric forcriticalknowledge
as well. Followingtraditionalmetaphysics, Enlightenment discourse
its
maps opposition between valid rational and mystified non-rational
thoughtonto thefieldof physicalvision.Figuringrationalthoughtas
thenaturalvisionofnaturalobjects,itrepresents mystified thoughtin
opposition - either as technologically aided vision or as a technologi-
callyproducedshow(theprocessionin Plato'scaveis thefirst phantas-
magoria).Benjaminhimselffiguresrationalthoughtbyemployingthe
visual tropesof Enlightenment discourse,as the previouslyquoted
passagefromOne-Way Street
makesclear.But thesetropesdo not ade-
quatelyencompasstheconceptofcontemporary criticalactivitywhich
Benjamin setsforth.A form of thinking thatis neither entirely rational
norentirely mystified,Benjamin'scriticalactivity transgresses notonly
a conceptualoppositionfundamental to Enlightenment epistemology
butalso thephysicalpracticesthatEnlightenment discourseinvokesto
infuseitsconceptswithlife.
In ordertoexpresshisunderstanding ofcontemporary criticalactivity,
Benjamin hence must devisefigures of his own, of which the phantasma-
goriais butone lateexample.Throughout theParisianproduction cycle,
Benjaminrepresentscontemporary critiqueas the disruptiveappro-
priationofexistingvisualtechnologies, translating intovisualtermshis

38. Benjamin, One-WayStreet89.

39. Benjamin, One-WayStreet89.

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104 MargaretCohen

his understanding ofcriticalactivity as thedisruptive appropriation of

ideologicaltransposition. Benjamin'snew criticaltropes,we notice,
hold a chiasmicrelationto theEnlightenment rhetoric theysupersede.
Associatingcritique with artificialvision to suggestitsnon-rational and
mystified aspects,Benjaminsimultaneously asserts that such critique
givesvalid access to the way thingsare. Benjamin'snew tropesthus
employvisualrhetoric in orthodoxEnlightenment fashionwhilerefus-
ing the conceptualoppositionbetweenreason and mystification on
whichEnlightenment visualrhetoric is based. InvokingEnlightenment
discourseonlybetterto confuseitsterms,Benjamindevisesfigures for
criticalactivitywhichperformon traditional epistemological rhetoric
the disruptionthattheypropose as criticalpraxis.
AmongthevisualtechnologiesBenjaminexploresto figureideolog-
ical illumination,advertising and cinema are prominent.Benjamin
also investigatestheexpressivepotentialofvarious19th-century forms
of popular spectacle- stereoscopes,panoramas,mechanicaltoys,
and magiclanternshows- whichattracthimfortheirhistoricalcon-
tentas well. ButthefactthatBenjaminconcludeshis 1939 Parisianex-
pose by characterizing the disruptivemanipulationof ideologyas
phantasmagorical suggeststhathe privileges thefigurative potentialof
the phantasmagoria.Undoubtedly,Benjamin's interestin the "last
phantasmagoria" derivesprimarily fromthephantasmagoria's polyva-
lentabilityto figureideologicalmystification. We shouldnot,however,
overlookfeaturesof thephantasmagoria thatsuitit to expressBenja-
min's visionof contemporary ideologicalcritique.
When the originalphantasmagorian summonedup the ghosts,he
performed a criticalgesture whose ambiguousrelationto rationality
recalls the rationalstatus of the contemporary criticalgesturevalued
byBenjamin.Turningsupernatural beingsintotheproductofhuman
ingenuity even as he maintained their supernatural form,Robertson
simultaneously rationalized the demonic and demonized rational
thought. More the
importantly, technologicalphantasmagoriaaptly
expressesthe relationof Benjamin'smethodof ideologicalillumina-
tion to standardproceduresof Marxistculturalcritique.We return
hereto Marx'smetaphorforideology,butviewitfromtheotherside.
Marx'smetaphorof thecameraobscura represents bothideologyand
criticalknowledge in standard Enlightenment terms. Opposingthedark-
ened space of ideological illusion to the sun-filledlandscape outside,
Marx suggestscriticalactivityas the passage fromtechnologicalspectacle
to natural world. Marx's Enlightenmentfigurationof knowledge well

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 105

expresseshisfaithin theilluminating powerofrationalcritique.Butfor

Benjamin, this of
understanding ideologyrendersMarx's (and Marx-
ism's)Enlightenment conceptionand figuration ofcriticalactivityques-
tionable.Scattered throughout thearcades'methodological fragments is
Benjamin'ssuggestion thatMarxism can only make criticaluse of reason
ifit expandsMarx'simplicitchallengeto the possibility of reasonin a
commodified world.Benjamin'spolemicalattackon theEnlightenment
suppositions inhering in Marxismis, ofcourse,a criticalPandora'sbox
thatis debatedfromthe momentAdorno'sstingingHornbergletter
takesBenjamin'sambiguousdialecticalimagesto task.Withoutraising
itslid,I wishonlyto suggestthatittakestheformofthephantoscope.It
is Marxwho introduces theconceptofthephantasmagoria to designate
commodity culture'snon-rational ideologicaltransposition themate-
of
rialworld.When Benjaminuses the conceptto designateideologycri-
tique,he thusinvokesa post-Enlightenment momentin Marxto correct
the Enlightenment understanding of "Kritik"upon whichMarxrelies.
In the process,Benjaminprovidesa technologicalfigurefor critical
knowledgethatmodifiestheEnlightenment visionofthecritic'stask-
in
exemplified Marx'snotionofthecamera The lastphantasma-
obscura.
goriaturnstheworldas itis outsidethecamera obscuraintoartificial
show.
Unable to have directaccess to the sun-filledreal, criticalthought
remediesenclosurein the cave of ideologyby producingtechnological
spectaclesof itsown. In so doing,the criticalphantasmagorian works
witha mediumofillumination thatitselfencapsulatesBenjamin'spost-
Enlightenment challenge.The firekindledby the phantasmagorian in
the phantoscopetransforms the unfiltered naturallightof rationalun-
derstanding intoan energysomewherebetweennatureand art.Stolen
by Prometheus forman,thislightofthegodsis also thefirst technology.
Benjamin's 1928 descriptionof thearcadesprojectsuggeststhathe
conceivedof his own projectof criticalilluminationas a phantasma-
goricalspectaclefromits inception.In the letterto Scholem quoted
above,Benjamindescribeshisworkas a ghostlyprocession:"The pro-
fanemotifswillparade by in hellishintensification."" This important
letteralso providesa provisionaltitleto thePassagen-Werk, as Benjamin
his
shapes spectacle in a specific19th-century form: "Parisian arcades.
A dialecticalfterie."4"
Whilethefairytale aspectsof Benjamin'sinterest

40. Benjamin,Briefe
455.
derivesfroma
455. The word "theory,"not coincidentally,
41. Benjamin,Briefe
Greekword meaningspectacleas well as viewing.

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106 MargaretCohen

in 'fierie"have been amplydiscussed,theword'sspecificmeaningfor

the 19th-century needsto be clarified.
The term'fjerie"was introduced
in 1823 Paristo designatea theatrical spectacle"wheresupernatural
characters appeared ... and which demanded considerable scenic
means,"notablymechanicalones.42Allthemodeduringthemiddlepart
of the century, theseproductionsled Flaubertto comment,"'Along
withsucklingpig,thefieneis theheaviestthingthatI knowof.'"43
Benjamindid notmaintaintheawkwardfterie as a visualemblemfor
his Parisianprojectof representation and critique.Exploringthe po-
tentialofvarious19th-and 20th-century visualtechnologiesto figure
his visionof criticalactivity,
Benjaminmostoftensettledon the cine-
ma, a state-of-the-artmediumwitha mobileviewpointnotunlikehis
own: "Method of thiswork:literary montage.I have nothingto say.
to
Only show," he wrote in the Konvolut's sectionN (PW 574). Far
frominvalidatingmy argumentforthe expressivecentrality of the
in
phantasmagoria Benjamin'sParisianproductioncycle,Benjamin's
representation ofhis own practicein cinematictermsfortifies it.What
is thephantasmagoria butproto-cinema? A formofvisualrepresenta-
tioncrucialto thepre-history ofcinema(in theprocessoffiguring out
how to use the magiclanternto phantasmagorical effect,Robertson
made it easilyportable),the phantasmagoriaproceeds by the same
principleofjuxtapositionthatunderwrites cinematicmontage.
To proposeBenjaminas a phantasmagorian? The ghostofAdorno,
a
making terrifying grimace,appears:"you need not fearthatI shallsug-
gest that in yourstudyphantasmagoria should survive unmediatedor
thatthe studyitselfshouldassumea phantasmagorical If
character.""44
Adornorepeatedly the
demands "explosion of the phantasmagoria," it
is perhapsbecause thisgrandinquisitorof rationality scentsthe chal-
lenge to his own activity
impliedbyBenjamin's fondness fortheterm.45
Benjamin does not material
mystify in
reality hisphantasmagoria, buthe
does notexactlydemystify iteither.Rather,materialreality becomesone
morerepresentation in his magictheater, partof a ghostlyconceptual
paradethatincludesnotonlythephantasmagorias of 19th-century Paris,
butconceptsofthebase and superstructure, ofrelationsofproduction,

42. Le Robert,vol. 4, 444.

43. Le Robert,vol. 4, 444.
44. TheodorAdorno,letterto WalterBenjamin,10 November1938,Aesthetics
and
Politics127.
and Politics113.
45. Adorno to Benjamin, Aesthetics

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 Benjamin'sPhantasmagoria 107

and of mediationand demystification as well. Adorno may bristle.

And Benjamin,it should be pointedout,is hardlymore comfortable
withthe phantasmagoria'senchantingpossibility.Forced to employ
such proceduresbecause Enlightenment criticalpracticesno longer
function,Benjamin ultimatelyhopes for an end to the world of
phantasmagorical vision.WhenBenjaminconceivesofcriticism as en-
chantment,however,he does more than mourn criticism'sdecline.
Admitting commercewithmagic,he drawsattentionto its
criticism's
power to locate contemporary demons and presstheminto positive
politicalservice.
"The worlddominatedby itsphantasmagorias, is - to use an ex-
-
pressionfromBaudelaire modernity," writesBenjaminin thecon-
clusion to the 1939 "Paris, Capital of the 19th Century"(PW 77).
Benjamin'scriticalassociationof the phantasmagoria withmodernity
in no wayinvalidatesmyargumentforthephantasmagorical natureof
his criticism.If Benjaminis one ofmodernity's more acerbiccritics,it
seemsto me indisputablethathe remainspreoccupiedwithmodern-
ity'sdefiningconcerns.As do we. And hence,myvisionoftheelabor-
atedphantasmagoria fading,I do notonlycry,behold itwas a dream.
Surveying the ruins of postmodernism, we are confronted withprolif-
eratingrepresentations insteadof the realitythat producedthem,or
rather,withthefactthatthedistinction betweenrealityand representa-
tionhas stoppedmakingsense. Such realization,however,in no way
dispels,butratherexacerbatestheneed forconcretematerialpractice.
I am nottoo easy,either,withBenjamin'scriticalphantasmagoria, sus-
picious of the mystifying ends to which its enchantment can be put.
But perhapsthisverydangerindicatesitsvitality.

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