Modern “Distracted Perception” and its consequences based on theories of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Javad Nematollahi 1
Asghar Fahimifar 2
Alireza Sayyad 3
1 Ph.D. candidate, Art studies, Faculty of art history and art studies, Department of Art, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran
2 Associate professor, Faculty of Art & Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, (Tehran (Corresponding Author
3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Cinema, Department of Cinema and Theater, Iran University of Art, Tehran.
10.22034/jcsc.2023.1990284.2640
Abstract
Walter Benjamin is one of the prominent thinkers of Weimer era Germany, whose articles and essays have always been the subject of debate and multiple readings, and have never lost their auratic charm and relevance. With the English translation of his unfinished magnum opus, Arcades Project, at the early 21st century, Benjamin, once again became a key figure in studies concerning modernity, media and metropolitan experience. Despite all this, the governing reading of Benjamin in Iran is still a leftist one and mostly based on famous pieces, and the montage-based, sporadic and multi-layered facets of his writings have been usually ignored. This manuscript which is done based on the newer Benjaminian studies, focuses on one of his favorite keywords, distracted perception, and discusses opportunities proposed by this modern way of perception. Distracted perception is defined as opposed to the contemplative and deep-focused mode of pre-modern perception, now in demise because of the modern metropolitan life and excess of shocking and distracting stimuli, and is transformed to distracted, non-continuous and chaotic perception; a mode of perception that many of the early 20th century thinkers believed would result in annihilation of human experience. Benjamin, in contrast to his peers, succeeds in finding hopes and opportunities in distracted perception and believes experience does not annihilate altogether under this mode of perception, but only transforms into new forms, giving way to revolutionary and utopian opportunities such as demise of false aura, permeation of image-space and body-space, possibility of “play” and pre-linguistic communication.

Highlights

 

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Baudelaire, C. (2010). The Painter of Modern Life. Translated by P.E. Charvet, New York: Penguin Books.

Benjamin, W. (1989). Gesammelte Schrift en. 7 vols. Edited by R. Tiedemann, H. Schweppenhäuser, et al, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

Benjamin, W. (2005). “Surrealism”, In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings Vol. 3. Edited by H. Eiland and M. W. Jenning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Benjamin, W. (2006). “Work of art in its age of mechanical reproducibility”, In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings Vol. 3. Edited by H. Eiland and M. W. Jennings, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Benjamin, Walter (2021/1400). Splinters of thought (Paris, Capital of the 19th century)/Walter Benjamin. Translated by Mohammad Hayati, Tehran: Niloofar. (In Persian)

Benjamin, Walter. (2019/1398). “The work of art in the age of mechanichal reproduction”, in Illimination (Selected Writings)/Walter Benjamin. Translated by Babak Ahmadi, Tehran: Markaz. (In Persian)

Berman, Marshall. (2000/1379). All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. Translated by M. Farhadpour, Tehran: Tarh-e Naghd. (In Persian)

Buci-Glucksmann, C. (1994). Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity (Theory, Culture & Society). Translated by B.S. Turner. London: SAGE.

Cassegard, C. (1999). “Shock and modernity in Walter Benjamin and Kawabata Yasunari”, Japanese Studies, 19(3), 237–251.

Clark, T.J. (2003). “Should Benjamin Have Read Marx?”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.

Eiland, H. (2003). “Reception in distraction”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.

Fakouhi, Naser. (2011/1390). Urban Anthropology. Tehran: Ney. (In Persian)

Gunning, T. (2003). “The Exterior as Intérieur: Benjamin’s Optical Detective”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.

Hansen, M.B. (2012). Cinema and Experience: Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno. University of California Press.

Jennings, M. (2003). “On the Banks of a New Lethe: Commodification and Experience in Benjamin’s Baudelaire Book”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.

Lyon, David (2006) Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond, Devon: Willan Publishing.

Newmark, K. (2015). “Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Baudelaire’s “Modernité.””, Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 44(1/2), 1–24.

Nikouei, A., & Jafroodi, M. (2012/1391). “Walter Benjamin: Originality of Language and its Function in Literary and Artistic Theory”, Journal of Adab Pazhuhi, 6(21), 63-87. (In Persian)

Rosen, P. (2003). “Introduction”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.

Sayyad, A. (2021/1400). “Reading the Text as Flanerie across Urban Landscapes (The Case of One Way Street and The Arcades Project)”, Manzar, the Scientific Journal of landscape, 13(57), 52-63. doi: 10.22034/manzar.2021.276419.2119. (In Persian)

Simmel, Georg; Abazari, Yousef. (1991/1372). “The Metropolis and Mental Life”, Letter of social sciences, 6, 53-66. (In Persian)

Sotoudeh, S., Sotoudeh, M., & sayyad, A. (2019/1398). “Child’s perception in Walter Benjamin’s reflections and its representation in The Runner (1984)”, Thinking and Children, 10(1), 125-148. doi: 10.30465/fabak.2019.4817 (In Persian)

Tester, K. (1995). The Inhuman Condition. London, UK: Routledge.

Turner, B.S. (1994). “Introduction”, In Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity (Theory, Culture & Society). London: SAGE.

Weber, S. (2003). “Streets, Squares, Theaters: A City on the Move-Walter Benjamin’s Paris”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen. Durham, US: Duke University Press.

Keywords

Subjects

Ahmadi, Babak. (2013/1392). Memories of darkness: On three thinkers of Frankfurt school of sociology, Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno. Tehran: Markaz. (In Persian)

Baudelaire, C. (2010). The Painter of Modern Life. Translated by P.E. Charvet, New York: Penguin Books.
Benjamin, W. (1989). Gesammelte Schrift en. 7 vols. Edited by R. Tiedemann, H. Schweppenhäuser, et al, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Benjamin, W. (2005). “Surrealism”, In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings Vol. 3. Edited by H. Eiland and M. W. Jenning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Benjamin, W. (2006). “Work of art in its age of mechanical reproducibility”, In Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings Vol. 3. Edited by H. Eiland and M. W. Jennings, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Benjamin, Walter (2021/1400). Splinters of thought (Paris, Capital of the 19th century)/Walter Benjamin. Translated by Mohammad Hayati, Tehran: Niloofar. (In Persian)
Benjamin, Walter. (2019/1398). “The work of art in the age of mechanichal reproduction”, in Illimination (Selected Writings)/Walter Benjamin. Translated by Babak Ahmadi, Tehran: Markaz. (In Persian)
Berman, Marshall. (2000/1379). All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. Translated by M. Farhadpour, Tehran: Tarh-e Naghd. (In Persian)
Buci-Glucksmann, C. (1994). Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity (Theory, Culture & Society). Translated by B.S. Turner. London: SAGE.
Cassegard, C. (1999). “Shock and modernity in Walter Benjamin and Kawabata Yasunari”, Japanese Studies, 19(3), 237–251.
Clark, T.J. (2003). “Should Benjamin Have Read Marx?”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.
Eiland, H. (2003). “Reception in distraction”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.
Fakouhi, Naser. (2011/1390). Urban Anthropology. Tehran: Ney. (In Persian)
Gunning, T. (2003). “The Exterior as Intérieur: Benjamin’s Optical Detective”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.
Hansen, M.B. (2012). Cinema and Experience: Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno. University of California Press.
Jennings, M. (2003). “On the Banks of a New Lethe: Commodification and Experience in Benjamin’s Baudelaire Book”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.
Lyon, David (2006) Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond, Devon: Willan Publishing.
Newmark, K. (2015). “Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Baudelaire’s “Modernité.””, Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 44(1/2), 1–24.
Nikouei, A., & Jafroodi, M. (2012/1391). “Walter Benjamin: Originality of Language and its Function in Literary and Artistic Theory”, Journal of Adab Pazhuhi, 6(21), 63-87. (In Persian)
Rosen, P. (2003). “Introduction”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen, Durham, US: Duke University Press.
Sayyad, A. (2021/1400). “Reading the Text as Flanerie across Urban Landscapes (The Case of One Way Street and The Arcades Project)”, Manzar, the Scientific Journal of landscape, 13(57), 52-63. doi: 10.22034/manzar.2021.276419.2119. (In Persian)
Simmel, Georg; Abazari, Yousef. (1991/1372). “The Metropolis and Mental Life”, Letter of social sciences, 6, 53-66. (In Persian)
Sotoudeh, S., Sotoudeh, M., & sayyad, A. (2019/1398). “Child’s perception in Walter Benjamin’s reflections and its representation in The Runner (1984)”, Thinking and Children, 10(1), 125-148. doi: 10.30465/fabak.2019.4817 (In Persian)
Tester, K. (1995). The Inhuman Condition. London, UK: Routledge.
Turner, B.S. (1994). “Introduction”, In Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity (Theory, Culture & Society). London: SAGE.
Weber, S. (2003). “Streets, Squares, Theaters: A City on the Move-Walter Benjamin’s Paris”, In Benjamin Now: Critical Encounters with the Arcades Project. Edited by K. McLaughlin and P. Rosen. Durham, US: Duke University Press.