A Weak Messianic Power

Figures of a Time to Come in Benjamin, Derrida, and Celan

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Jewish, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
Cover of the book A Weak Messianic Power by Michael G. Levine, Fordham University Press
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Author: Michael G. Levine ISBN: 9780823255122
Publisher: Fordham University Press Publication: November 11, 2013
Imprint: Fordham University Press Language: English
Author: Michael G. Levine
ISBN: 9780823255122
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication: November 11, 2013
Imprint: Fordham University Press
Language: English

In his famous theses on the philosophy of history, Benjamin writes: “We have been endowed with a weak messianic power to which the past has a claim.” This claim addresses us not just from the past but from what will have belonged to it only as a missed possibility and unrealized potential. For Benajmin, as for Celan and Derrida, what has never been actualized remains with us, not as a lingering echo but as a secretly insistent appeal. Because such appeals do not pass through normal channels of communication, they require a special attunement, perhaps even a mode of unconscious receptivity. Levine examines the ways in which this attunement is cultivated in Benjamin’s philosophical, autobiographical, and photohistorical writings; Celan’s poetry and poetological addresses; and Derrida’s writings on Celan.

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In his famous theses on the philosophy of history, Benjamin writes: “We have been endowed with a weak messianic power to which the past has a claim.” This claim addresses us not just from the past but from what will have belonged to it only as a missed possibility and unrealized potential. For Benajmin, as for Celan and Derrida, what has never been actualized remains with us, not as a lingering echo but as a secretly insistent appeal. Because such appeals do not pass through normal channels of communication, they require a special attunement, perhaps even a mode of unconscious receptivity. Levine examines the ways in which this attunement is cultivated in Benjamin’s philosophical, autobiographical, and photohistorical writings; Celan’s poetry and poetological addresses; and Derrida’s writings on Celan.

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