This week as we were assigned to read the Habermas reading titled “Modernity- An Incomplete Project” I was anxious to see what it would entail after reading Lyotard. I read it multiple times and still find myself in question and greatly confused. However, I have done the best I can to understand the parts that seem familiar and thus have decided to unpack some of it here. Specifically, I noticed how Habermas refers to Benjamin. This intrigued me immediately since I felt a connection with the work of Benjamin. Habermas says as follows:
“Drawing upon the spirit of surrealism, Walter Benjamin constructs the relationship of modernity to history in what I would call a post-historicist attitude.” (100) The Habermas goes on to cite information from Benajmin, using the French Revolution as an example. The specific example talks about fashion and Benjamin’s definition of the present moment of revelation. I understand this in one way which im not sure is accurate. The attitude Habermas refers to in relation to Benjamin seems as though he’s saying that Benjamin is coming from the perspective of the event after it has happened. He is also saying that his definition so to speak of modernity in regards to history comes from this point of view.
However, I am interpreting it this way, surrealism which is very much present in today’s society vs. revelation. To me, surrealism is an element of surprise, the movement that is said to be revolutionary, similar to what Habermas talks about in his example. Like the present moment of revelation, Habermas discusses Benjamin about surrealism is also a revelation. Perhaps, it is a revelation that an artist has placing something not so A-typical in a specific location or maybe it is done in music, but the point is surrealism as Habermas refers to Benjamin seems to be revelation. Maybe I’m completely off with my interpretation of Habermas in reference to Benjamin.
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