Walter Benjamin

On Marianna Scheffer’s art blog we have a quotation from Benjamin and then a brief commentary from Marianna. In the appreciation of a work of art or an art form, consideration of the receiver never proves fruitful. Not only is any reference to a certain public or its representatives misleading, but even the concept of … More Walter Benjamin

Paris Spleen 48

Vallejo read Baudelaire more assiduously than we even realize, and did this before getting to Paris although he refers to him most obviously there. “Anywhere out of the world” Cette vie est un hôpital où chaque malade est possédé du désir de changer de lit. Celui-ci voudrait souffrir en face du poêle, et celui-là croit … More Paris Spleen 48

On subjectivity, language and the body

I am plagiarizing this post from the Facebook page of a colleague, and hope that is all right. Look: Correspondences: Adorno on Benjamin: “Despite extreme individuation […] Benjamin seems empirically hardly to have been a person at all, rather an arena of movement in which content forced its way, through him, into language.” Jim Siegel … More On subjectivity, language and the body

Terceto autóctono

Here are some lines from the second poem in this trio. El ojo del crepúsculo desiste de ver quemado vivo el caserío. The entire series is worth studying seriously and this one in particular makes it worthwhile and helpful to have visited Santiago de Chuco. Twice. Afílase lo rudo. Habla escarcela . . . En … More Terceto autóctono

Getting that MLA proposal down to less than 1000 words

Vallejo: Language Itself [I am not sure this title covers it, but a better one is not coming to me, and this has been improved since I posted it … but I am still interested in the question of the title] Borges said Quevedo was a poet of language: “La grandeza de Quevedo es verbal” (“Quevedo,” … More Getting that MLA proposal down to less than 1000 words