Benjamin conceived artistic progress as interference with time’s continuity, not smooth succession.

Evidence

In every true work of art, there is a particular point at which someone who is able to put himself in that position can feel a cool wind blowing, as if from a coming dawn. From this it can be seen that art, which has often been thought to obscure any relation to progress, can in fact help to define progress genuinely. Progress does not lie in the continuity of the course of time, but in interferences with it, at home, or wherever something truly new makes itself felt for the first time with the soberness of the dawn. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 854

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Benjamin’s distinctive redefinition of ‘progress’ in art as interruption rather than continuity.
• XREF: Connects to Benjamin’s messianic conception of history (Jetztzeit in the Theses on the Philosophy of History) and threads in Against Postmodernism on historical materialist temporalities. — connects to: Benjamin defined genuine progress as interruption of time’s continuum — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 854; Benjamin’s Jetztzeit meant a rupture in temporal continuity, not the present — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1469; Benjamin’s dialectical images are momentary patterns linking present and past, not gradual transitions — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 841

Broader Connections

• Benjamin’s Jetztzeit meant a rupture in temporal continuity, not the present #corroborates (0.92) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 1469
• Benjamin’s dialectical images are momentary patterns linking present and past, not gradual transitions #corroborates (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 841