Benjamin sought to win surrealism’s intoxication energies for revolution, but beyond dream

Evidence

Benjamin, too, viewed periods of decay positively. In his eyes, too, what was required in the revolutionary struggle against fascism was a form of power which sprang from the depths of history no less deep than the power of the fascists'. Benjamin saw surrealism as a significant step along the road to winning the energies of intoxication for the revolution’. And he emphasized the necessity of going beyond the undialectical Surrealist view of the essence of intoxication'. In early notes for the Passagen-Werk, he wrote, While Aragon remains in dream worlds, here the situation is that of awakening. Where an impressionist element remains in Aragon”mythology” … here it is a matter of dissolving “mythology” in the space of history.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 771

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Benjamin positioned surrealism as moving toward political praxis — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1497; Benjamin built his method from dreaming and ecstasy to expand consciousness beyond academic limits — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 811; Benjamin grounded his method of perception in dreaming and ecstasy. (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Benjamin positioned surrealism as moving toward political praxis #expands (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 1497
• Benjamin built his method from dreaming and ecstasy to expand consciousness beyond academic limits #corroborates (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 811
• Benjamin grounded his method of perception in dreaming and ecstasy. #corroborates (0.78)
• Surrealism is a revolutionary movement resolving the contradiction between daily life and dreams. #expands (0.75)