Modern history makes sustained reconciliation of object and spirit impossible, forcing allegory

Evidence

The usefulness of Benjamin’s analysis lies however in his insistence on a temporal distinction as well: the symbol is the instantaneous, the lyrical, the single moment in time; and this temporal limitation perhaps expresses the historical impossibility in the modern world for genuine reconciliation to endure in time, for it to be anything more than a lyrical, accidental present. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 159

Categorization

• XREF: Direct line to Lukács’s reification and the impossibility of totality in modern life — the reader’s dialectical apparatus. — connects to: The past remains unthematizable yet inescapable for the for-itself; Return to authentic origins is impossible for modern subjects — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 822; Art-historical period concepts fail because cultural change has no real beginnings or endings — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 662

Broader Connections

• Return to authentic origins is impossible for modern subjects #exemplifies (0.78) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 822
• The past remains unthematizable yet inescapable for the for-itself #corroborates (0.75)
• Art-historical period concepts fail because cultural change has no real beginnings or endings #corroborates (0.72) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 662