The Chronicler

This is the second installment of my (non)series on Walter Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History, for which see here. I have made it all the way through the Theses, basically keeping up with my one-a-day regimen, as well as reading through (with next to no comprehension) the "Theologico-Political Fragment." I'm finding that it's better the second time through. My subject for today will be the third section, which follows in German and in the translation linked above:

Der Chronist, welcher die Ereignisse hererzählt, ohne große und kleine zu unterscheiden, trägt damit der Warheit Rechnung, daß nichts was sich jemals ereignet hat, für die Geschichte verloren zu geben ist. Freilich fällt erst der erlösten Menschheit ihre Vergangenheit vollauf zu. Das will sagen: erst der erlösten Menschheit ist ihre Vergangenheit in jedem ihrer Momente zitierbar geworden. Jeder ihrer gelebten Augenblicke wird zu einer citation à l’ordre du jour—welcher Tag eben der jüngste ist.

A chronicler who recites events without distinguishing between major and minor ones acts in accordance with the following truth: nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost for history. To be sure, only a redeemed mankind receives the fullness of its past-which is to say, only for a redeemed mankind has its past become citable in all its moments. Each moment it has lived becomes a citation a l'ordre du jour — and that day is Judgment Day.

What we have first of all is Der Chronist. This is "the chronicler," and I will say outright: not a chronicler who happens, perhaps by means of a willful choice, to prodeed in a particular way. Rather, we are confronted with the distinctive figure of the chronicler, who is defined by his procedure of recounting, listing off, the events without differentiating great and small. This constitutes his sole activity with regard to events. Surely, this Chronicler is the lowest kind of historian, the mere compiler of "raw data" on which the work of real historiography performs its various operations. And yet he acts in accordance with the truth that nothing that has ever happened, for history, is to be given up for lost. History, true history, is indeed something other than this mere agglomeration of raw data, but it is something that is done, in principle, with all of it. This raw data is first put at the disposal of the redeemed humanity. It is to the redeemed humanity that its past falls — falls as a responsibility, as one's "lot." The "lot" of the redeemed humanity is history as such — the history to be redeemed is history, removed from the valuation imposed by the ruling class. This history falls to the redeemed humanity as citable, and each of the redeemed humanity's lived moments become a citation appropriate to the order of the day — that is, the order of the latest day, perhaps the youngest day, the day of judgment. The day of the redeemed humanity is precisely the latest day as the day of judgment, but it is not a judgment according to some kind of standard of measurement — great and small are not differentiated. Rather, the judgment is precisely the reduction of history to raw data, to pure citability. The infinite reuse of the past is the performance of redemption. And so, if I were to venture a fresh translation, it would be as follows:

The chronicler, who recounts events without differentiating great and small, acts in accordance with the truth that nothing that has ever happened, for history, is to be given up for lost. Of course, only to the redeemed humanity does the past fully fall. That is to say: only to the redeemed humanity has the past in all of its moments become citable. Each of its lived moments turns into a citation à l’ordre du jour — that day being precisely the Last Day.

Comments

[Dionysian Rabbi]

Elegant post. Any hints at the suggestive resonance of that particular phrase in French, for those who may otherwise only be inclined to guess? Why does Benjamin use it? The sense of 'falls' as distinctly tied to responsibility is nevertheless maybe a bit more powerful in your analysis than the translation, without that most evocative word, "lot"...To put it crudely, is there any risk of erring on the side of original sin or similar here, in terms of emphasis, and against a more Marxian strain? Anyway; thanks for this.

[cjbh@cjbh.com]

This reminds me why I don't get Benjamin. A redeemed humanity? Judgment day? No thank you.

[Adam Kotsko]

DR,

I just looked up "citation à l’ordre du jour" in the dictionary, and it says that it refers to something mentioned in military dispatches.

It would have been better if I would have looked it up and integrated that knowledge into my post somehow.

[Christoph]

Thanks for another stimulating post and thoughtful translation. I reckon the more Messianic and at the same time militant flavour carries over well; it is most vital in the passage and certainly present in the original "zufallen". And I like the choice of "precisely" for "eben" - a crucial little word the first translation omits.

The task of the translator it may not be, but I savour the passage as an allegory of Benjamin's life between two poles.

[Dr. Paul O'Kane]

Thanks for the helpful reading. I notice that the 'mention in dispatches' is a way of recognising an act as worthy of distinction, and so, Benjamin here, in his usual layered and cryptic manner, may be suggesting that the redeemed make every moment of their history commendable -i.e. perhaps uncritically - and this would then make a play with the sense of '
'Judgment day' having lost any sense of real judgment? No?

[Dr. Paul O'Kane]

... and one could add, that the only reason to shift into French here is that the French military term sets up the word 'day' to be echoed by 'Judgment Day' whereas the term 'commendation' or e.g. the German military's equivalent procedure might not have this effect.

[buy wow gold]

Thanks for the helpful reading. I notice that the 'mention in dispatches' is a way of recognising an act as worthy of distinction, and so, Benjamin here, in his usual layered and cryptic manner, may be suggesting that the redeemed make every moment of their history commendable -i.e. perhaps uncritically - and this would then make a play with the sense of '

[Kimberlyleak1]

Article rich connotation, rich in content. And rich life some trivial things. Impress every reader, thank you for the article!http://www.buyceramicwatches.com/rado-ceramic-watches-57.html