Review article
https://doi.org/10.32728/mo.05.1.2010.06
THE REIFICATION OF THE WOMAN: BAUDELAIRE IN THE EYES OF WALTER BENJAMIN
Dario Saftich
; Novi list, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Abstract
Benjamin and Baudelaire discovered the experience of life in a modern metropolis. Walter Benjamin wrote about Baudelaire's modernity, about the mass as his main character. about the public who would read the poetry and not be able to understand it. Baudelaire embodies the democratization of poetry. Amongst new anthropological characters appears the female figure, full of contradiction. In the city, where everything has become reified, not even the woman can avoid this fate. Thus, without regard to Walter Benjamin's optimism, it is impossible to find salvation in love for woman and art. Beatrice no longer lives here. Baudelaire was the first to realize that the bourgeoisie was ready to strip the poet of his social role which he had enjoyed although it was forced upon him – since he has experience regarding the true nature of merchandise – to recognize the market as an objective circumstance. Therefore, the theory of the demise of aesthetic art, as one of the obsolescense of specific art forms, can be almost paradigmatically shown in Baudelaire's lyricism.
Keywords
metropolis; democratization; woman; poetry; art; reification; bourgeoisie; market
Hrčak ID:
61677
URI
Publication date:
5.7.2010.
Visits: 5.226 *