“你不过是老屋中的追随者”——本雅明《卡尔·克劳斯》中的语言与媒介

“Du bist nur einer von den Epigonen”: On the Language and Media in Walter Benjamin’s “Karl Kraus”

本雅明1931年3月分四期连载在《法兰克福报》上的《卡尔·克劳斯》涉及到语言危机、媒介技术、战争经验以及都市生活等广泛主题。本文聚焦于其中的语言反思与媒介批评,它们不仅衔接本雅明早期神学范式下的形而上语言哲学思考,也与其后期的马克思主义诉求息息相关,两者并非相互对立,而是统一于作为"欧洲最后一个真正知识分子"的本雅明的时代关怀中。这在媒体高度饱和以及技术批评此起彼伏的今天,在有关技术时代传统人文精神危机的讨论越发激烈,而知识分子在公共话语空间的式微之态也越发明显的当今社会具有特别的启示意义。

Walter Benjamin’s literary essay "Karl Kraus" was serialized in four issues in Frankfurter Zeitung in March 1931,covering a wide range of topics such as language crisis,media technology,war experience,and urban life. This article focuses especially on language reflection and media criticism. The two not only connect with the metaphysical linguistic philosophical thought of Benjamin’s early theological paradigm,but are also closely related to his later Marxist perception. They are not opposed to one another but unified in Benjamin’s "Karl Kraus",which reflects as always the concern of "the last homme de lettres in Europe".