中國におけるヴァルター・ベンヤミン研究について

Abstract

This essay is mainly about studies of Walter Benjamin in China. The discussion focuses on the Chinese translation of Benjamin's writings and the interpretation of his critical voices. On the whole, Chinese scholars show deep interest in The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, because it seems to touch on the essence of artistic activities in the high capitalism. In contrast to this, they show little interest in Critique of Violence and Berlin Childhood around 1900. "Waking up from the era of bourgeoisie", written by Zhang Xu-dong who is the first translator of Benjamin's writings, discusses the self-satisfied understanding in the latter half of the 1980 s. The 1989 Tiananmen incident has brought its weakness into sharp relief. After the 1990 s, he says, reading Benjamin's writings will lead the Chinese to thinking about the social and cultural contradiction in contemporary China.