Words of Light
eBook - PDF

Words of Light

Theses on the Photography of History

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Words of Light

Theses on the Photography of History

About this book

Here Eduardo Cadava demonstrates that Walter Benjamin articulates his conception of history through the language of photography. Focusing on Benjamin's discussions of the flashes and images of history, he argues that the questions raised by this link between photography and history touch on issues that belong to the entire trajectory of his writings: the historical and political consequences of technology, the relation between reproduction and mimesis, images and history, remembering and forgetting, allegory and mourning, and visual and linguistic representation. The book establishes the photographic constellation of motifs and themes around which Benjamin organizes his texts and thereby becomes a lens through which we can begin to view his analysis of the convergence between the new technological media and a revolutionary concept of historical action and understanding.


Written in the form of theses--what Cadava calls "snapshots in prose"--the book memorializes Benjamin's own thetic method of writing. It enacts a mode of conceiving history that is neither linear nor successive, but rather discontinuous--constructed from what Benjamin calls "dialectical images." In this way, it not only suggests the essential rapport between the fragmentary form of Benjamin's writing and his effort to write a history of modernity but it also skillfully clarifies the relation between Benjamin and his contemporaries, the relation between fascism and aesthetic ideology. It gives us the most complete picture to date of Benjamin's reflections on history.

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Yes, you can access Words of Light by Eduardo Cadava in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & History of Photography. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. CONTENTS
  5. List of Illustrations
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Abbreviations
  8. Preface: Phötagögos
  9. HISTORY
  10. HELIOTROPISM
  11. ORIGINS
  12. MORTIFICATION
  13. GHOSTS
  14. MIMESIS
  15. TRANSLATIONS
  16. INSCRIPTIONS
  17. LIGHTNING
  18. STARS
  19. ETERNAL RETURN
  20. REPRODUCIBILITY
  21. POLITICS
  22. DANGER
  23. CAESURA
  24. TRACES
  25. NIGHTDREAMS
  26. TWILIGHT
  27. AWAKENING
  28. LANGUAGE
  29. MATTER
  30. REFLECTIONS
  31. PSYCHES
  32. SHOCKS
  33. SIMILARITY
  34. PETRIFICATION
  35. DEATH
  36. EPITAPHS
  37. Notes
  38. Bibliography
  39. Index