Events Calendar

Craig Young Scholars Series: Franziska Humphreys (EHESS-Paris)
Thursday, March 22, 2018, 12:15pm - 01:15pm

Please join us for an exciting lecture in the Craig Young Scholars Series!

Franziska Humphreys, Centre Georg Simmel, EHESS-Paris

 Without Image – Refuge of all Images: On Some of Walter Benjamin’s Dream Narratives.

Based on several dream narratives by Walter Benjamin, my paper questions the syntactic ramifications and motivic tensions between the theoretical conceptualization and the literary claims of this author. In attempting a constellatory reading of these texts by comparing, in particular, The Arcades Project and On the Origins of German Tragic Drama, I show that Benjamin not only conceptualized allegory in theoretical terms, but that he literally dreamed it up. I argue that a certain multilingualism inherent in the text and an alertness to mediatic leaps are decisive for the reading of any text. An allegorical reading, in the very strict sense of the word limned in what follows, breaks with the representational function of language in order to retrace and reflect its unique relief and physiognomy.

Franziska Humphreys studied Comparative Literature, French Literature, and Art History in Munich and Paris. Currently, she holds a DAAD position as specialist lecturer at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, where she heads the German-French translation program.

The Craig Young Scholars Series is made possible by the generous support of Dr. Charlotte M. Craig and Colonel Robert B. Craig.

Location Craig Seminar Room, AB 4052