Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe

This essay considers Walter Benjamin’s model of messianic time alongside the powers of horror in the Gothic tradition, here represented by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd” (1840). This configuration illustrates a messianic nihilism; a profane relation i...

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Main Author: Ursula de Leeuw
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Monash University 2018-12-01
Series:Colloquy: Text, Theory, Critique
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.26180/5c11d5e25b25a
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author Ursula de Leeuw
author_facet Ursula de Leeuw
author_sort Ursula de Leeuw
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description This essay considers Walter Benjamin’s model of messianic time alongside the powers of horror in the Gothic tradition, here represented by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd” (1840). This configuration illustrates a messianic nihilism; a profane relation in which teleological meaning is eternally derailed. Benjamin’s messianic time counters the notion of history-as-progress, instead proposing the perpetual destruction of present conditions in the pursuit of unknown possibilities. In the Gothic, the messianic takes form in the dialectical image of horror; an image that at once contains and subverts history, thus emerging as unnameable. In Frankenstein, the monster embodies and enacts a messianic rhythm as a symptom of his alienation. In “The Man of the Crowd,” an unnameable figure disrupts the historical typology of the modern city, while simultaneously resurrecting the radical possibilities of the past. Ultimately, Gothic messianism evokes a profane illumination that promotes annihilation as a means to the infinite possibilities of the new.
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spelling doaj.art-d9e67d7ed91c4a9e81c207875957c0ee2022-12-22T02:26:57ZengMonash UniversityColloquy: Text, Theory, Critique1447-09502018-12-0135/3612714410.26180/5c11d5e25b25aMessianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan PoeUrsula de Leeuw0Monash UniversityThis essay considers Walter Benjamin’s model of messianic time alongside the powers of horror in the Gothic tradition, here represented by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd” (1840). This configuration illustrates a messianic nihilism; a profane relation in which teleological meaning is eternally derailed. Benjamin’s messianic time counters the notion of history-as-progress, instead proposing the perpetual destruction of present conditions in the pursuit of unknown possibilities. In the Gothic, the messianic takes form in the dialectical image of horror; an image that at once contains and subverts history, thus emerging as unnameable. In Frankenstein, the monster embodies and enacts a messianic rhythm as a symptom of his alienation. In “The Man of the Crowd,” an unnameable figure disrupts the historical typology of the modern city, while simultaneously resurrecting the radical possibilities of the past. Ultimately, Gothic messianism evokes a profane illumination that promotes annihilation as a means to the infinite possibilities of the new.https://doi.org/10.26180/5c11d5e25b25aWalter Benjaminmessianic timegothicnihilismmodernismFrankensteinMary ShelleyEdgar Allan Poeabjectiondeath drive
spellingShingle Ursula de Leeuw
Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe
Colloquy: Text, Theory, Critique
Walter Benjamin
messianic time
gothic
nihilism
modernism
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Edgar Allan Poe
abjection
death drive
title Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe
title_full Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe
title_fullStr Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe
title_full_unstemmed Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe
title_short Messianic Nihilism in Gothic Horror: Walter Benjamin with Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe
title_sort messianic nihilism in gothic horror walter benjamin with mary shelley and edgar allan poe
topic Walter Benjamin
messianic time
gothic
nihilism
modernism
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Edgar Allan Poe
abjection
death drive
url https://doi.org/10.26180/5c11d5e25b25a
work_keys_str_mv AT ursuladeleeuw messianicnihilismingothichorrorwalterbenjaminwithmaryshelleyandedgarallanpoe