A politics of the past: History in Benjamin, memory in Bergson

Authors

  • André Antônio Barbosa Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)
  • Angela Freire Prysthon Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/fem.2013.151.01

Abstract

This essay discusses the political potentialities brought about by the relationships between specific individuals and the past. For that, we establish a dialogue between two authors: Walter Benjamin e Henri Bergson. In the first we appropriate above all the connections between his concept of “materialistic history” and the notion, present in many of his texts, of “resemblance”. In the second, we explore dimensions and elements of some of his main conceptual concerns, like “duration” and “memory”.

Key words: Walter Benjamin, Henri Bergson, past, history, resemblance, duration, memory.

Author Biographies

André Antônio Barbosa, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)

Mestrando em Comunicação pela UFPE.

Angela Freire Prysthon, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)

Professora do Programa de Pós-graduação em Comunicação da UFPE. Autora, entre outros trabalhos, de "Cosmopolitismos periféricos: ensaios sobre modernidade, pós-modernidade e estudos culturais na América Latina" (Recife, Bagaço, 2002). Doutora em Teoria Crítica e Estudos Hispânicos pela Universidade de Nottingham (Inglaterra).

Published

2012-06-11