Benjamin and Poe:

About Thesis 1 of "On the concept of history".

Abstract

In his last text, Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) proposes a set of theses that, besides innovative formal elements, advances an approximation between theology and historical materialism, in order to overcome the theoretical and political impasses of the moment - to defeat fascism and open the way to a new form of sociability capable of overcoming capitalism. In thesis I, the metaphor of the chess-playing automaton is in direct connection with the text by Edgar Alan Poe (1809-1849). In this paper, we propose that the choice of a metaphor based on Poe is rooted in elements of the American poet and novelist's literature that are apparently contradictory, such as his fascination with the metaphysical and the transcendental and, at the same time, his deductive rationalism, characteristic of his "detective stories."