A couple of years back, I went to a conference on Utopian Studies. For the most part, it was, to be blunt, rather disappointing. Papers were presented wherein the limit of utopian thought was a liberal beneficence -- less the great shock of the revolutionary New, but a more capitalist sense of “new and improved!” … Continue reading Raise Them Up From The Poison Swamp: Rupture and Heresy in The Books of Jacob
The connections and similarities between Bloch and Benjamin are still, I think, under-appreciated -- reflecting the wider lack of interest in Bloch’s work. The two were contemporaries, knew one another and had a deep appreciation for one another’s work and methods. Just on the surface there are some interesting polarities -- Bloch, the exegete; loquacious, … Continue reading Now Time and the Not Yet
“Denken heißt überschreiten” -- to think is to transgress,-- Ernst Bloch Prompted by this post about the intersections of Goethe and Marx, I can think of no better thinker than Ernst Bloch who fits the bill. Like many German intellectuals of his day, Bloch was enormously influenced by Goethe, particularly Faust but was also a … Continue reading Provisional & Early Thoughts On Go(e)thic Marxism
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