Allegory, Pathos, and Irony: The Resistance to Benjamin in Paul de Man

Paul de Man’s writings on allegory are significantly influenced by the work of Walter Benjamin. Nevertheless, Benjamin is conventionally perceived as semireligious and pathos-laden, whereas de Man is described as secular and emotionless. A close reading of selections from the two authors’ works (in particular Benjamin’s The Origin of German Tragic Drama and de Man’s Blindness and Insight) complicate this distinction, and the stereotypes supporting it. Both de Man and Benjamin help us to question the accepted borders between the emotively charged and the detached, the sacred and the profane, the redemptive and the nihilistic—hence their controversial yet unflagging resonance in contemporary culture.