"I should, rather, speak of a labyrinth. I am not concerned here with what is installed in the chamber at its enigmatic centre, ego or fate, but all the more with the many entrances leading into the interior."

— Benjamin, Walter (1892-1940)


Work Title
Date
1970
Metaphor
"I should, rather, speak of a labyrinth. I am not concerned here with what is installed in the chamber at its enigmatic centre, ego or fate, but all the more with the many entrances leading into the interior."
Metaphor in Context
I should, rather, speak of a labyrinth. I am not concerned here with what is installed in the chamber at its enigmatic centre, ego or fate, but all the more with the many entrances leading into the interior. These entrances I call primal acquaintances ... But since most of them -- at least those that remain in our memory -- for their part open up new acquaintances, relations to new people, after some time they branch off these corridors (the male may be drawn to the right, female to the left). Whether cross-connections are finally established between these systems also depends on the intertwinements of our path through life.
(GS VI, 491; OWS 319)
Provenance
Cited p. 123 of Sigrid Weigel, Georgina Paul, Rachel McNicholl. Body-and image-space: Re-reading Walter Benjamin. trans. Georgina Paul. (Routledge 1996).
Date of Entry
06/22/2014

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.