Who put forward the aesthetic concept of halo?

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Since the "cultural craze" in 1980s, China has translated, introduced and commented on Benjamin for 20 years. However, there are still many ambiguities in Benjamin's research, and the understanding of the concept of "halo" is one of them. When did Benjamin begin to discuss the concept of "halo"? How to understand Benjamin's words about "halo"? What is the original meaning and escape of the concept of halo? There are still some ambiguities in academic circles on these issues. We can often see the phenomenon of "following the crowd" or even "spreading mistakes with mistakes"; There are also some sentences in translation, and the original meaning can only be guessed at most.

Keywords halo; Authenticity; Worship value; Sense of distance

"Gas field" is one of the central concepts of Benjamin's aesthetic thought, which can be found in A Brief History of Photography (193 1). Four years later, Works of Art in the Age of Technological Replication focused on this concept in a broad field of vision, and it was later scattered in the Age of Developed Capitalism. Benjamin raised "Halo" to the height of artistic destiny. An important phenomenon he was concerned about was the disappearance of "Halo" in modern reproduction art. This concept, which occupies an important position in Benjamin's artistic theory, is a dazzling concept, so it needs to be interpreted. First of all, we need to understand the pun (original meaning and escape) of this concept, which will help us understand the Chinese translation of "Halo".

German Aura refers to a "halo" around the head of a saint in an icon painting, which is the original meaning of Aura and corresponds to something "sacred"; Benjamin used "halo" to describe the mysterious charm and worship of works of art, which is the escape of halo from Benjamin. The Chinese translation of Reiki is very confusing. The translation methods include charm, aura, reiki, reiki, breath, charm, charm, reiki, atmosphere, magic and so on. Chinese scholars often attribute the various translations and confusion of this concept to Benjamin's lack and ambiguity of the definition of "halo", which leads to the complexity and ambiguity of this concept itself. Some scholars even mistakenly believe that this concept was invented by Benjamin. What needs to be explained here is: 1. As a concept, halo is not Benjamin's creation, it is a common word in German (religious) literature and a common "halo" in church icons. In addition, "halo" is also a term in literary theory, such as in Stephen George. It is neither complicated nor ambiguous. Second, Benjamin's definition of this concept is not much, because the definition is already in this concept that many people know. 3. The aura of Benjamin's escape and his interpretation of disenchantment are intrinsically related to its original meaning, that is, its connotation and extension (authenticity, worship value, sense of distance, etc.). ); Fourthly, Aura's Chinese translation with "halo" seems to be the most appropriate: it is concrete and abstract. Take a translation as an example: "Baudelaire's poems are like a star without an atmosphere, shining in the sky of the Second Empire." -The "atmosphere" in Benjamin's often quoted sentence is really hard to understand. This image borrowed from Nietzsche is called "a star without a halo".

In the Record of Drug Attempts written by 1930 in March, Benjamin explained the concept of "halo" in detail for the first time:

First of all, everything can present a real aura; It is not only related to specific things as people think. Second, the aura is changing; In the final analysis, every change in things may cause a change in the aura. Third, the real aura will never scatter the magical light of the gods as presented and described in vulgar metaphysics books. The characteristics of real halo are more seen in the set-off images of occluded objects.

The last sentence of the quotation accurately corresponds to Wolfskeil's earlier explanation of the concept of "halo" than Benjamin: every material form exudes halo, "it breaks through itself and surrounds itself." Just because of the gap between German and Chinese, and because of Benjamin's strange writing, the translation of the last sentence can't truly reflect the original text. Used in literature and art, the "thing" here is a work of art; "Setting off the image" is the aura of works of art, a sacred realm or an "image beyond the image". The concept of "halo" here does not refer to the halo in the icon made by devout painters in ancient and modern times, nor does it refer to the halo trick of ghosts. The derogatory terms "refreshing" and "spirit" in the article show that Benjamin did not generally denigrate mysticism or belittle speculative theologian Eckhart (1260? 1327), Cruz (San Juan de la Cruz,15442-1591,also translated into San Juan, translated into St. John of the Cross by Catholicism) of Galmer, Spain, or Sufi mysticism in the Arab world. They are not people who play "divine light". Benjamin attacked the vulgar writers of the past and present, and sold the aura to the mediocre people with his mediocre works. These cheap works are not that Benjamin is interested in the concept of "halo", but that he pays attention to other forms of halo worthy of attention. In "Art Works in the Age of Technological Reproduction" (first draft 1935, second draft 1936), he gave another definition of "halo" and pointed out two perceptual dimensions of halo in time and space:

Halo is a unique haze from time and space: it can be very close, but it is an unparalleled artistic conception beyond a certain distance. On a summer afternoon, the rest people look at the mountains on the horizon, or a branch that casts a shadow on the rest people-this is breathing the halo of these mountains and this branch.

Like the previous quotation, it can be seen from this quotation that halo is a universal experience, which can be expressed in "everything"; The branches of mountains and rivers show that halo is not limited to works of art, and at the same time, it is undoubtedly related to the Greek etymology of Aura, or the German transliteration of Greek α→ρ α, which means "cloud gas" or "mist". Benjamin once studied klages, a rhetorician with the characteristics of Jewish mysticism. He described the halo as a package, a touch of light, a halo around the head of an icon of Jesus or Mary in a work of art, or a force field. Benjamin's general description of halo phenomenon here also focuses more on objective objects and external things. However, the experience of halo also lies in the mental state and perceptual ability of the subject, or a kind of gravity (force field) between the subject and the object, the observer and the observed. "Breathing" makes people out of the passive rest state, and the experience of aura can never be separated from the subject of the character and from "induction". As far as perception is concerned, halo is the opposite of Benjamin's fable perception, and the mysterious integrity of the observed object becomes visible. An object with a halo can be the establishment of a utopia or the existence of a utopia, even in a short time. At the same time, the quiet atmosphere described by Benjamin here clearly shows the phenomenon that he will talk about in detail later, that is, the acceptance of halo art cannot be in crowded and gossiping situations around, but needs to be absorbed and fascinated. "Halo" comes from real art and personal experience. Benjamin's evaluation of halo "can be very close, but beyond a certain distance is an unparalleled artistic conception" is as follows:

Defining halo as "an unparalleled artistic conception, which can be very close, but at a certain distance" is nothing more than expressing the worship value of artistic works in the category of time and space perception. Far is the antonym of near, and far is out of reach in essence. In fact, inaccessible is the main feature of worship painting. [……] People can approach it on the material level, but they can't eliminate the distance. Far is its innate quality.

Accordingly, "far" is not a spatial distance, but a symbol of divinity and an insurmountable distance experience. Obviously, what we are talking about here is a sense of distance, that is, a sense of distance, a sense of psychological distance, and an unattainable understanding of the observed object. The actual distance is secondary. In other words, we don't need to distinguish between "distant objects" and "near objects". The "far" here is what Benjamin called "the worship characteristics of halo phenomenon" when discussing several themes of Baudelaire. In other words, it is a spontaneous association when people face the perceived object. Where is the aura of art? In the time difference between the past and the present in front of the viewer, and in the historicity of works of art, for Benjamin, art originated from ceremony (witchcraft etiquette at first, then religious etiquette), and works of art were rooted in divinity, thus emitting a "halo":

Even the most perfect copy, there is no unique birthplace of works of art, hierund jettt. It is its unique existence that embodies history, not any other aspect, and the existence of art is restricted by history.

This is the generating feature and existing form of halo art. The "here and now is its authenticity" of an artistic work (original) is a specific work created by a specific artist in a specific period, a specific environment and a specific context. The so-called "authenticity" also refers to everything handed down after the publication of the work, including its inheritance in time and historical testimony. Benjamin said "the past works were not finished", including "the communication process beyond the production period", including people's acceptance of works in different periods (this has involved the important aspects of readers' consumption and appreciation in the later reception aesthetics). In addition, every real work of art full of aura, as Benjamin said, has its own secrets. "A real work of art can only be grasped when it is inevitably expressed as a secret. [...] The sacred foundation of beauty lies in secrets. " What Benjamin said here is "may be grasped", which is completely dialectical, just like the charm of some beautiful women: she is accompanied by secrets, an elusive and indescribable thing. She can be very close, but it is an unparalleled artistic conception beyond a certain distance. In Benjamin's place, so far all great arts have this mysterious "halo", which is fascinating with its charm. This is the "real halo feature". Of course, he also realized how the traditional art full of aura intoxicated the receiver and may lose the ability of rational thinking and criticism, which is a bit like what he said about people in love: "People in love are obsessed not only with their lover's' shortcomings', but also with a woman's quirks and weaknesses. The wrinkles, moles, worn-out clothes and slightly inclined walking posture on the lover's face will attract him more persistently and firmly than any kind of beauty."

Benjamin refers to the whole traditional art with halo art, which provides a certain worship value in aesthetic function, which is also the foundation of traditional art. Art acceptance is a halo experience, feeling that distant and incomparable charm. Halo can be reflected in the storytelling art of traditional literature (storyteller, 1936), and also in the vivid performance and unique atmosphere on the stage of drama. Perception or reaction to halo is very common in human life. It can be an absorbed look in the process of thinking, or it can be a pure glance. As Novalis said, the problem of perception is a note.