"[Benjamin] was working intensively, beginning in 1915, to develop his theory of language, basing his ideas on a complex interweaving of motifs derived from his reading of German Romanticism and his discussions with Scholem on Jewish mysticism. This theory is fully expressed in the posthumously published essay of 1916, "On Language as Such and on thte Language of Man," which treats language not primarily as a phenomenon of actual speech but as an idea to be deduced theologically. This language theory, in its political bearing, is at the basis of Benjamin's decision to decline Buber's invitation: 'My concept of objective and, at the same time, highly political style and writing is this: to awaken interest in what was denied to the word; only where this sphere of speechlessness reveals itself in unutterably pure power can the magic spark leap between the word and the motivating deed, where the unity of these two equally real entities resides' (Letters, 80)." -- Chronology, 1892-1926, Selected Writings, vol. 1
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