Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Méndez: Historical Materialism and the Spanish Civil War in Walter Benjamin's Framework
Overview
This essay examines Alberto Méndez's Blind Sunflowers through Walter Benjamin's theoretical distinction between Historicism and Historical Materialism. The writer analyzes three narratives from the Spanish Civil War to evaluate Benjamin's claims about history, politics, and human agency, ultimately arguing that Benjamin's opposition to Marxist determinism is contradicted by the historical realities depicted in the novel.
What this essay covers
- Introduction and assignment prompt outlining Benjamin's theoretical framework
- Summary of three interconnected narratives in Blind Sunflowers regarding the Spanish Civil War
- Analysis of Benjamin's theses on history, happiness, and the relationship between political causes and civilian outcomes
- Application of Benjamin's theory to Méndez's text with critical evaluation of Benjamin's arguments
Preview
Mid-Term Exam
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Choose one of the following works and examine that work in the light of Walter Benjamin's difference between "Historicism" (official history) and "Historical materialism" (history of the oppressed): Maus by Art Spiegelman, Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Méndez, or Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.
Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Mendez
Blind Sunflower contains three agonizing stories about the Spanish Civil War. All the stories are sad because they do not end well. In the first account, the captain resigns and retreats from the war front on winning the battle. In the second account, a young poet runs away with his pregnant lover, intending to go to France. Unluckily, she gives birth on the way and loses her life. The young poet is left desperate with a pen, book, and the child. The third account is a prisoner in jail. He refuses to live a lie so that the executioner is designated as an executioner. At the same time, there is a deacon hiding his lust behind religion. These three accounts are agonizing history stories that Walter Benjamin's theses explain through his view on "Historicism" and "Historical Materialism" (Benjamin, 1986).
In his essay, Benjamin gives a clear account of life through history. In the second section of his essay, he insists that our happiness as human beings are closely linked to the current times. This means that we cannot base our happiness on a different era in the past or the future.