Benjamin was a German cultural critic and essayist known for his complex work on aesthetics, history, and, significantly, language. His thinking on language didn't remain static; it appears to have gone through shifts, particularly in relation to his broader philosophical and historical concerns. Understanding his views on language is key to grasping his approach to critical theory and history. One important concept early in Benjamin's work is his theological conception of the **language of the name**, which he outlines in his "Language essay". In this early view, Benjamin posits a three-tiered understanding of language. At the apex is the creative word of God. Below this is the naming language of man. Finally, there is what is described as a degraded conception of language used for mere human communication. According to Benjamin's "metaphysical" theory of language (which he distinguishes from a 'mystical' view that word is the essence of the thing), things themselves don't have a word; they are created from God's word and then known through a human word, a name. He suggests that in this naming language, God's creative word becomes receptive, aiming to give rise to the language of things themselves, from which God's word silently shines forth in nature's "mute magic". Man is the knower in this same language in which God is the creator, created in the image of the creator. Building on this, Benjamin develops the notion of **similitude**. This concept is seen as drawing on his earlier idea of the language of the name and aiming to set up an image of the "whole". Similitude involves a distinct mimetic faculty – a capacity to find readable meaning and patterns that extend beyond immediate perception, even embracing the inanimate. Language, in this context, is considered the "highest level" of this mimetic behavior. In his 1933 essay, "On the Mimetic Faculty," Benjamin focuses more directly on language as the benchmark, or "canon," for **non-sensuous similarity**. He suggests that earlier forms of mimetic behavior were stages that eventually gained "admittance to writing and language," and upon entering this linguistic medium, these earlier mimetic powers essentially "passed without residue". Benjamin contrasts a pre-lapsarian (before the Fall) state of nature characterized by "material community," where things have an internal luminosity and meaning that is transparent to man through their relation to God's creative word, with a post-Fall condition. In the post-Fall state, things are grasped only in their opaque externality through what he calls "fallen words" used by men for manipulation. The "fleeting grasp of similarity" that remains after the Fall is valued precisely because it is a remnant of this original, transparent state that has been worn away by modern life. This early perspective also informed Benjamin's critical stance on interpreting meaning from sensuous forms, as seen in his polemics against the hermeneutics of the image in works like his essay on Goethe. He was concerned about the existential damage caused by living life according to aesthetic categories where meaning is ambiguous and inscrutable. However, the sources suggest that Benjamin's views underwent significant modifications, particularly in his later works like the unfinished _Arcades Project_. At the end of his career, his strong denunciation of the image shifted. His later work begins to treat sensuous forms, including the "detritus of material culture," as potential paths to liberation. This necessitated a revision of his earlier schema. Central to this later period is the concept of the **dialectical image** (_dialektische Bilder_), which is intimately connected with his conception of materialist historiography. While the precise meaning of "image" in this context can be difficult to pin down and reconcile with his earlier critiques, the dialectical image is described as a bearer of historical truth. Unlike similitude, where the sensuous form's meaning points beyond the form, the experience-ability of meaning in the form of the dialectical image does _not_ allow the form to be transcended. Crucially, Benjamin insists that the dialectical image occurs **in language**. Language is seen as providing the essential framework for his investigation of history, elevating it to something philosophical, akin to a "metaphysics of experience". The very choice of the "language of the image" and its connection to material culture in the _Arcades Project_ signals a change in his earlier theoretical positions. This reflects a move towards addressing historical problems and exploring the potential for liberation embedded within sensuous, material forms. Benjamin's work is also characterized by other interconnected concepts relevant to his approach to history and language. He uses the term _Jetztzeit_, or "now-time," in his historical theses, and employs a strategy of "reading history 'against the grain'" as a method for critical theory. These approaches highlight his interest in finding moments of truth and potential within historical experience, often by challenging conventional narratives or perspectives. In summary, Benjamin's thinking on language appears to evolve from an early, theologically tinged view centered on a naming language that accesses the truth or essence of things and finds echoes in concepts like similitude, to a later perspective where language serves as the medium for historical truth embedded within material forms, particularly in the context of the dialectical image. This shift moves from an emphasis on original transparency and remnants of similarity to an engagement with sensuous forms and everyday life as sites where historical understanding and potential liberation can be found. His complex use of concepts and his critical approach continue to make him a significant, though sometimes challenging, figure in literary studies and critical theory.