Apontamentos sobre uma Teoria da História em Walter Benjamin

This article proposes a critical reading of Walter Benjamin’s work, focusing on his contributions to historical theory and the originality of his thinking. It examines how Benjamin articulates Marxism, Jewish messianism, and aesthetic reflection to construct a unique historiographical perspective, focused on a radical critique of the notion of progress, universal history, and historicist tradition. Of particular note is his proposal for a “history against the grain,” which seeks to recover the memory of the vanquished and interrupt the continuity of homogeneous time. Founded on concepts such as dialectical image, constellation, and origin, his historical conception combines materialist analysis and a redemptive dimension, giving historiographical practice a political and emancipatory character in the face of dominant ideology and the triumphalist narratives of modernity.