188
PARTISAN REVIEW
Fashion:
My
dear
Mr.
Dea lh !
Leopardi,
Dialogue Between Fashion and Death.
The world exhibitions build up the universe of commodities. Grand–
ville's fantasies ex tend the ch aracter of a commodity
to
the uni verse.
They modernize it. Sa turn 's ring becomes a cas t-iron balcony on which
the inhabitants of the planet take the air in the evening. The literary
counterpart of this graphic utopia is presented by the book of the
Fouri erist na tural scienti st T oussenal. Fashion prescribes the ritual
according to which the commodity fetish wishes to be worshiped;
Grandvill e extends fashion 's cl aims bo th
to
the obj ects of everyday use
and
to
the cosmos. By pursuing it
to
its extremes he discloses its na ture.
This res ides in its conflict with the organic. It coupl es the living body
to the inorganic world. Against the living it asserts the rights o f the
corpse. Fetishism, which is subj ect
to
the sex appeal of the inorgani c, is
its vital nerve. The cult of commoditi e places it in its service.
On the occasion of the 1867 World Exhibiti on, Victor Hugo issues
a manifes to :
T o the Peoples of Europe.
Earli er, and more unambig–
uously, their interes ts had been represented by the French workers'
delega tions, the first of which had been sent to the London World
Exhibition of 1851, and the second, consisting of seven hundred and
fifty representa tives, to tha t of 1862. The la tter was of indirect impor–
tance for the foundation of the Interna ti ona l Wor kingmen 's associa–
tion by Marx . The phantasmagori a of capitalist culture reaches its
most brilliant displ ay in the World Exhibition of 1867. The Empire is
a t the height of its power. Paris reaffirms itself as the capital o f luxury
and fashion : Offenbach sets the rhythm of Pa risian life. The operetta is
the ironic utopia of capital's lasting rul e.
BAUDELAIRE, OR THE STREETS OF PARIS
T out pour moi devien t A llegorie.
Baudelaire,
"L e cygne"
Baudelaire's genius; which is fed on melancholy, is an all egori cal
genius. In Baudelaire Paris becomes for the first time a subj ect of lyric
poetry. This poetry is no t region al art; ra ther, the gaze o f the all egori st
that falls on the city is es tranged. It is the gaze of the
fl aneuT,
whose
mode of life still surrounds the approaching desola tion o f city life with
