The secret of childhood. The experience of a new time in the writings of Walter Benjamin

Abstract

The essay explores the world and experience of childhood as observed and described by Walter Benjamin in his so-called “minor” articles and essays, which in fact shed light on his entire body of work, and particularly on his philosophy of history.
Benjamin approaches the world of childhood in its materiality through picture books, toys, fairy tales, images, atmospheres, and memories. It is precisely in the subtle connections linking childhood, memories, and history that he seems to uncover traces of a secret kept by children: children's play expresses a creative force capable of interrupting continuity, subverting the established order, and liberating and renewing the world.