Walter Benjamin and Baudelaire's flâneur in Julio Cortázar

Abstract

This article discusses the relation between Baudelaire’s flâneur in “The painter of modern life” and the character Roberto-Michel from the tale “Las babas del diablo”, by Julio Cortázar, in light of the analysis of the flâneur in Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Paris of the second empire in Baudelaire”. Baudelaire takes the flâneur from the tale “The man of the crowd”, by Edgar Allan Poe, describing it in relation to the ideas of convalescence and childhood, which express the curiosity of the flâneur in the crowd. In Benjamin’s analysis, on the other hand, the crowd has a negative aspect, working as a hideout for the flâneur who does not feel safe in his own society. By raising Benjamin’s analysis, we seek to propose a possible contribution to Davi Arrigucci Júnior’s interpretation of Cortázar’s character.