Reflections on the Link between Baroque and Time

Abstract

The general aim of the present paper is to set out the characteristics of what I call the (or a) baroque time, trying as such to reveal how baroque is linked with this category, in opposition both with the current, «popular» perception of it or with powerful theoretical interpretations, which are permeated by a spatio-visual kind of lecture. I sketchily present then three significant analyses (of Benjamin, Maravall and Bal) where we find an attempt, more or less vigorous, to establish a link of this sort, in counterflow to this mainstream spatio-visual conception of baroque. Trying to reveal the specificity of the temporality for baroque, inside modernity as a whole, we will see that these analyses failed in offering a positive starting point, but for different reasons.