“An attempt to think about nudity in all its theological complexity and, at the same time, to move beyond the theological perspective is accomplished in Walter Benjamin's work, Toward the end of his essay on Goethe's Elective Affinities, he examines the relationship in beauty between the veil and the veiled, appearance and essence, in connection with the character of Ottilia (whom Benjamin saw as a figuration of Jula Cohn, the woman whom he was in love with at the time), In beauty the veil and the veiled, the envelopment and the object that it envelops, are linked by a necessary relationship that Benjamin calls "secret" (Geheimnis). The beautiful, then, is that object for which the veil is essential. That Benjamin is aware of the theological depth of this thesis, which irrevocably links the veil to the veiled, is suggested by a reference to the "age-old idea" that the veiled is transformed by its unveiling, since it can remain "equal to itself" only underneath its envelopment. As a result beauty is in its essence an impossibility of unveiling; it is "non-unveilable" (unenthüllbar)”.
Giorgio Agamben
“Nudities”
Completo, aquí.
