Antonio Rafele, La Métropole. Benjamin et Simmel. (Metropolia. Benjamin i Simmel ). Wstęp Michel Mafessoli. Paris: CNRS Editions, 2010

Antonio Rafele, the author of the book presented here, contemplates the literature of a big city, as Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin did before him. This book, published by CNRS (Centre national de la recherché scientifique) in France, is an attempt at a philosophical-literary essay; it is addressed to the world of academia, although the text is situated between an academic and a literary world. The two main parts are simply entitled LA METROPOLE. Simmel and LA PHOTOGRAPHIE. Benjamin. The richness and elegance of language, the depth of thought and the eclectic allusions are as surprising as are the ascetic form and the (occasional) laconic assertions. Rafele easily refers to global and universal Simmel’s perspective as well as to the detailed and individual Benjamin’s views. The center of attention is photography, the first medium of that new revolutionary world of media which would later utilize the television and the Internet. However, what interests Rafele in his reading of Benjamin is that photography, for the first time since the Renaissance, introduced new interpretation of the past. The author does not attempt to apply his considerations about the works of Simmel and of Benjamin to the contemporary, the futuristic, the avant-garde or the archaic model of the city. No other city except for Paris appears.