Abstract

This essay examines the pivotal role of foretelling in Benjamin's "Fate and Character." It argues that modernity discredits prophecy while rationalizing prediction through "character." Benjamin challenges this, seeking to redeem foretelling on its own terms. Authentic foretelling is not about character but accesses fate—defined as the "guilt-context of the living"—by temporally aligning different times in the present. Ultimately, Benjamin recuperates practices like chiromancy, demonstrating how true foretelling exposes the non-chronological temporality of fate.