Or it can stagnate in the gaper; then the fldneur has turned into a
badaud. The revealing presentation of the city has come from neither.
In Fikria's words: "Ma rue est le support de l'aventure, la trame, l'obscur tableau ou s'ecrit une prose indechiffrable pour le
badaud [...].
(26) More plausible is Gunning's view that at this point the narrator is more like the "
badaud" or "gawker," another of the contemporary urban figures of interest to Benjamin, who lacks the "characteristic detachment" of the flaneur and surrenders his individuality by becoming wholly immersed in the sensations of the street.
quand l'Esko convole, quand il convole le fils du Savetier de la Lande, alors le monde entier,
badaud, n'a plus qu'^a rester coi.
J'ai demande a un
badaud ce qui se passait, il m'a dit que des voyous armes venaient de commettre un hold-up dans le quartier.