Cinematic ethnology: Siegfried Kracauer's The White Collar Masses

New Left Review

Volumn , Issue 226, 1997, Pages 41-56

  Mülder Bach, Inka ^a  

^a NONE

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References (116)

1. This essay is an edited extract from the introduction to Siegfried Kracauer, The White Collar Masses: Disorientation and Distraction in Weimar Germany, trans. Quintin Hoare, Verso, London 1997, £30 HB, £10 PB.
2. Siegfried Kracauer, History: The Last Things Before the Last, Oxford 1969, p. 4.
3. Ibid., p. 4.
4. Siegfried Kracauer, The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays, trans. Thomas Y. Levin, Cambridge, Mass. 1995.
5. That these objections existed can be deduced, not just from Reifenberg's intervention, but also from a letter from Ernst Bloch to Kracauer in October 1929, which contains the following passage: 'If the work were not able to appear in the newspaper, that would certainly be a scandal. There would be nothing left to do but swallow the pill and give the thing to Neue Rundschau.' See Inka Mülder-Bach, ed., 'Briefwechsel Ernst Bloch-Siegfried Kracauer 1921-1966', in Karola Bloch et al., ed., Ernst Bloch, Briefe 1903-1975, Frankfurt am Main 1985, Vol. 1, p. 317. The Neue Rundschau was a celebrated journal published by S. Fischer Verlag, in which Kracauer's novel Ginster had appeared a year earlier. When pre-publication of Die Angestellten was under discussion, the Frankfurter Zeitung was preparing for a major staff reshuffle, coinciding with the sale of a major share of the newspaper publishing company to I.G. Farben and resulting politically in a marked swing to the Right. Thus from 1932 on, the once decidedly liberal-democratic Frankfurter Zeitung championed the idea of 'taming' the Nazis by binding them into a reactionary government coalition. Kracauer's Berlin years were marked by increasing tensions with the newspaper, which gradually rid itself of its most celebrated, and politically most radical, cultural editor. Dismissal followed, a few months after Kracauer's flight from Berlin, in August 1933.
6. Letter from Benno Reifenberg to Heinrich Simon on 28 September 1929, quoted in Ingrid Belke and Irina Renz, eds, Marbacher Magazin 47: Siegfried Kracauer 1889-1966, Marbach am Neckar 1988, p. 51.
7. Kracauer, Die Angestellten. Aus dem neuesten Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main 1930. The first postwar German edition of the text appeared in 1959. It was published by the Verlag für Demoskopie, Allensbach and Bonn, as the first volume in the series Klassiker der Umfrageforschung [Classics of Public-Opinion Research]. The grotesque misunderstanding that led to this classification is a small but telling indication of the intellectual decline affecting German social sciences as a result of the huge emigration after 1933. The steadily growing literature on Kracauer in recent years contains comparatively few items relating to Die Angestellten. One exception in the English-speaking world is David Frisby, Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge 1985, pp. 158-73. German-language titles include Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer - Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur. Seine frühen Schriften 1973-7933, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 115-25; Rolf Lindner, Die Entdeckung der Stadtkultur. Soziologie aus der Erfahrung der Reportage, Frankfurt am Main 1990; Henri Band, 'Massenkultur versus Angestelltenkultur. Siegfried Kracauers Auseinandersetzung mit Phänomenen der modernen Kultur in der Weimarer Republik', in Norbert Krenzlin, ed., Zwischen Angstmetapher und Terminus. Theorien der Massenkultur seit Nietzsche, Berlin 1992, pp. 73-101, and 'Siegfried Kracauers Expedition in die Alltagswelt der Berliner Angestellten', in Andreas Volk, ed., Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Feuilletonisten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen [Soziographie, vol. 7, nos. 1/2, 1994], Zurich 1996, pp. 213-31.
8. Kracauer, Die Angestellten. Aus dem neuesten Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main 1930. The first postwar German edition of the text appeared in 1959. It was published by the Verlag für Demoskopie, Allensbach and Bonn, as the first volume in the series Klassiker der Umfrageforschung [Classics of Public-Opinion Research]. The grotesque misunderstanding that led to this classification is a small but telling indication of the intellectual decline affecting German social sciences as a result of the huge emigration after 1933. The steadily growing literature on Kracauer in recent years contains comparatively few items relating to Die Angestellten. One exception in the English-speaking world is David Frisby, Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge 1985, pp. 158-73. German-language titles include Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer - Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur. Seine frühen Schriften 1973-7933, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 115-25; Rolf Lindner, Die Entdeckung der Stadtkultur. Soziologie aus der Erfahrung der Reportage, Frankfurt am Main 1990; Henri Band, 'Massenkultur versus Angestelltenkultur. Siegfried Kracauers Auseinandersetzung mit Phänomenen der modernen Kultur in der Weimarer Republik', in Norbert Krenzlin, ed., Zwischen Angstmetapher und Terminus. Theorien der Massenkultur seit Nietzsche, Berlin 1992, pp. 73-101, and 'Siegfried Kracauers Expedition in die Alltagswelt der Berliner Angestellten', in Andreas Volk, ed., Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Feuilletonisten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen [Soziographie, vol. 7, nos. 1/2, 1994], Zurich 1996, pp. 213-31.
9. Kracauer, Die Angestellten. Aus dem neuesten Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main 1930. The first postwar German edition of the text appeared in 1959. It was published by the Verlag für Demoskopie, Allensbach and Bonn, as the first volume in the series Klassiker der Umfrageforschung [Classics of Public-Opinion Research]. The grotesque misunderstanding that led to this classification is a small but telling indication of the intellectual decline affecting German social sciences as a result of the huge emigration after 1933. The steadily growing literature on Kracauer in recent years contains comparatively few items relating to Die Angestellten. One exception in the English-speaking world is David Frisby, Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge 1985, pp. 158-73. German-language titles include Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer -Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur. Seine frühen Schriften 1973-7933, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 115-25; Rolf Lindner, Die Entdeckung der Stadtkultur. Soziologie aus der Erfahrung der Reportage, Frankfurt am Main 1990; Henri Band, 'Massenkultur versus Angestelltenkultur. Siegfried Kracauers Auseinandersetzung mit Phänomenen der modernen Kultur in der Weimarer Republik', in Norbert Krenzlin, ed., Zwischen Angstmetapher und Terminus. Theorien der Massenkultur seit Nietzsche, Berlin 1992, pp. 73-101, and 'Siegfried Kracauers Expedition in die Alltagswelt der Berliner Angestellten', in Andreas Volk, ed., Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Feuilletonisten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen [Soziographie, vol. 7, nos. 1/2, 1994], Zurich 1996, pp. 213-31.
10. Kracauer, Die Angestellten. Aus dem neuesten Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main 1930. The first postwar German edition of the text appeared in 1959. It was published by the Verlag für Demoskopie, Allensbach and Bonn, as the first volume in the series Klassiker der Umfrageforschung [Classics of Public-Opinion Research]. The grotesque misunderstanding that led to this classification is a small but telling indication of the intellectual decline affecting German social sciences as a result of the huge emigration after 1933. The steadily growing literature on Kracauer in recent years contains comparatively few items relating to Die Angestellten. One exception in the English-speaking world is David Frisby, Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge 1985, pp. 158-73. German-language titles include Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer - Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur. Seine frühen Schriften 1973-7933, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 115-25; Rolf Lindner, Die Entdeckung der Stadtkultur. Soziologie aus der Erfahrung der Reportage, Frankfurt am Main 1990; Henri Band, 'Massenkultur versus Angestelltenkultur. Siegfried Kracauers Auseinandersetzung mit Phänomenen der modernen Kultur in der Weimarer Republik', in Norbert Krenzlin, ed., Zwischen Angstmetapher und Terminus. Theorien der Massenkultur seit Nietzsche, Berlin 1992, pp. 73-101, and 'Siegfried Kracauers Expedition in die Alltagswelt der Berliner Angestellten', in Andreas Volk, ed., Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Feuilletonisten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen [Soziographie, vol. 7, nos. 1/2, 1994], Zurich 1996, pp. 213-31.
11. Kracauer, Die Angestellten. Aus dem neuesten Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main 1930. The first postwar German edition of the text appeared in 1959. It was published by the Verlag für Demoskopie, Allensbach and Bonn, as the first volume in the series Klassiker der Umfrageforschung [Classics of Public-Opinion Research]. The grotesque misunderstanding that led to this classification is a small but telling indication of the intellectual decline affecting German social sciences as a result of the huge emigration after 1933. The steadily growing literature on Kracauer in recent years contains comparatively few items relating to Die Angestellten. One exception in the English-speaking world is David Frisby, Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge 1985, pp. 158-73. German-language titles include Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer - Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur. Seine frühen Schriften 1973-7933, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 115-25; Rolf Lindner, Die Entdeckung der Stadtkultur. Soziologie aus der Erfahrung der Reportage, Frankfurt am Main 1990; Henri Band, 'Massenkultur versus Angestelltenkultur. Siegfried Kracauers Auseinandersetzung mit Phänomenen der modernen Kultur in der Weimarer Republik', in Norbert Krenzlin, ed., Zwischen Angstmetapher und Terminus. Theorien der Massenkultur seit Nietzsche, Berlin 1992, pp. 73-101, and 'Siegfried Kracauers Expedition in die Alltagswelt der Berliner Angestellten', in Andreas Volk, ed., Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Feuilletonisten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen [Soziographie, vol. 7, nos. 1/2, 1994], Zurich 1996, pp. 213-31.
12. Kracauer, Die Angestellten. Aus dem neuesten Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main 1930. The first postwar German edition of the text appeared in 1959. It was published by the Verlag für Demoskopie, Allensbach and Bonn, as the first volume in the series Klassiker der Umfrageforschung [Classics of Public-Opinion Research]. The grotesque misunderstanding that led to this classification is a small but telling indication of the intellectual decline affecting German social sciences as a result of the huge emigration after 1933. The steadily growing literature on Kracauer in recent years contains comparatively few items relating to Die Angestellten. One exception in the English-speaking world is David Frisby, Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin, Cambridge 1985, pp. 158-73. German-language titles include Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer - Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur. Seine frühen Schriften 1973-7933, Stuttgart 1985, pp. 115-25; Rolf Lindner, Die Entdeckung der Stadtkultur. Soziologie aus der Erfahrung der Reportage, Frankfurt am Main 1990; Henri Band, 'Massenkultur versus Angestelltenkultur. Siegfried Kracauers Auseinandersetzung mit Phänomenen der modernen Kultur in der Weimarer Republik', in Norbert Krenzlin, ed., Zwischen Angstmetapher und Terminus. Theorien der Massenkultur seit Nietzsche, Berlin 1992, pp. 73-101, and 'Siegfried Kracauers Expedition in die Alltagswelt der Berliner Angestellten', in Andreas Volk, ed., Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Feuilletonisten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen [Soziographie, vol. 7, nos. 1/2, 1994], Zurich 1996, pp. 213-31.
13. 'The "reporter" deals in sensation - that is implicit in the foreign term we use for journalists operating at an American pace', wrote Egon Erwin Kisch in the preface to his classic anthology of reportage first published in 1924. See Kisch, Der rasende Reporter, Cologne 1985, p. 7.
14. On the history of salaried employees in Germany, see Jürgen Kocka, Die Angestellten in der deutschen Geschichte. 1850-1890, Göttingen 1981, and 'White Collar Workers and Industrial Society in Imperial Germany', in George Iggers, ed., The Social History of Politics: Critical Perspectives in West German Historical Writing Since 1945, Leamington Spa 1985, pp. 113-36. For a comparative treatment, see Werner Mangold, 'Angestelltengeschichte und Angestelltensoziologie in Deutschland, England und Frankreich', in Jürgen Kocka, ed., Angestellte im europäischen Vergleich. Die Herausbildung angestellter Mittelschichten seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert, Göttingen 1981, pp. 11-38. In accordance with the specific political importance of the stratum, a sociology of employees developed earlier in Germany than in other countries. One pioneering study was Emil Lederer's Die Privatangestellten in der modernen Wirtschaftsentwicklung, Tübingen 1912. With Jakob Marshak, Lederer was also responsible for the summary 'Der neue Mittelstand', in Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Vol. 9, pt. 1,Tübingen 1926, pp. 120-41, to which Kracauer was indebted for crucial particulars of his own investigation.
15. On the history of salaried employees in Germany, see Jürgen Kocka, Die Angestellten in der deutschen Geschichte. 1850-1890, Göttingen 1981, and 'White Collar Workers and Industrial Society in Imperial Germany', in George Iggers, ed., The Social History of Politics: Critical Perspectives in West German Historical Writing Since 1945, Leamington Spa 1985, pp. 113-36. For a comparative treatment, see Werner Mangold, 'Angestelltengeschichte und Angestelltensoziologie in Deutschland, England und Frankreich', in Jürgen Kocka, ed., Angestellte im europäischen Vergleich. Die Herausbildung angestellter Mittelschichten seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert, Göttingen 1981, pp. 11-38. In accordance with the specific political importance of the stratum, a sociology of employees developed earlier in Germany than in other countries. One pioneering study was Emil Lederer's Die Privatangestellten in der modernen Wirtschaftsentwicklung, Tübingen 1912. With Jakob Marshak, Lederer was also responsible for the summary 'Der neue Mittelstand', in Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Vol. 9, pt. 1,Tübingen 1926, pp. 120-41, to which Kracauer was indebted for crucial particulars of his own investigation.
16. On the history of salaried employees in Germany, see Jürgen Kocka, Die Angestellten in der deutschen Geschichte. 1850-1890, Göttingen 1981, and 'White Collar Workers and Industrial Society in Imperial Germany', in George Iggers, ed., The Social History of Politics: Critical Perspectives in West German Historical Writing Since 1945, Leamington Spa 1985, pp. 113-36. For a comparative treatment, see Werner Mangold, 'Angestelltengeschichte und Angestelltensoziologie in Deutschland, England und Frankreich', in Jürgen Kocka, ed., Angestellte im europäischen Vergleich. Die Herausbildung angestellter Mittelschichten seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert, Göttingen 1981, pp. 11-38. In accordance with the specific political importance of the stratum, a sociology of employees developed earlier in Germany than in other countries. One pioneering study was Emil Lederer's Die Privatangestellten in der modernen Wirtschaftsentwicklung, Tübingen 1912. With Jakob Marshak, Lederer was also responsible for the summary 'Der neue Mittelstand', in Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Vol. 9, pt. 1,Tübingen 1926, pp. 120-41, to which Kracauer was indebted for crucial particulars of his own investigation.
17. On the history of salaried employees in Germany, see Jürgen Kocka, Die Angestellten in der deutschen Geschichte. 1850-1890, Göttingen 1981, and 'White Collar Workers and Industrial Society in Imperial Germany', in George Iggers, ed., The Social History of Politics: Critical Perspectives in West German Historical Writing Since 1945, Leamington Spa 1985, pp. 113-36. For a comparative treatment, see Werner Mangold, 'Angestelltengeschichte und Angestelltensoziologie in Deutschland, England und Frankreich', in Jürgen Kocka, ed., Angestellte im europäischen Vergleich. Die Herausbildung angestellter Mittelschichten seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert, Göttingen 1981, pp. 11-38. In accordance with the specific political importance of the stratum, a sociology of employees developed earlier in Germany than in other countries. One pioneering study was Emil Lederer's Die Privatangestellten in der modernen Wirtschaftsentwicklung, Tübingen 1912. With Jakob Marshak, Lederer was also responsible for the summary 'Der neue Mittelstand', in Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Vol. 9, pt. 1,Tübingen 1926, pp. 120-41, to which Kracauer was indebted for crucial particulars of his own investigation.
18. On the history of salaried employees in Germany, see Jürgen Kocka, Die Angestellten in der deutschen Geschichte. 1850-1890, Göttingen 1981, and 'White Collar Workers and Industrial Society in Imperial Germany', in George Iggers, ed., The Social History of Politics: Critical Perspectives in West German Historical Writing Since 1945, Leamington Spa 1985, pp. 113-36. For a comparative treatment, see Werner Mangold, 'Angestelltengeschichte und Angestelltensoziologie in Deutschland, England und Frankreich', in Jürgen Kocka, ed., Angestellte im europäischen Vergleich. Die Herausbildung angestellter Mittelschichten seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert, Göttingen 1981, pp. 11-38. In accordance with the specific political importance of the stratum, a sociology of employees developed earlier in Germany than in other countries. One pioneering study was Emil Lederer's Die Privatangestellten in der modernen Wirtschaftsentwicklung, Tübingen 1912. With Jakob Marshak, Lederer was also responsible for the summary 'Der neue Mittelstand', in Grundriss der Sozialökonomik, Vol. 9, pt. 1,Tübingen 1926, pp. 120-41, to which Kracauer was indebted for crucial particulars of his own investigation.
19. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
20. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
21. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
22. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
23. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
24. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
25. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
26. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
27. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
28. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
29. In August 1930, Kracauer wrote in a letter to Adorno: 'The situation in Germany is more than serious... We are going to have 3 or 4 million unemployed and I can see no way out. A disaster is hanging over this country and I am convinced that it is not just capitalism. That capitalism may become bestial is not due to the economy alone. (How am I to formulate the causes? I simply keep noticing in France, even though there's plenty to criticize there, all the things that have been destroyed here: basic decency, good nature in general, and with it people's trust in one another.)' Quoted in Marbacher Magazin, pp. 58, 63. In his Berlin years Kracauer deliberately attempted by journalistic means to prevent the spread of fascism in the 'middle strata'. See on this, apart from the essay 'Revolt of the Middle Classes: An Examination of the Tat Circle' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 107-127, also the texts 'Zwischen Blut und Geist', in Kracauer, Schriften 5, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach, Frankfurt am Main 1990, pt. 3: Aufsätze 1932-1965, pp. 93-6; 'Gestaltschau oder Politik?' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 118-24; 'Wunschträume der Gebildeten' (1932), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 154-9; and 'Theologie gegen Nationalismus' (1933), in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 186-90. Kracauer's contributions to the pioneering series 'Wie erklären sich grosse Bucherfolge?' ['How can best-sellers be explained?'] also belong in the context of this argument. See Richard Voss, Zwei Menschen' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2: Aufsätze 1927-1932, pp. 287-94; and 'Bemerkungen zu Frank Thiess' (1931), in Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 312-18. The essay 'On Best-sellers and their Audience' (1931), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 89-98, is a synopsis of the methods and results of this series.
30. See 'Film 1928', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 307-20.
31. For Kracauer's Weimar period writings, see Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer: Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur, and 'Nachwort', in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 360-84; Frisby, Fragments of Modernity, pp. 109-86; Levin, 'Introduction', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 1-30; Gertrud Koch, Kracauer: Zur Einführung, Hamburg 1996.
32. For Kracauer's Weimar period writings, see Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer: Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur, and 'Nachwort', in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 360-84; Frisby, Fragments of Modernity, pp. 109-86; Levin, 'Introduction', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 1-30; Gertrud Koch, Kracauer: Zur Einführung, Hamburg 1996.
33. For Kracauer's Weimar period writings, see Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer: Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur, and 'Nachwort', in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 360-84; Frisby, Fragments of Modernity, pp. 109-86; Levin, 'Introduction', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 1-30; Gertrud Koch, Kracauer: Zur Einführung, Hamburg 1996.
34. For Kracauer's Weimar period writings, see Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer: Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur, and 'Nachwort', in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 360-84; Frisby, Fragments of Modernity, pp. 109-86; Levin, 'Introduction', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 1-30; Gertrud Koch, Kracauer: Zur Einführung, Hamburg 1996.
35. For Kracauer's Weimar period writings, see Inka Mülder-Bach, Siegfried Kracauer: Grenzgänger zwischen Theorie und Literatur, and 'Nachwort', in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 360-84; Frisby, Fragments of Modernity, pp. 109-86; Levin, 'Introduction', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 1-30; Gertrud Koch, Kracauer: Zur Einführung, Hamburg 1996.
36. The Mass Ornament, p. 129.
37. Ibid., pp. 129 ff.
38. Schriften 5, pt 1: Aufsätze 1915-26, p. 117 ('Georg von Lukàcs' Romantheorie', 1921).
39. Schriften 5, pt 1: Aufsätze 1915-26, p. 117 ('Georg von Lukàcs' Romantheorie', 1921).
40. The Mass Ornament, p. 132.
41. Kracauer, Schriften 1, Frankfurt am Main 1971, p. 105.
42. Kracauer, Georg Simmel. Ein Beitrag zur Deutung des geistigen Lebens unserer Zeit, undated typescript, circa 1919-20, Kracauer-Nachlass, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach am Necka . Only one chapter of this study has been published; it appeared in 1920, under the title 'Georg Simmel', in the journal Logos, and was reprinted in The Mass Ornament, pp. 225-57. For the imagery of space in Simmel and Kracauer, see Anthony Vidler, 'Agoraphobia. Spatial Estrangement in Simmel and Kracauer', in New German Critique, no. 54, Fall 1991, special issue on Kracauer, pp. 31-45.
43. Kracauer, Georg Simmel. Ein Beitrag zur Deutung des geistigen Lebens unserer Zeit, undated typescript, circa 1919-20, Kracauer-Nachlass, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach am Necka . Only one chapter of this study has been published; it appeared in 1920, under the title 'Georg Simmel', in the journal Logos, and was reprinted in The Mass Ornament, pp. 225-57. For the imagery of space in Simmel and Kracauer, see Anthony Vidler, 'Agoraphobia. Spatial Estrangement in Simmel and Kracauer', in New German Critique, no. 54, Fall 1991, special issue on Kracauer, pp. 31-45.
44. Kracauer, Georg Simmel. Ein Beitrag zur Deutung des geistigen Lebens unserer Zeit, undated typescript, circa 1919-20, Kracauer-Nachlass, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach am Necka . Only one chapter of this study has been published; it appeared in 1920, under the title 'Georg Simmel', in the journal Logos, and was reprinted in The Mass Ornament, pp. 225-57. For the imagery of space in Simmel and Kracauer, see Anthony Vidler, 'Agoraphobia. Spatial Estrangement in Simmel and Kracauer', in New German Critique, no. 54, Fall 1991, special issue on Kracauer, pp. 31-45.
45. See Schriften 5, pt. 1: Aufsätze 1915-26, pp. 117-23
46. See Schriften 5, pt. 1: Aufsätze 1915-26, pp. 117-23
47. Soziologie als Wissenschaft was republished in Kracauer, Schriften 1, pp. 7-101. The study on the detective novel, of which only the chapter 'The Hotel Lobby' included in The Mass Ornament (pp. 173-85), appeared during Kracauer's lifetime, was first published fully in Schriften 1, pp. 103-204.
48. Soziologie als Wissenschaft was republished in Kracauer, Schriften 1, pp. 7-101. The study on the detective novel, of which only the chapter 'The Hotel Lobby' included in The Mass Ornament (pp. 173-85), appeared during Kracauer's lifetime, was first published fully in Schriften 1, pp. 103-204.
49. Soziologie als Wissenschaft was republished in Kracauer, Schriften 1, pp. 7-101. The study on the detective novel, of which only the chapter 'The Hotel Lobby' included in The Mass Ornament (pp. 173-85), appeared during Kracauer's lifetime, was first published fully in Schriften 1, pp. 103-204.
50. Theodor W. Adorno, 'Der wunderliche Realist' (1964), in Noten zur Literatur, vol. 3, Frankfurt am Main 1965, p. 84. Adorno's highly problematic portrait of his friend and teacher has recently been translated into English: Notes on Literature, vol. 2, trans. Shierry Weber Nicholsen, New York 1992, pp. 58-75. See also Martin Jay, 'Adorno and Kracauer: Notes on a Troubled Friendship', in Permanent Exiles. Essays in the Intellectual Migration from Germany to America, New York 1986, pp. 217-36.
51. Theodor W. Adorno, 'Der wunderliche Realist' (1964), in Noten zur Literatur, vol. 3, Frankfurt am Main 1965, p. 84. Adorno's highly problematic portrait of his friend and teacher has recently been translated into English: Notes on Literature, vol. 2, trans. Shierry Weber Nicholsen, New York 1992, pp. 58-75. See also Martin Jay, 'Adorno and Kracauer: Notes on a Troubled Friendship', in Permanent Exiles. Essays in the Intellectual Migration from Germany to America, New York 1986, pp. 217-36.
52. Theodor W. Adorno, 'Der wunderliche Realist' (1964), in Noten zur Literatur, vol. 3, Frankfurt am Main 1965, p. 84. Adorno's highly problematic portrait of his friend and teacher has recently been translated into English: Notes on Literature, vol. 2, trans. Shierry Weber Nicholsen, New York 1992, pp. 58-75. See also Martin Jay, 'Adorno and Kracauer: Notes on a Troubled Friendship', in Permanent Exiles. Essays in the Intellectual Migration from Germany to America, New York 1986, pp. 217-36.
53. Kracauer, 'Soziologie als Wissenschaft', in Schriften 1, p. 9.
54. Ibid., p. 62.
55. Letter to Leo Löwenthal, 16 December 1921, quoted in Marbacher Magazin, p. 36.
56. For Kracauer's early critique of Scheler, see especially 'Catholicism and Relativism' (1921), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 203-11. For his debate with Buber and Rosenzweig, see the review of Buber's Ich und Du (1922) published under the title 'Martin Buber' (1923) and included in Schriften 5, pt. 1, pp. 236-42; also the celebrated essay 'The Bible in German' (1926), The Mass Ornament, pp. 189-201, a critical analysis of the first volumes of Buber's and Rosenzweig's translation of the Bible.
57. For Kracauer's early critique of Scheler, see especially 'Catholicism and Relativism' (1921), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 203-11. For his debate with Buber and Rosenzweig, see the review of Buber's Ich und Du (1922) published under the title 'Martin Buber' (1923) and included in Schriften 5, pt. 1, pp. 236-42; also the celebrated essay 'The Bible in German' (1926), The Mass Ornament, pp. 189-201, a critical analysis of the first volumes of Buber's and Rosenzweig's translation of the Bible.
58. For Kracauer's early critique of Scheler, see especially 'Catholicism and Relativism' (1921), in The Mass Ornament, pp. 203-11. For his debate with Buber and Rosenzweig, see the review of Buber's Ich und Du (1922) published under the title 'Martin Buber' (1923) and included in Schriften 5, pt. 1, pp. 236-42; also the celebrated essay 'The Bible in German' (1926), The Mass Ornament, pp. 189-201, a critical analysis of the first volumes of Buber's and Rosenzweig's translation of the Bible.
59. See the essay 'Prophetentum' (1922), Schriften 5, pt. 1, pp. 196-204, a withering critique of Bloch's Thomas Münzer als Theologe der Revolution (1921). Kracauer's critique of Buber's and Rosenzweig's translation of the Bible prepared the ground for his reconciliation with Bloch.
60. See the essay 'Prophetentum' (1922), Schriften 5, pt. 1, pp. 196-204, a withering critique of Bloch's Thomas Münzer als Theologe der Revolution (1921). Kracauer's critique of Buber's and Rosenzweig's translation of the Bible prepared the ground for his reconciliation with Bloch.
61. Letter to Kracauer, 12 December 1921, quoted in Marbacher Magazin, p. 36.
62. Kracauer, The Mass Ornament, p. 139.
63. See Almut Todorov, Das Feuilleton der Frankfurter Zeitung während der Weimarer Republik: Zur Rhetorik einer publizistischen Institution, Tübingen 1995.
64. Kracauer's essays are catalogued in Thomas Y. Levin, Siegfried Kracauer. Eine Bibliographie seiner Schriften, Marbach am Neckar 1989. For the period 1921-33, the years with the Frankfurter Zeitung, the bibliography lists almost 2,000 titles. Kracauer himself put together two selections of these essays: The Mass Ornament, and the anthology of short prose texts, Strassen in Berlin und anderswo, Frankfurt am Main 1964. Both were incorporated in the expanded selection of essays comprising the three-part Volume 5 of his Schriften, published in 1990. This volume does not include the film essays, which will be published in volume 6. A selection of texts on film appeared in Kracauer, Kino. Essays, Studien, Glossen zum Film, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1974, and also in Kracauer, Schriften 2: Von Caligari zu Hitler, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1979, Appendix 1: 'Filmkritiken 1924-1939'. The recently published Berliner Nebeneinander. Ausgewählte Feuilletons 1930-33, ed. Andreas Volk, Zurich 1996, contains texts from Kracauer's Berlin period not included in Schriften 5.
65. Kracauer's essays are catalogued in Thomas Y. Levin, Siegfried Kracauer. Eine Bibliographie seiner Schriften, Marbach am Neckar 1989. For the period 1921-33, the years with the Frankfurter Zeitung, the bibliography lists almost 2,000 titles. Kracauer himself put together two selections of these essays: The Mass Ornament, and the anthology of short prose texts, Strassen in Berlin und anderswo, Frankfurt am Main 1964. Both were incorporated in the expanded selection of essays comprising the three-part Volume 5 of his Schriften, published in 1990. This volume does not include the film essays, which will be published in volume 6. A selection of texts on film appeared in Kracauer, Kino. Essays, Studien, Glossen zum Film, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1974, and also in Kracauer, Schriften 2: Von Caligari zu Hitler, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1979, Appendix 1: 'Filmkritiken 1924-1939'. The recently published Berliner Nebeneinander. Ausgewählte Feuilletons 1930-33, ed. Andreas Volk, Zurich 1996, contains texts from Kracauer's Berlin period not included in Schriften 5.
66. Kracauer's essays are catalogued in Thomas Y. Levin, Siegfried Kracauer. Eine Bibliographie seiner Schriften, Marbach am Neckar 1989. For the period 1921-33, the years with the Frankfurter Zeitung, the bibliography lists almost 2,000 titles. Kracauer himself put together two selections of these essays: The Mass Ornament, and the anthology of short prose texts, Strassen in Berlin und anderswo, Frankfurt am Main 1964. Both were incorporated in the expanded selection of essays comprising the three-part Volume 5 of his Schriften, published in 1990. This volume does not include the film essays, which will be published in volume 6. A selection of texts on film appeared in Kracauer, Kino. Essays, Studien, Glossen zum Film, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1974, and also in Kracauer, Schriften 2: Von Caligari zu Hitler, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1979, Appendix 1: 'Filmkritiken 1924-1939'. The recently published Berliner Nebeneinander. Ausgewählte Feuilletons 1930-33, ed. Andreas Volk, Zurich 1996, contains texts from Kracauer's Berlin period not included in Schriften 5.
67. Kracauer's essays are catalogued in Thomas Y. Levin, Siegfried Kracauer. Eine Bibliographie seiner Schriften, Marbach am Neckar 1989. For the period 1921-33, the years with the Frankfurter Zeitung, the bibliography lists almost 2,000 titles. Kracauer himself put together two selections of these essays: The Mass Ornament, and the anthology of short prose texts, Strassen in Berlin und anderswo, Frankfurt am Main 1964. Both were incorporated in the expanded selection of essays comprising the three-part Volume 5 of his Schriften, published in 1990. This volume does not include the film essays, which will be published in volume 6. A selection of texts on film appeared in Kracauer, Kino. Essays, Studien, Glossen zum Film, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1974, and also in Kracauer, Schriften 2: Von Caligari zu Hitler, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1979, Appendix 1: 'Filmkritiken 1924-1939'. The recently published Berliner Nebeneinander. Ausgewählte Feuilletons 1930-33, ed. Andreas Volk, Zurich 1996, contains texts from Kracauer's Berlin period not included in Schriften 5.
68. Kracauer's essays are catalogued in Thomas Y. Levin, Siegfried Kracauer. Eine Bibliographie seiner Schriften, Marbach am Neckar 1989. For the period 1921-33, the years with the Frankfurter Zeitung, the bibliography lists almost 2,000 titles. Kracauer himself put together two selections of these essays: The Mass Ornament, and the anthology of short prose texts, Strassen in Berlin und anderswo, Frankfurt am Main 1964. Both were incorporated in the expanded selection of essays comprising the three-part Volume 5 of his Schriften, published in 1990. This volume does not include the film essays, which will be published in volume 6. A selection of texts on film appeared in Kracauer, Kino. Essays, Studien, Glossen zum Film, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1974, and also in Kracauer, Schriften 2: Von Caligari zu Hitler, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main 1979, Appendix 1: 'Filmkritiken 1924-1939'. The recently published Berliner Nebeneinander. Ausgewählte Feuilletons 1930-33, ed. Andreas Volk, Zurich 1996, contains texts from Kracauer's Berlin period not included in Schriften 5.
69. The Mass Ornament, p. 75.
70. Ibid., p. 59.
71. Koch, Kracauer: Zur Einführung, p. 55.
72. Kracauer, Schriften 5, pt. 2, p. 188 ('Über Arbeitsnachweise', 1930).
73. Ibid., p. 186.
74. The Mass Ornament, p. 75.
75. Ibid.; Schriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186.
76. Ibid.; Schriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186.
77. Kracauer employs this concept in a letter to Bloch on 27 May 1926: Bloch, Briefe, vol. I, p. 274.
78. The Mass Ornament, p. 75.
79. For a more detailed analysis of the essay, see Inka Mülder-Bach, 'Der Umschlag der Negativität. Zur Verschränkung von Phänomenologie, Geschichtsphilosophie und Filmästhetik in Kracauers Metaphorik der "Oberfläche"', in Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, vol. 61, 1987, pp. 359-73;
80. Mülder-Bach, 'Nachwort', in Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 369 ff.
81. For an English paraphrase of this analysis, see Levin, 'Introduction', in The Mass Ornament, pp. 66 ff.
82. The Mass Ornament, p. 80.
83. Ibid.
84. Ibid., pp. 80ff.
85. Letter to Kracauer, 12 January 1933 (Kracauer-Nachlass, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach am Neckar).
86. Kracauer, Schriften 5, pt. 1, p. 371 ('Die Denkfläche', 1926).
87. Kracauer, Schriften 5, pt. 2, p. 166 ('Zwei Arten der Mitteilung', circa 1929). On this concept, see Inka Mülder-Bach, 'Der Umschlag des Negativität'; on Kracauer's secularized messianism, see also Miriam Hansen, 'Decentric Perspectives: Kracauer's Early Writings on Film and Mass Culture', New German Critique, no. 54, Fall 1991, pp. 47-76.
88. Kracauer, Schriften 5, pt. 2, p. 166 ('Zwei Arten der Mitteilung', circa 1929). On this concept, see Inka Mülder-Bach, 'Der Umschlag des Negativität'; on Kracauer's secularized messianism, see also Miriam Hansen, 'Decentric Perspectives: Kracauer's Early Writings on Film and Mass Culture', New German Critique, no. 54, Fall 1991, pp. 47-76.
89. Kracauer, Schriften 5, pt. 2, p. 166 ('Zwei Arten der Mitteilung', circa 1929). On this concept, see Inka Mülder-Bach, 'Der Umschlag des Negativität'; on Kracauer's secularized messianism, see also Miriam Hansen, 'Decentric Perspectives: Kracauer's Early Writings on Film and Mass Culture', New German Critique, no. 54, Fall 1991, pp. 47-76.
90. The Mass Ornament, p. 81.
91. Ibid., p. 73.
92. Schriften 5, pt. 1, p. 305 ('Der Künstler in dieser Zeit', 1925).
93. The Mass Ornament, p. 325. On Kracauer's concept of 'audience', see Heide Schlüpmann, 'Phenomenology of Film. On Siegfried Kracauer's Writings of the 1920s', New German Critique, no. 40, Winter 1987, pp. 97-114, and 'Der Gang ins Kino - ein Ausgang aus selbstverschuldeter Unmündigkeit. Zum Begriff des Publikums in Kracauers Essayistik der Zwanziger Jahre', in Michael Kessler and Thomas Y. Levin, eds., Siegfried Kracauer. Neue Interpretationen, Tübingen 1990, pp. 267-84.
94. The Mass Ornament, p. 325. On Kracauer's concept of 'audience', see Heide Schlüpmann, 'Phenomenology of Film. On Siegfried Kracauer's Writings of the 1920s', New German Critique, no. 40, Winter 1987, pp. 97-114, and 'Der Gang ins Kino - ein Ausgang aus selbstverschuldeter Unmündigkeit. Zum Begriff des Publikums in Kracauers Essayistik der Zwanziger Jahre', in Michael Kessler and Thomas Y. Levin, eds., Siegfried Kracauer. Neue Interpretationen, Tübingen 1990, pp. 267-84.
95. The Mass Ornament, p. 325. On Kracauer's concept of 'audience', see Heide Schlüpmann, 'Phenomenology of Film. On Siegfried Kracauer's Writings of the 1920s', New German Critique, no. 40, Winter 1987, pp. 97-114, and 'Der Gang ins Kino - ein Ausgang aus selbstverschuldeter Unmündigkeit. Zum Begriff des Publikums in Kracauers Essayistik der Zwanziger Jahre', in Michael Kessler and Thomas Y. Levin, eds., Siegfried Kracauer. Neue Interpretationen, Tübingen 1990, pp. 267-84.
96. The Mass Ornament, p. 318.
97. Ibid., p. 307.
98. Ibid., p. 326.
99. Adorno, 'Der wunderliche Realist', pp. 90ff.
100. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Culture, New York 1973, . 19.
101. Shriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186 ('Über Arbeitsnachweise', 1930). Kracauer followed the contemporary literature of reportage carefully and commented on it in a number of essays. See, for instance, 'Ein Buch von der Ruhr' (1931), Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 393-5; 'Der operierende Schriftsteller' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 26-30; 'Zu einem Roman aus der Konfektion. Nebst einem Exkurs über die soziale Romanreportage' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 75-9; 'Grossstadtjugend ohne Arbeit' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 124-7.
102. Shriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186 ('Über Arbeitsnachweise', 1930). Kracauer followed the contemporary literature of reportage carefully and commented on it
103. Shriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186 ('Über Arbeitsnachweise', 1930). Kracauer followed the contemporary literature of reportage carefully and commented on it in a number of essays. See, for instance, 'Ein Buch von der Ruhr' (1931), Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 393-5; 'Der operierende Schriftsteller' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 26-30; 'Zu einem Roman aus der Konfektion. Nebst einem Exkurs über die soziale Romanreportage' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 75-9; 'Grossstadtjugend ohne Arbeit' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 124-7.
104. Shriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186 ('Über Arbeitsnachweise', 1930). Kracauer followed the contemporary literature of reportage carefully and commented on it in a number of essays. See, for instance, 'Ein Buch von der Ruhr' (1931), Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 393-5; 'Der operierende Schriftsteller' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 26-30; 'Zu einem Roman aus der Konfektion. Nebst einem Exkurs über die soziale Romanreportage' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 75-9; 'Grossstadtjugend ohne Arbeit' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 124-7.
105. Shriften 5, pt. 2, p. 186 ('Über Arbeitsnachweise', 1930). Kracauer followed the contemporary literature of reportage carefully and commented on it in a number of essays. See, for instance, 'Ein Buch von der Ruhr' (1931), Schriften 5, pt. 2, pp. 393-5; 'Der operierende Schriftsteller' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 26-30; 'Zu einem Roman aus der Konfektion. Nebst einem Exkurs über die soziale Romanreportage' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 75-9; 'Grossstadtjugend ohne Arbeit' (1932), Schriften 5, pt. 3, pp. 124-7.
106. Kisch, Der rasende Reporter, pp. 7ff.
107. See Michael Schröter, 'Weltzerfall und Rekonstruktion. Zur Physiognomik Siegfried Kracauers', in Text + Kritik, no. 68: Siegfried Kracauer, Munich 1980, p. 33.
108. See Michael Schröter, 'Weltzerfall und Rekonstruktion. Zur Physiognomik Siegfried Kracauers', in Text + Kritik, no. 68: Siegfried Kracauer, Munich 1980, p. 33.
109. Ernst W. Eschmann, 'Die Angestellten. Ergänzungen zu S. Kracauer', Die Tat 22 (1930), vol. 2, p. 460. Die Tat was a central organ of the 'Conservative Revolution', and in political terms Eschmann was one of Kracauer's sharpest critics. For Kracauer's analysis of the Die Tat circle, see 'Revolt of the Middle Classes', in The Man Ornament, pp. 107-27.
110. Ernst W. Eschmann, 'Die Angestellten. Ergänzungen zu S. Kracauer', Die Tat 22 (1930), vol. 2, p. 460. Die Tat was a central organ of the 'Conservative Revolution', and in political terms Eschmann was one of Kracauer's sharpest critics. For Kracauer's analysis of the Die Tat circle, see 'Revolt of the Middle Classes', in The Man Ornament, pp. 107-27.
111. Walter Dirks, 'Zur Situation der deutschen Angestellten. Aus Anlass eines Buches', in Die Schildgenossen, no. 11, 1931, p. 248.
112. Ernst Bloch, 'Künstliche Mitte' (1929), in his Erbschaft dieser Zeit, Zurich 1935; reprinted Frankfurt am Main 1977, p. 33.
113. Ernst Bloch, 'Künstliche Mitte' (1929), in his Erbschaft dieser Zeit, Zurich 1935; reprinted Frankfurt am Main 1977, p. 33.
114. Hans Speier, 'Die Angestellten', in Magazin der Wirtschaft, no. 6, 1930, p. 602.
115. Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, p. 16
116. Geertz, Works and Lives. The Anthropologist as Author, Stanford 1988, pp. 4-5.