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The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays
Siegfried Kracauer was one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant cultural critics, a daring and prolific scholar, and an incisive theorist of film. In this volume his finest writings on modern society make their long-awaited appearance in English.
This book is a celebration of the masses―their tastes, amusements, and everyday lives. Taking up themes of modernity, such as isolation and alienation, urban culture, and the relation between the group and the individual, Kracauer explores a kaleidoscope of shopping arcades, the cinema, bestsellers and their readers, photography, dance, hotel lobbies, Kafka, the Bible, and boredom. For Kracauer, the most revelatory facets of modern life in the West lie on the surface, in the ephemeral and the marginal. Of special fascination to him is the United States, where he eventually settled after fleeing Germany and whose culture he sees as defined almost exclusively by “the ostentatious display of surface.”
With these essays, written in the 1920s and early 1930s and edited by the author in 1963, Kracauer was the first to demonstrate that studying the everyday world of the masses can bring great rewards. The Mass Ornament today remains a refreshing tribute to popular culture, and its impressively interdisciplinary essays continue to shed light not only on Kracauer’s later work but also on the ideas of the Frankfurt School, the genealogy of film theory and cultural studies, Weimar cultural politics, and, not least, the exigencies of intellectual exile.
In his introduction, Thomas Levin situates Kracauer in a turbulent age, illuminates the forces that influenced him―including his friendships with Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and other Weimar intellectuals―and provides the context necessary for understanding his ideas. Until now, Kracauer has been known primarily for his writings on the cinema. This volume brings us the full scope of his gifts as one of the most wide-ranging and penetrating interpreters of modern life.
This book is a celebration of the masses―their tastes, amusements, and everyday lives. Taking up themes of modernity, such as isolation and alienation, urban culture, and the relation between the group and the individual, Kracauer explores a kaleidoscope of shopping arcades, the cinema, bestsellers and their readers, photography, dance, hotel lobbies, Kafka, the Bible, and boredom. For Kracauer, the most revelatory facets of modern life in the West lie on the surface, in the ephemeral and the marginal. Of special fascination to him is the United States, where he eventually settled after fleeing Germany and whose culture he sees as defined almost exclusively by “the ostentatious display of surface.”
With these essays, written in the 1920s and early 1930s and edited by the author in 1963, Kracauer was the first to demonstrate that studying the everyday world of the masses can bring great rewards. The Mass Ornament today remains a refreshing tribute to popular culture, and its impressively interdisciplinary essays continue to shed light not only on Kracauer’s later work but also on the ideas of the Frankfurt School, the genealogy of film theory and cultural studies, Weimar cultural politics, and, not least, the exigencies of intellectual exile.
In his introduction, Thomas Levin situates Kracauer in a turbulent age, illuminates the forces that influenced him―including his friendships with Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and other Weimar intellectuals―and provides the context necessary for understanding his ideas. Until now, Kracauer has been known primarily for his writings on the cinema. This volume brings us the full scope of his gifts as one of the most wide-ranging and penetrating interpreters of modern life.
415 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 12, 2008
The beginner's guide to the Frankfurt School! If Adorno spins you round round, baby, round round, like a record, and Benjamin keeps you a-scratchin' your head, this may be your in. Then you can move on to Benji's essays on photography and you'll say "ohhhh, I get it." It's a fun read, as far as German philosophy goes. (How far it goes, may not be too far or far enough for most. Far enough for me.)
February 2, 2019
Estou dando apenas três estrelas porque o livro é bom, mas não é excepcional, e o Kracauer me exasperou com o capítulo sobre cinema, que homenzinho mais chato do caralho, pra ele o único cinema que presta era o soviético nos anos 20 e tratou Fritz Fucking Lang com certo desdém.
Na primeira parte, Geometria Natural, temos exercícios descritivos do Kracauer.
A segunda parte, Objetos Externos e Internos, trata de assuntos tão díspares como mercado editorial, fotografia, entretenimento de massa, mas recomendo mesmo com veemência o artigo sobre a imprensa na ascensão do nazismo escrito quando Hilter nem sequer havia sido eleito ainda.
Na terceira parte, Construções, Kracauer discorre sobre grupos e espaços comunais.
Na quarta parte, Perspectivas, o autor discorre sobre as traduções da bíblia para o alemão, Max Scheler, Max Weber, Ernst Troeltsch, Georg Simmel, Walter Benjamin e Franz Kafka.
Na quinta parte, Cinema, o autor só reclama.
Na seta e última parte, Como ponto de Fuga, encerra com dois textos deveras poéticos.
Fiz uma lista no letterboxd dos filmes citados neste livro: https://letterboxd.com/ladyspiggott/l...
Na primeira parte, Geometria Natural, temos exercícios descritivos do Kracauer.
A segunda parte, Objetos Externos e Internos, trata de assuntos tão díspares como mercado editorial, fotografia, entretenimento de massa, mas recomendo mesmo com veemência o artigo sobre a imprensa na ascensão do nazismo escrito quando Hilter nem sequer havia sido eleito ainda.
Na terceira parte, Construções, Kracauer discorre sobre grupos e espaços comunais.
Na quarta parte, Perspectivas, o autor discorre sobre as traduções da bíblia para o alemão, Max Scheler, Max Weber, Ernst Troeltsch, Georg Simmel, Walter Benjamin e Franz Kafka.
Na quinta parte, Cinema, o autor só reclama.
Na seta e última parte, Como ponto de Fuga, encerra com dois textos deveras poéticos.
Fiz uma lista no letterboxd dos filmes citados neste livro: https://letterboxd.com/ladyspiggott/l...
February 19, 2008
This compilation of essays puts together a thorough analysis of cultural forms and seeks to uncloak modernity through reading the aesthetic that it propagates: Kracauer talks about dance, travel, photography and film, and in dialog with arguments that conflate modernity with rationality and reason, he brings forward a new conceptualization of reason that is specific to capitalism, Ratio, and like his Frankfurt School comrades, calls for a true rationalization of the era.
Kracauer's comparison of the hotel lobby to the house of God and of travel to the decaying idea of Heavens is fascinating. From this perspective the annihilation of a transcendental redemption has led to a search for transcendence within the immanent forms of life, thereby opening up spatial and temporal lapses as opportunities to realize new selves while still pertaining to the worldly aesthetic. This point can be traced through out the book, and is present in every utterance on architectural forms, from the movie theaters of Berlin to the Linden arcade.
In his essay "Franz Kafka", which stands out as the most beautifully written piece in the book, Kracauer muses over Kafka's "Investigations of a Dog" and says, "He looks at the world as someone who has been pushed back into it, as someone who must turn back from the pursuit of those places where the emperor lives and where the unknown laws are housed. It is not as if he would have ever found his way to them; rather, his experience is more like that of someone who has only partially awakened, whose thinking -still half caught up in sleep- remains occupied with the dream that has just barely dissolved and in which the solution to all riddles was present". I believe this in-between feeling is an apt description for Kracauer himself: In each essay he delineates a tragic world that requires dialectical riddles to become enchanted, and even though he does have the slippery riddles at hand, stuck to the perceived reality just like the rest of us, he cannot at once transfer his presence to that of the magical.
Thus politically he is neither committed to the progressive goals of Marxism, nor expecting a Benjaminian messianic moment to alter reality. But he waits. And this process of waiting is not without effort, it requires commitment and willingness to suffer from the subjugation that one undergoes with the passing of time in "tense [mental] activity and engaged self-preparation". Yet materially he keeps still, and does not run behind the barricades to begin fighting. His fight is initially at a mental level, where he pursues 'boredom' in order to reach himself in isolation, and only after such initiation would a community, with its inevitable hierarchies and power relations, be formed. Kracauer does not aspire a collective emancipation at this level. His is a lonely struggle where everyone is stuck with their very own demons.
Those who wait / Travel and Dance / Photography / The Hotel Lobby/ Franz Kafka
Kracauer's comparison of the hotel lobby to the house of God and of travel to the decaying idea of Heavens is fascinating. From this perspective the annihilation of a transcendental redemption has led to a search for transcendence within the immanent forms of life, thereby opening up spatial and temporal lapses as opportunities to realize new selves while still pertaining to the worldly aesthetic. This point can be traced through out the book, and is present in every utterance on architectural forms, from the movie theaters of Berlin to the Linden arcade.
In his essay "Franz Kafka", which stands out as the most beautifully written piece in the book, Kracauer muses over Kafka's "Investigations of a Dog" and says, "He looks at the world as someone who has been pushed back into it, as someone who must turn back from the pursuit of those places where the emperor lives and where the unknown laws are housed. It is not as if he would have ever found his way to them; rather, his experience is more like that of someone who has only partially awakened, whose thinking -still half caught up in sleep- remains occupied with the dream that has just barely dissolved and in which the solution to all riddles was present". I believe this in-between feeling is an apt description for Kracauer himself: In each essay he delineates a tragic world that requires dialectical riddles to become enchanted, and even though he does have the slippery riddles at hand, stuck to the perceived reality just like the rest of us, he cannot at once transfer his presence to that of the magical.
Thus politically he is neither committed to the progressive goals of Marxism, nor expecting a Benjaminian messianic moment to alter reality. But he waits. And this process of waiting is not without effort, it requires commitment and willingness to suffer from the subjugation that one undergoes with the passing of time in "tense [mental] activity and engaged self-preparation". Yet materially he keeps still, and does not run behind the barricades to begin fighting. His fight is initially at a mental level, where he pursues 'boredom' in order to reach himself in isolation, and only after such initiation would a community, with its inevitable hierarchies and power relations, be formed. Kracauer does not aspire a collective emancipation at this level. His is a lonely struggle where everyone is stuck with their very own demons.
Those who wait / Travel and Dance / Photography / The Hotel Lobby/ Franz Kafka
February 25, 2008
Thomas Levin did a fantastic job in translating and edting these great essays. What would be fascinating is to read these works along with Walter Benjamin. One of the first cultural critics, he really took a look at 'modern life' and gave it a lot of thought to the arts as well as how we look at things. I love essay writing, especially when it connects to pop culture in some form or sense.
March 1, 2023
Eine Vielzahl von teilweise thematisch zusammenhängenden Essays aus den 1920er Jahren. Scharfe Beobachtungen neben verquasten Sentenzen. Auf alle Fälle interessant.
March 8, 2025
"once came home to find my dad listening to Steely Dan in a dim living room, drinking Kahlua; turning to me to exclaim 'Nothing but talent'"
February 1, 2009
one of the best texts to reflect fascism and its visual regime
October 31, 2019
Sinema çalışmaları baplamında ele aldığım bu kitaptan "orta sınıfın isyanı" adlı farklı bir bölümden alıntılar bırakmak istedim.
Kracauer'in toplumsal tecrübeleri malum; halk kavramına, devlet kavramına düşkünlüğü, kavramlara bakışı bu bölümde oldukça dikkat çekici...
Halkın zamanla kendini devlet olarak ortaya koyduğunu ifade ediyor: total devletin ortaya çıkışı... bütünleşme zorunluluğu.. ekonominin önceliğinden devletin önceliğine geçiş söz konusudur.
Halk, devlet, mit... Kör bir rasyo'dan söz ediyor: Kar hırsına yol açıp büyük girişimleri teşvik eden, sansasyona dayalı habercilik türüne yataklık eden, rasyonelleştirme sürecini aceleye getiren, insan dışında her etkeni dikkate alan yozlaşmış bir ekonominin hesaplarından sorumlu olarak görüyor bu kör rasyoyu... Bu rasyo, aynı zamanda toplumu da parçalıyor, kendinden önceki bağları değerleri yırtıp atıyor...
Devlete olan ilgi büyüdükçe insana olan ilgi azalır diyor Kracauer...
Sonunda herşey mahvolur ve insan nihilist bir karanlığın kucağına tepetaklak bırakılıverir...
Kracauer'in toplumsal tecrübeleri malum; halk kavramına, devlet kavramına düşkünlüğü, kavramlara bakışı bu bölümde oldukça dikkat çekici...
Halkın zamanla kendini devlet olarak ortaya koyduğunu ifade ediyor: total devletin ortaya çıkışı... bütünleşme zorunluluğu.. ekonominin önceliğinden devletin önceliğine geçiş söz konusudur.
Halk, devlet, mit... Kör bir rasyo'dan söz ediyor: Kar hırsına yol açıp büyük girişimleri teşvik eden, sansasyona dayalı habercilik türüne yataklık eden, rasyonelleştirme sürecini aceleye getiren, insan dışında her etkeni dikkate alan yozlaşmış bir ekonominin hesaplarından sorumlu olarak görüyor bu kör rasyoyu... Bu rasyo, aynı zamanda toplumu da parçalıyor, kendinden önceki bağları değerleri yırtıp atıyor...
Devlete olan ilgi büyüdükçe insana olan ilgi azalır diyor Kracauer...
Sonunda herşey mahvolur ve insan nihilist bir karanlığın kucağına tepetaklak bırakılıverir...
June 23, 2020
written almost a hundred year ago, yet strikingly relevant today as it formerly was during turbulent times of Hitler's rise to power in Germany and with it the philosopher himself forcibly in an eventual exile.
the collection of essay sheds lights on Kracauer's ingenuity into the intellectual/ spiritual realms, scouting topical mass culture all the while remaining complicit in the act of rationalization and reasoning of the era that is not least typical of especial capitalism, and high Ratio.
a sense of skepticism pervades still throughout. Yet it's no less to distress than to seek "openness," for, in quote, "one naturally must not in any way be confused with a relaxation of the forces of the soul directed toward ultimate things; rather, quite the contrary, it (this skepticism to wait) consists of tense activity and engaged self-preparation." (Kracauer, "The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays,"p- 139.) For Kracauer, such tense (mental) activities and self-preparation acts (possibly) help him entertain "boredom" (inside pun for those who already read the book) in lonesomeness as a result both of his exile and of being a critical thinker.
the collection of essay sheds lights on Kracauer's ingenuity into the intellectual/ spiritual realms, scouting topical mass culture all the while remaining complicit in the act of rationalization and reasoning of the era that is not least typical of especial capitalism, and high Ratio.
a sense of skepticism pervades still throughout. Yet it's no less to distress than to seek "openness," for, in quote, "one naturally must not in any way be confused with a relaxation of the forces of the soul directed toward ultimate things; rather, quite the contrary, it (this skepticism to wait) consists of tense activity and engaged self-preparation." (Kracauer, "The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays,"p- 139.) For Kracauer, such tense (mental) activities and self-preparation acts (possibly) help him entertain "boredom" (inside pun for those who already read the book) in lonesomeness as a result both of his exile and of being a critical thinker.
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December 1, 2007I was just talking to a friend who agreed that Kracauer's essays should really be taught alongside (if not, I might go so far as to say, instead of) Walter Benjamin's essays as a way of unfolding the critical thought of the Frankfurt School, and its applicability to modern life. Kracauer doesn't suffer by comparison to Benjamin or Adorno, and his work nicely clarifies Benjamin on history and the aura, and complicates Adorno and Horkheimer's thesis on Enlightenment. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the Frankfurt School or any of its thinkers, but if you just wanted the short version, Thomas Levin's 30-page introduction nicely lays out his arguments.
August 30, 2013
For me this is an underr-recognized work in the development of the Frankfurt School. Kracauer applies once-lofty and intellectual notions to the "common" art of the time, like stage dancing and plays, and early film. I recommend this as a primer for the Frankfurt School, but you gotta have some robust film knowledge to make it work....
March 23, 2017
эссе-предтеча "Диалектики просвещения" Адорно-Хоркхаймера
March 16, 2020
Эссе "Фотография" очень не понравилось, потому что я ничерта не поняла, а если что и оказалось ясно, то тоже не понравилось. Это печально.
Про печатную машинку читать настроения не было, так как выходило воспринимать слишком буквально (так что хотелось отправить к психологу), а оно не так задумано.
Остальное нормально, особенно с некой небрежной критикой капитализма.
Про печатную машинку читать настроения не было, так как выходило воспринимать слишком буквально (так что хотелось отправить к психологу), а оно не так задумано.
Остальное нормально, особенно с некой небрежной критикой капитализма.
December 20, 2023
...Perhaps the only remaining attitude is one of
waiting. By committing oneself to waiting, one neither blocks one's path
toward faith (like those who defiantly affirm the void) nor besieges this
faith (like those whose yearning is so strong, it makes them lose all
restraint). One waits, and one's waiting is a hesitant openness, albeit of a
sort that is difficult to explain...
waiting. By committing oneself to waiting, one neither blocks one's path
toward faith (like those who defiantly affirm the void) nor besieges this
faith (like those whose yearning is so strong, it makes them lose all
restraint). One waits, and one's waiting is a hesitant openness, albeit of a
sort that is difficult to explain...
May 28, 2023
Σίγουρα ο Kracauer δεν θεωρείται άσχετος αλλά κατ'ουσιαν αυτά τα δοκίμια δεν προσφέρουν κάτι ουσιαστικό στον ήδη διαβασμενο αναγνώστη ίσα ίσα που τα δυσκολεύει.
Ξεχώρισα τα δοκίμια :η σάλα του ξενοδοχείο και το ταξίδι και ο χορός.
Ξεχώρισα τα δοκίμια :η σάλα του ξενοδοχείο και το ταξίδι και ο χορός.
February 2, 2025
Yüzeydeki kültürel çıktılar üzerinden Weimar Almanyası ile kurduğu bağlar olağanüstü, klişe ama bugüne de ışık tutuyor. Yazı dilindeki edebi tını, okuyucuda oluşmasını istediği zihinsel egzersiz için hayati önemde. Dönüp tekrar okurum.
May 13, 2019
These are amazing essays; I actually took the book with me to a local hotel lobby to read "The Hotel Lobby!"
December 9, 2019
Some cracking essays and ideas, does a great job unravelling the milieu of the time by unpacking ‘mass culture’ outputs
October 16, 2020
Almanya'nın Weimar döneminden zeki gözlemlerle dolu denemeler. Köşe yazısı olarak yazıldığı için derin çözümlemeler yok, bunun tek istisnası "orta sınıfın isyanı" adlı nispeten uzun bölüm olmuş.
February 17, 2025
DNF (Boredom 331-334): Had me in the first half but I can’t agree that boredom is “a kind of bliss that is almost unearthly.”
March 12, 2024
Ne connaissant pas l'auteur, que quelques chapitre m'ont séduite. Je ne ferais aucun commentaire sur le chapitre La Bible en allemand, je n'ai pas trop été intéressée. Sinon mes chapitres favoris sont "le hall d'hôtel", "l'ennui", et " Adieu au passage des tilleuls".
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews