Georg Lukács and Critical Theory: Aesthetics, History, Utopia

Reflects The Extraordinary Scope And Topicality Of Lukács And Frankfurt School Thoughtbuilds On Author's Decades Of Research And Previous Publication On Lukács And Frankfurt School, Including Editing And Translation Of Hungarian Language Texts By Lukács, His Modernism And The Frankfurt School Book, And Numerous Published Essays And Book Chaptersbrings Lukács And Key Figures Of The Frankfurt School In Dialogue With Other Influential Thinkers, For Instance Lukács With Bloch And Marcuse, Adorno With Clement Greenberg And Bernard Stiegler, Benjamin/adorno/marcuse With Bataille/blanchot/klossowskirepresents A Unique Selection And Range Of Interdisciplinary And Intermedial Perspectives, From Philosophy To Literary, Visual, And Music Studies To Social And Political Theorydraws Upon Sources In English, German, Hungarian, French, And Italian, Expanding The Understanding Of Key Theorists Beyond English-translated Sourcesthis Book Examines The Heritage Of Critical Theory From The Hungarian Marxist Philosopher Georg Lukács Through The Early Frankfurt School Up To Current Issues Of Authoritarian Politics And Democratisation. Interweaving Discussion Of Art And Literature, Utopian Thought, And The Dialectics Of High Art And Mass Culture, It Offers Unique Perspectives On An Interconnected Group Of Left-wing Intellectuals Who Sought To Understand And Resist Their Society's Systemic Impoverishment Of Thought And Experience. Starting From Lukács's Reflections On Art, Utopia, And Historical Action, It Progresses To The Frankfurt School Philosopher Theodor W. Adorno's Analyses Of Music, Media, Avant-garde And Kitsch. It Concludes With Discussions Of Erotic Utopia, Authoritarianism, Postsocialism, And Organised Deceit In Show Trials - Topics In Which The Legacy Of Lukács And Frankfurt School Critical Theory Continues To Be Relevant Today. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 Georg Lukács And Critical Theory: The Long Goodbye -- Part I Georg Lukács -- Chapter 2 Matthew, Mark, Lukács, And Bloch: From Aesthetic Utopianism To Religious Messianism -- Chapter 3 Lukács's Theatres Of History: Drama, Action, And Historical Agency -- Chapter 4 The Non-contemporaneity Of Lukács And Lukács: Cold War Contradictions And The Aesthetics Of Visual Art -- Part Ii Theodor W. Adorno -- Chapter 5 Adorno And/or Avant-garde: Looking Back At Surrealism -- Chapter 6 Avant-garde And Kitsch, Or, Teddy The Musical! -- Chapter 7 Remediating Opera: Media And Musical Drama In Adorno And Kluge -- Part Iii Critical Theory -- Chapter 8 Perversion And Utopia: Sade, Fourier, And Critical Theory -- Chapter 9 Interdisciplinary Legacies: Critical Theory And Authoritarian Culture -- Chapter 10 Prophecies Of Mass Deception: Dewey, Trotsky, And The Moscow Show Trials -- Chapter 11 Tell-trials, Or, Gyuri The Radio Play -- Index Tyrus Miller. In English.