Benjamin’s failed Habilitation drove him into freelance criticism rather than academia

Evidence

His critical study of Goethe’s Elective Affinities, written in 1924-_1925, appeared under the sponsorship of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. But the work explicitly criticized the ideology of the then powerful circle around Stefan George, which resulted in his being ostracized from the scholarly world into which their influence extended. … The work he submitted as his credentials was a study of German baroque drama in which he sought to “rescue” the category of allegory. It proved, however, too obscure for his examiners, among whom were the head of the literature faculty, Franz Schultz, and the university’s expert on aesthetics, the same Hans Cornelius who had been the teacher of several Institut members. Although ultimately published in 1928, The Origin of German Tragedy failed to earn Benjamin a place in the academic hierarchy. With this defeat went his father’s refusal to continue supporting him, and Benjamin was forced to eke out an existence as a private critic and occasional translator of writers like Proust. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 610 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But Adorno’s decision to tie himself down to Cornelius’s transcendental philosophy sprang not just from strategic considerations, but also from the fact that (as he had written to Kracauer, who had suggested that he should do a thesis with Max Scheler on the philosophy of music) he did not yet trust himself to use a genuine work as a Habilitation thesis'. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 327</cite> (#qualifies`, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Heidegger blocked Marcuse’s Habilitation before the Nazis forced him into exile; Adorno’s 1927 Habilitation failed because his supervisor deemed it unoriginal; Walter Benjamin’s academic career was derailed by ideological conflict and obscurity — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 610 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Walter Benjamin’s academic career was derailed by ideological conflict and obscurity #corroborates (0.95) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 610
• Benjamin retreated into the Arcades Project when paid commissions collapsed #expands (0.76)
• Adorno chose a safe Habilitation topic because he lacked confidence for original work #qualifies (0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 327