Lukács coined the ‘Grand Hotel Abyss’ charge against Adorno’s detached theory

Evidence

In turn, Lukács strikes back against Adorno with a praxis-philosopher’s scorn in the 1963 reissue of The Theory of the Novel. In its new preface, Lukács accuses Adorno – the intellectual who maintains ‘that a theory is much more capable of having practical consequences owing to the strength of its own objectivity than if it had subjected itself to praxis from the start’ – of having ‘taken up residence in the “Grand Hotel Abyss” … a beautiful hotel, equipped with every comfort, on the edge of an abyss, of nothingness, of absurdity. And the daily contemplation of the abyss between excellent meals or artistic entertainments, can only heighten the enjoyment of the subtle comforts offered’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 121

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘Grand Hotel Abyss’ image is a great, self-contained, quotable jab worth using in conversation.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s current project of countering the ‘pessimistic cul-de-sac’ reading of Adorno — this is the canonical origin of that reputation. — connects to: Adorno’s early encounter with Lukács seeded a lifelong theoretical rift — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 116