Lukacs’s closed-versus-problematic epic distinction shaped early Frankfurt reading

Evidence

In the spring of 1921, in his last year at school, he discovered Lukács’s Theory of the Novel. Kracauer, at the same time, wrote a forceful review for the Frankfurt Blätter für Kunst und Literatur (Magazine for Art and Literature) of this essay in the philosophy of history on the forms of great epic', with its distinction between the classical epics, on the one hand, as a form of epic writing concerned with the closed culture’ of a world filled with gods and with meaning, and the novel, on the other, as a form of epic writing concerned with the problematic culture of a world which had been abandoned by gods and meaning, an epoch of perfect sinfulness. In Kracauer’s eyes, Lukács had recognized what was important: to keep alive the flame of longing', longing for vanished meaning’. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 263 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Kracauer, at the same time, wrote a forceful review for the Frankfurt Blätter für Kunst und Literatur (Magazine for Art and Literature) of this essay in the philosophy of history on the forms of great epic', with its distinction between the classical epics, on the one hand, as a form of epic writing concerned with the closed culture’ of a world filled with gods and with meaning, and the novel, on the other, as a form of epic writing concerned with the problematic culture of a world which had been abandoned by gods and meaning, an epoch of perfect sinfulness. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 263 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Lukacs distinguished closed epic culture from the god-abandoned novel — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 263; Lukács’s distinction shaped Adorno’s and Kracauer’s understanding of the novel. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 263

Broader Connections

• Lukács’s distinction shaped Adorno’s and Kracauer’s understanding of the novel. #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 263
• Lukacs distinguished closed epic culture from the god-abandoned novel #expands (0.92) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 263