Critical Realism
History, Photography and the Work of Siegfried Kracauer
Published on 1. August 1994
Book
Hardback
416 pages
978-0-8018-4753-0 (ISBN)
Description
A respected journalist and film critic for "Frankfurt Zeitung" during the Weimar period, Siegfried Kracauer worked with a more comprehensive concept of cultural modernity than did his friends Bloch, Adorno and Benjamin. Sensitive to the postwar experience of rapid technological advances and profound cultural transformation, he emphasized the contemporary significance of the documentary imagimation. Though he acknowledged that reality is a construction, its modern pluralism suggested to him modalities of objectivity rather than despair of it. In "Critical Realism" Dagmar Barnouw explores the connections that Kracauer stated in his last book, "History", between the representational modes of photography and historiography, both of them characteristically composite and unstable. Drawing on recent developments in the history and theory of photography and historiography, she argues the contemporaneity of Kracauer's thought to late 20th century cultural modernity.
Reviews / Votes
"This historical account of the development of one of the most complex discussions of representation in its social and cultural context will be of great interest to a wide range of readers. The debates about visual representation--whether in film or in the photograph--were and are greatly influenced by Kracauer. Barnouw's situation of these debates is sophisticated and clever. The high point of the book is her discussion of the epistemological problem of the observer. She lucidly and succinctly presents Kracauer's own views on the topic and then moves into a broader and truly brilliant discussion of this question of literary and visual modernism."--Sander L. Gilman, University of Chicago. "Challenging and compelling."--Rudy Koshar, 'American Historical Review'More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
52 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
760 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8018-4753-0 (9780801847530)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Dagmar Barnouw is professor of German and comparative literature at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her books include 'Weimar Intellectuals and the Threat of Modernity' and 'Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience', the latter available from Johns Hopkins. 'Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society.' Stephen G. Nichols, Gerald Prince, and Wendy Steiner, Series Editors.