Modernism and the Frankfurt School

This is a single-volume introduction to the important connection of Frankfurt School thought and modernist culture. This book provides a focused introduction to the Frankfurt School’s important attempts to relate the social, political, and philosophical conditions of modernity to innovations in 20th-century art, literature, and culture. Individual chapters include detailed discussions of Benjamin, Adorno, Marcuse, and a survey of later Frankfurt School influenced thinkers, and discuss the ideas of each figure with an emphasis on specific artistic media or contexts. This study provides a revisionary view of Frankfurt School theory and modernist culture, as well as a clear, thorough, and relevant survey of major ideas and figures. It introduces well-studied major figures such as Benjamin and Adorno in a new light, while connecting their ideas with problems in modernist art and culture.