Siegfried Kracauer (February 8, 1889, Frankfurt am Main, Germany – November 26, 1966, New York) was a German-American writer, journalist, sociologist, and cultural critic, particularly of media such as film, as well as the urban form. February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Frankfurt am Main [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is the largest city in the German state of Hessen and the fifth largest city of Germany. ... November 26 is the 330th day (331st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... NY redirects here. ... A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole and typically on a radical basis. ...

Biography

Born to a Jewish family in Frankfurt, Kracauer studied architecture from 1907 to 1913, eventually obtaining a doctorate in engineering in 1914 and working as an architect in Osnabrück, Munich, and Berlin until 1920. For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. ... Munich (German: , pronounced  ) is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria (German: ). Munich is Germanys third largest city and one of Europes most prosperous and expensive. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ...

From 1922 to 1933 he worked as the leading film and literature editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung (a leading Frankfurt newspaper) as its correspondent in Berlin, where he worked alongside Walter Benjamin and Ernst Bloch, among others. Between 1923 and 1925, he wrote an essay entitled Der Detektiv-Roman (The Detective Novel), in which he concerned himself with the everyday life phenomenon of modern civil society. The Frankfurter Zeitung was a German newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. ... Walter Benjamin (July 15, 1892 – September 27, 1940) was a German Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. ... Ernst Simon Bloch (July 8, 1885 - August 4, 1977) was a German Marxist philosopher and atheist theologian. ...

Kracauer continued this trend over the next few years, building up theoretical methods of analyzing circuses, photography, films, advertising, tourism, city layout, and dance, which he published in 1927 with the work Ornament der Masse (published in English as The Mass Ornament).

In 1930, Kracauer published Die Angestellten (The Salaried Masses), a critical look at the lifestyle and culture of the new class of white-collar employees. Spiritually homeless, and divorced from custom and tradition, these employees sought refuge in the new "distraction industries" of entertainment. Observers note that many of these lower-middle class employees were quick to flee into the arms of Adolf Hitler three years later. Hitler redirects here. ...

Kracauer became increasingly critical of capitalism (having read the works of Karl Marx) and eventually broke away from Frankfurt newspaper. About this same time (1930), he married Lili Ehrenreich. Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately[1] owned and operated for profit, and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ...

With the rise of the Nazis in Germany in 1933, Kracauer migrated to Paris, and then in 1941 emigrated to the USA. City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

From 1941 to 1943 he worked in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, supported by Guggenheim and Rockefeller scholarships for his work in German film. Eventually, he published From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (1947), which traces the birth of National Socialism from the cinema of the Weimar Republic as well as helping lay the foundation of modern film criticism. View across garden, in new MoMA building by Yoshio Taniguchi. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... Guggenheim can be a reference to any of a number of members or interests of the Meyer Guggenheim family, including: Meyer Guggenheim, or his descendants: Guggenheim family; The Guggenheim Museums; foundations such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (see also Guggenheim Fellowship), and the Harry... Rockefeller Rockefeller family Rockefeller Group International, Inc. ... When the film industry first flowered in the period from 1900 to 1915, it took hold in Europe as well as America. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen The Länder of Germany during the Weimar Republic, with the Free State of Prussia (Freistaat Preußen) as the largest Capital Berlin Language(s) German Government Republic President  - 1919-1925 Friedrich Ebert  - 1925-1933 Paul von Hindenburg Chancellor  - 1919 Philipp Scheidemann  - 1933 Adolf Hitler... Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. ...

In 1960, he released Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality, which argued that realism is the most important function of cinema. Look up realism, realist, realistic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In the last years of his life Kracauer worked as a sociologist for different institutes, amongst them in New York as a director of research for applied social sciences at Columbia University. He died there, in 1966, from the consequences of pneumonia. Columbia University is a private research university in the United States. ...

His last book is the posthumously published History, the Last Things Before the Last (New York, Oxford University Press, 1969).

Theory

Kracauer analyzed and critiqued the phenomena of modern mass culture. He built up a general theories based upon dozens of smaller examples. His attention to detail lends itself to an inductive method. He was one of the first to treat the cinema seriously; in it he saw a mirror of social conditions and desires.

Theodor Adorno viewed Kracauer as one of the major contributors to his work. Another acolyte is Kurt Tucholsky, who admired Kracauer's scientific approach to writing. Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno (September 11, 1903 – August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher, pianist, musicologist, and composer. ... Kurt Tucholsky Kurt Tucholsky (Berlin, January 9, 1890 – December 21, 1935 in Gothenburg) was a German journalist, satirist and writer. ...

Further reading

• Reeh, Henrik (2005). Ornaments of the Metropolis: Siegfried Kracauer and Modern Urban Culture. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-18237-8. 

• Koch, Getrud (2000). Siegfried Kracauer: an introduction. Princeton University Press. 

• Frisby, David (1988). Fragments of Modernity: Theories of Modernity in the Work of Simmel, Kracauer, and Benjamin. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-56046-1. 

• Kracauer, Siegfried; Thomas Levin (1963). The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays. 
• Kracauer, Siegfried (1960). Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality. 
• Kracauer, Siegfried (1947). From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film. 

• Kracauer, Siegfried; Paul Oskar Kristeller. History: The Last Things Before the Last. 
• Kracauer, Siegfried; Paul Oskar Kristeller. The Salaried Masses: Duty and Distraction in Weimar Germany.