Bloch and Benjamin on The New and the Old

[Giles Peaker]

>
>>What I am particularly interested in is Lukacs attack on Bloch's support of
>>expressionism?  Do you know in which writings he does this?
>
>Check out _Aesthetics and Politics_ -- a book published by Verso with
>essays by Adorno, Benjamin, Bloch, Brecht and Lukacs.  (Have I already
>mentioned this?)  There is a great exchange between L and Bloch precisely
>on the relative merits of Expressionism and Realism.  Other than that, I
>know L wrote an essay called "The Greatness and the Decline of
>Expressionism".  I don't know where to find it, however.

You could also try Lukacs'  'The Meaning of Contemporary Realism'. Whilst
not dealing solely with expressionism, it does include it in a more general
critique of modernism (modelled on expressionism). Adorno replies to this
in essays contained in Notes to Literature, vols 1 & 2. Most of the
expressinism debate took place through followers of Lukacs. It is to their
publications that Brecht and others respond. Aesthetics and Politics refers
to the sites of the 1930s debates (German language journals published in
Moscow or Paris)

With regard to Benjamin and the 'New'. This is a Benjaminian category,
inflected by Nietzsche. See for instance the Passagenwerk notes, the
related essays in 'Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High
Capitalism' Verso, or the essay on Surrealism. For precise quotes and sense
of the term (which changes), I'll have to get back to you.

Regards
Giles Peaker (G.Peaker@derby.ac.uk)