Chapter 5: On the Task of a Realist Historiography in Kracauer’s History: The Last Things Before the Last

Abstract

Siegfried Kracauer’s plans for a project on history can be traced back to early 1960, during the busy months in which he was completing the 1 final draft of Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality. In a letter to Leo Löwenthal (dated February 15, 1960) Kracauer states that – upon completion of the book – he plans to have a “creative break”, during which time he would like to “read a lot”, and write “a couple of es2 says on history”. Upon return from a four month trip to Europe between July and October of the same year, Kracauer notes that, although he has not yet “brought anything to paper”, he “meditated a lot about history on the trip”. “I am very enthusiastic [passioniert]”, he writes, “about my attempt to make an incursion in this field. What may come out of it, I don’t yet know; perhaps a series of interrelated [zusam3 menhaengender] essays”. By December of 1960, Kracauer’s plans for a series of essays on