Owl of Minerva reviewed Grand Hotel Abyss by Stuart Jeffries
A sad affair in the end
2 stars
A pretty sad affair in the end. I expected more from the book. While claiming to be an intellectual biography of the Frankfurt School it ends up being a rather bland and superficial overview. It presents their ideas in quite strange ways, often wrong or at least thoroughly simplified beyond the point of recognition. The authors lacking academic background is no point against him but it seems to have been a problem as he rehashes more or less debunked or at least controversial or orthodox claims that the current scholarship has done away with. Beyond that his constant attacks or at least bitter remarks concerning the Frankfurt Scholars lacking revolutionary seal or action seem unnecessary and unwarranted in a biography. His application of Freudian theories of development, while it might echo the sentiments of some of the members, seems reductionist to say the least. In the end I, a relative …
A pretty sad affair in the end. I expected more from the book. While claiming to be an intellectual biography of the Frankfurt School it ends up being a rather bland and superficial overview. It presents their ideas in quite strange ways, often wrong or at least thoroughly simplified beyond the point of recognition. The authors lacking academic background is no point against him but it seems to have been a problem as he rehashes more or less debunked or at least controversial or orthodox claims that the current scholarship has done away with. Beyond that his constant attacks or at least bitter remarks concerning the Frankfurt Scholars lacking revolutionary seal or action seem unnecessary and unwarranted in a biography. His application of Freudian theories of development, while it might echo the sentiments of some of the members, seems reductionist to say the least. In the end I, a relative novice in regards to the school came out of the book without much of a increased or deepened understanding. In the end I would hardly recommend the Grand Hotel Abyss as it appears to me as it does little to infuse the reader with something more than the absolute essentials of their thinking and even in that regard it appears as somewhat limited. It is quite a sad feeling as I would have liked to enjoy it and broaden and deepen my understanding in regards to the Institut für Sozialforschung. But in the end, "Es gibt kein richtiges Leben im falschen" and as such "there are no true biographies within a false life"