Georg Lukács and Critical Theory

[Miller] comes neither to bury Lukács nor to praise him, but to broaden and enrich our view of his oeuvre. As he concludes: ‘No ultimate verdict has been pronounced either about Lukács himself or about the position he might hold for a future critical theory that for many decades has mostly sought to monumentalize him or keep him discreetly out of sight’ (p. 261). The intellectual historian Martin Jay, in his blurb for the back of the book, calls the work a collection of ‘sprightly essays’, and that is certainly a good way to approach a series of arguments that, at their best, are erudite, informative, surprising, and well-written. -- Benjamin Morgan, Worcester College * Oxford German Studies *
For those who have concluded that Lukács has nothing more to teach us or feel exhausted by the surfeit of commentaries on Adorno, Tyrus Miller’s sprightly essays on their entangled legacy will come as a refreshing surprise. He knows how to pose suggestive questions and come up with provocative answers, which demonstrate the continuing relevance of Western Marxism in the twenty-first century. -- Martin Jay, University of California, Berkeley
This volume by Miller makes an important contribution to readers' understanding of Georg Lukács, the Frankfurt School, and late modern culture. [...] A major highlight is Miller’s juxtaposition of the Frankfurt School’s approach to interdisciplinary research with post–Cold War efforts by artists and humanists in Hungary to come to terms with experiences under communism. Summing Up: Recommended. -- Thomas Wheatland, Assumption University * CHOICE *