Ornaments of the Metropolis

For Siegfried Kracauer the urban ornament was not just an aspect of design; it wasthe medium through which city dwellers interpreted the metropolis itself. In Ornaments of theMetropolis Henrik Reeh traces variations on the theme of the ornament in Kracauer''s writings onurbanism from his early journalism in Germany between the wars to his sociobiography of JacquesOffenbach in Paris. Kracauer (1889-1966) often associated with the Frankfurt School and theintellectual milieu of Walter Benjamin is best known for his writings on cinema and the philosophyof history. Reeh examines Kracauer''s lesser-known early work much of it written for thetrendsetting newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung in the 1920s and early 1930s and analyzes Kracauer''scontinuing reflections on modern urban life through the pivotal idea of ornament. Kracauerdeciphers the subjective experience of the city by viewing fragments of the city as dynamicornaments; an employment exchange a day shelter for the homeless a movie theater and an amusementpark become urban microcosms.Reeh focuses on three substantial works written by Kracauer before hisemigration to the United States in 1940. In the early autobiographical novel Ginster Written byHimself a young architect finds aesthetic pleasure in the ornamental forms that are largely unusedin the profession of the time. The collection Streets of Berlin and Elsewhere with many essays fromKracauer''s years in Berlin documents the subjectiveness of urban life. Finally Jacques Offenbachand the Paris of His Time shows how the superficial -- in a sense ornamental -- milieu of theoperetta evolved into a critical force during the Second Empire. Reeh argues that Kracauer''s novelessays and historiography all suggest ways in which the subjective can reappropriate urban life.The book also includes a series of photographs by the author that reflect the ornamental experienceof the metropolis in Paris Frankfurt and other cities.