A defense of the “Grand Hotel Abyss”

Abstract

The menace of pessimism in early critical theory is often criticized for being antithetical to Marxism’s emancipatory vision and/or implicitly conservative, a position memorably illustrated in Lukács’ appraisal of Adorno as a resident of Schopenhauer’s “Grand Hotel Abyss,” where one enjoys a nihilistically detached yet aesthetically pleasurable stay without mounting any real challenges to the miseries of the real world. This stance, reworked in numerous assessments of the first-generation Frankfurt School, presupposes that radicalism and pessimism are antagonistic positions. By rethinking early critical theory in light of discussions of “nonideal” alternatives to the ideal theories of liberal egalitarian thinkers, I argue that the Frankfurt School salvaged the prospects of emancipation precisely due to their view from the “Grand Hotel Abyss.” Through their gloomy reply to Marx in nonideal conditions, the Frankfurt School’s negative views paradoxically preserved the possibility for historical alternatives and serve two functions for social theory today: (1) to help bring the causes of injustice to consciousness and (2) to preserve a messianic hope.