Abstract:
Investigates the debate between Georg Lukacs and Bertolt Brecht in the 1930s, known as the Expressionist Debate, and the controversy between Jean-Francois Lyotard and Juergen Habermas, which took place in the 1980s. These debates are juxtaposed in order to shed more light on the issues at stake in the Expressionist Debate when looked at in the light of postmodern concerns. The dissertation is based on selected texts by each of the four writers. The texts by Lukacs and Brecht are examined to establish their relative positions. The debate is investigated in terms of Marxist aesthetic theory. The texts by Lyotard and Habermas are also examined. It has been found that the controversy here revolves around the disagreement as to whether the Enlightenment project of modernity should be discarded, or whether it should rather be seen as a project as yet unfinished. The conclusion takes some of the findings and highlights what is seen to be a common but rather understated issue in the two debates, namely the response of Marxist thinkers and writers to the challenges posed to them in the form of avant-gardism.
