Champagne and caviar

October 1, 2008 11:28 PM

A quote, playing on the famous one from Nietzsche about staring into the abyss, that says something about how Horkheimer and Adorno liked to edge right up to the abyss while sipping champagne (and maybe eating caviar?). What's the quote, and who said it?
posted by scribbler to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Best answer: In "The Theory of the Novel," Lukacs said...

"A considerable part of the leading German intelligentsia, including Adorno, have taken up residence in the "Grand Hotel Abyss"...a beautiful hotel, equipped with every comfort, on the edge of an abyss, of nothingness, of absurdity. And the daily contemplation of the abyss between excellent meals or artistic entertainment, can only heighten the enjoyment of the subtle comforts offered."

Is that it?
posted by codswallop at 11:52 PM on October 1, 2008 [4 favorites]

Something about a "Grand Hotel Abyss"? (do a ctrl+f)

"on the edge of an abyss,...the daily contemplation of the abyss between excellent meals or artistic entertainments..."

Preface to Preface to The Theory of the Novel by Georg Lukács
posted by Geppp at 11:59 PM on October 1, 2008

Arg, codswallop beat me to it.
posted by Geppp at 11:59 PM on October 1, 2008

I think Codswallop has it. The quote comes from the preface to the 1962 re-issue of The Theory of the Novel, where Lukacs takes a critical stance against his own earlier work. Adorno was only a teenager when The Theory of the Novel was originally published.
posted by muhonnin at 12:01 AM on October 2, 2008

Response by poster: That must be it (interpolation of champagne and caviar notwithstanding :).
posted by scribbler at 12:11 AM on October 2, 2008