The Aesthetic Effect: A Search for Common Grounds Between Brecht and Lukacs

What has become known variously as the realism debate, the expressionism and the Brecht-Lukacs literary originated during the 1930s and is still very much alive today. Though the debate has benefited from the participation of some non-Marxists, it has been primarily a broad discussion of disagreements among Marxist artists and theorists about the values and characteristics of classical, bourgeois and socialist art. Bertolt Brecht and Georg Lukacs, who eventually emerged as the major figures of the debate and the rallying points for others, strongly disagreed initially on the question of the aesthetic effect. Lukacs appeared to continue the tradition of the largely affective critical approaches of Aristotle, Lessing, Kant and Hegel, while Brecht, who came to Marxism shortly before the debate started and was just then in the midst of developing his theory of alienation, summarily rejected any emotion-based aesthetic. From today's perspective, with the life-work of both Brecht and Lukacs completed, it is possible to make an analysis that shows where the two leading Marxist aestheticians differ, where they augment each other and just how strong their affinity is. Such an analysis can also illuminate Brecht's widely accepted but unexamined claim to anti-Aristotleanism.