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HERBERT MARCUSE


Publications Scholarship Scholars & Activists News Search More


HERBERT MARCUSE OFFICIAL HOMEPAGE

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International Herbert Marcuse Society Homepage - regular newsletters and
up-to-date information about talks, conferences, and publications

Scroll to: Biography | Books | FAQ


WHAT'S NEW

2023-08-17 2023 IHMS Conference “Critical Theory in Motion: Dance into
Multidimensionality” IHMS Conference
Conference schedule now available 2022-01-03 New article: How the 1960s
institutionalized us Kimball, Roger Eros and Civilization Long March narcissism
2021-12-27 New article: What Herbert Marcuse Got Right — and Wrong Cohan, Jeremy
Serby, Benjamin One-Dimensional Man Jacobin Magazine 2021-12-18 New article: For
Karl Marx, Alienation Was Central to Understanding Capitalism Musto, Marcello
alienation Jacobin Magazine 2020-10-19 NY Times Profile of Angela Davis Davis,
Angela 2019-10-26 2019 IHMS Conference "Critical Theory in Dark Times" IHMS
Conference
Conference abstracts (and a video) now available 2019-09-18 New article:
Political Positivism and Political Existentialism. Revisiting Herbert Marcuse
Koutsogiannis, Alex 2019-09-05 Portuguese translation of 1960 article "From
Ontology to Technology" Portuguese 2019-03-03 Der Tagesspiegel Interview with
Peter and Harold Marcuse burial Marcuse, Peter Marcuse, Harold 2019-03-02 New
book: Routledge Companion to the Frankfurt School Frankfurt School 2019-03-01
Dissonância special issue on Herbert Marcuse (in Portuguese) Portuguese
Abromeit, John D. Nobre, Marcos 2019-02-25 Notes on Philosophy: reprint on 1963
essay in the Brandeis yearbook Brandeis 2019-01-20 New Anthology about
One-Dimensional Man 50 Years On (2017) One-Dimensional Man Maley, Terry
2018-09-21 New book in Croatian by Maroje Višić: Critique and Resistance
Croatian Višić, Maroje 2018-08-31 New book in Italian by Renata Bascelli: For a
concrete philosophy Italian Bascelli, Renata 2018-06-10 New book by Charles
Reitz: Ecology and Revolution Reitz, Charles ecology 2018-06-09 Panel discussion
of "Attempt at Liberation" at Linkes Forum Linkes Forum 2018-04-15 Lecture by
Peter-Erwin Jansen: The absurd rationality of progress Jansen, Peter-Erwin
More...


BIOGRAPHY

Herbert Marcuse was born in Berlin on July 19, 1898. After completing his Ph.D.
thesis at the University of Freiburg in 1922, he moved to Berlin, where he
worked in the book trade. He returned to Freiburg in 1929 to write a
habilitation (professor's dissertation) with Martin Heidegger. In 1933, since he
would not be allowed to complete that project under the Nazis, Herbert began
work at the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, a Marxist-oriented
think-tank (as we might say today).

He emigrated from Germany that same year, going first to Switzerland, then the
United States, where he became a citizen in 1940. During World War II he worked
for the US Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA), analyzing
intelligence reports about Germany (1942-45-51). In 1952 Herbert began a
university teaching career as a political theorist, first at Columbia and
Harvard, then at Brandeis from 1954 to 1965, and finally (already
retirement-age), at the University of California, San Diego.

His critiques of capitalist society (especially his 1955 synthesis of Marx and
Freud, Eros and Civilization, and his 1964 book One-Dimensional Man) resonated
with the concerns of the leftist student movement in the 1960s. Because of his
willingness to engage seriously with (and support) student protesters, Herbert
soon became known as "the father of the new left" (a term he disliked and
rejected). He had many speaking engagements in the US and Europe in the late
1960s and in the 1970s. He died on July 29, 1979, after suffering a stroke
during a visit to Germany.


BOOKS

1941 Reason and Revolution - An Introduction to the Dialectical Thinking of
Hegel and Marx 1955 Eros and Civilization - A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud
1965 One-Dimensional Man - Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial
Society 1969 An Essay on Liberation 1972 Counterrevolution and Revolt More...


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where are Herbert's papers?

 * Herbert's letters and papers are held by the Marcuse archive at the
   Archivzentrum of the University Library in Frankfurt, Germany
   (Universitätsbibliothek). Peter-Erwin Jansen, the publisher of Herbert's
   papers in German, who lives in Frankfurt, can grant permission to scholars to
   see limited-access materials. (For more information on Peter-Erwin, see the
   Nachgelassene Schriften page.)
 * 2013 note: several important collections of primary and secondary materials
   are becoming available in the US (such as the manuscript of One-Dimensional
   Man at Brandeis), and we are seeking to establish an archive or study center
   here as well.
   Update 2015: Progress on creating an archive at Brandeis is well underway.

How can I obtain permission to publish some of Herbert's writings?

 * Usually from the previous publisher. For hitherto unpublished materials, see
   the Permission page.

Do you have photographs of Herbert that be used for a publication, conference
announcement, etc?

 * Most photos on this site are scanned from various publications, or are from
   nebulous internet sources, and we cannot offer rights to them.
 * We do have a few personal/family snapshots, but these are not suitable for
   publications and we would probably not give permission. If you have further
   questions, please email me: marcuse@history.ucsb.edu.

How did Herbert pronounce "Marcuse"?

 * I'd write it phonetically (in US-English) [mahr KOO zeh], with the emphasis
   on the middle syllable. That is the standard German pronunciation.
 * As a member of Herbert's son Peter's family, we grew up in the US with an
   anglicized pronunciation (which you'd hear on my answering machine,
   phonetically [mar KYOOSS] (with the 'oo' long as in the word root) and the
   emphasis on the second syllable.

Are we related?

 * Although Marcuse is by no means a common name, there are many thousands of
   us. Some years ago the city of Berlin had a web site listing the names of the
   city's Jewish citizens who were murdered under the Nazis. There were 144
   "Marcuses" on it, only a few of whom were related to Herbert.
 * I don't do genealogical research, and don't have a reliable family tree to
   check. The best I can offer is the information on this site's page about
   Herbert's father Carl Marcuse. We know that Carl had siblings, but not who
   they were. We've been told that the sexologist Max Marcuse (1877-1963) was
   Herbert's cousin, whereas the literary scholar Ludwig Marcuse (1894-1971) was
   unrelated, as was the character actor Theo Marcuse (1920-1967).

We are in the process of revamping the Herbert Marcuse website. If you are
having trouble finding some of the original content, please try the original
page
Index entries: family

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