Jacques Offenbach and the Paris of His Time

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The book features dandies, bohemians, courtesans, old and new nobility, financial aristocrats, journalists, and the common people. The settings include boulevards, salons, theaters, and cafes. Events encompass premieres, world exhibitions, revolutions, and everyday life. In this brilliant exploration of Offenbach, the renowned intellectual Siegfried Kracauer engages in a clever mimicry of the biographical novel genre, which he had previously critiqued. Some passages read like ironic quotations, exposing the pseudo-individualism and illusory immediacy of the genre's clichés.