While studying in Frankfurt, Kluge befriended the philosopherTheodor W. Adorno, who was teaching at theInstitute for Social Research, orFrankfurt School.[3] Kluge served as a legal counsel for the Institute, and began writing his earliest stories during this period. At Adorno's suggestion, he also began to investigate filmmaking, and in 1958, Adorno introduced him to German filmmakerFritz Lang, for whom Kluge worked as an assistant on the making ofThe Tiger of Eschnapur.[4]
Kluge directed his first film in 1960,Brutality in Stone, a twelve-minute, black and white, lyrical montage work which, against the German commercial (Papa's Kino) cinematic amnesia of the prior decade, inaugurated an exploration of theNazi past. The film premièred in 1961 at what would become the showcase for the new generation of German filmmakers, the Westdeutsche Kurzfilmtage (now known as theInternational Short Film Festival Oberhausen) inOberhausen, Germany.
He went on to direct a number of films which have an inherent critique of commercial cinema and television through the creation of acounter-public sphere and their deployment of experimental forms, including montage. They includeAbschied von Gestern (Yesterday Girl) (1966), an adaptation of Kluge's story "Anita G.";Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos (Artists under the Big Top: Perplexed) (1968); andThe Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time (1985).
In 2017, Kluge and his studio are featured in the filmFinite and Infinite Games by artistSarah Morris. The film, which focuses around theElbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany, includes debate between Kluge and Morris on architecture, music, and the religious philosophy of American academicJames P. Carse.[6]
In 1987, Kluge founded the television production company Development Company for Television Program mbH (DCTP), which produces late-night and night-timeindependent television slots on the private channelsRTL Television,Sat.1, andVOX.
Much of the DCTP programs consist of television documentaries by Kluge (often characterized by the lack of spoken narration and a heavy reliance upon text as well as graphical montages and image editing) as well as many interviews Kluge leads with various international personalities from the fields of arts, entertainment, science, philosophy, and politics. Some of the interviewed are fictitious characters portrayed by professional actorsHelge Schneider andPeter Berling, or factual people parodied by the two, including, but not limited to,Adolf Hitler, historicalRoman generals,Napoleon's political advisors, or the lawyer ofMichael Jackson.
Kluge is also one of the major German fiction writers of the late-20th century and an important social critic. His fictional works, which tend toward the short story form, are significant for their formal experimentation and insistently critical thematics. Constituting a form ofanalytical fiction, they utilize techniques of narrative disruption, mixed genres, interpolation of non-literary texts and documents, and perspectival shifts. The texts frequently employ a flat, ironic tone. One frequent effect approximates whatViktor Shklovsky and theRussian formalists identified asdefamiliarization orostranenie. In an interview with032c magazine, Kluge described his point of view on writing with a quote byGeorg Büchner: "I've always wanted to see what my head looks like from above." Kluge explains that when "writing literary texts, you look—if you're going about it correctly—down to yourself, to your head from above. Then you no longer have a relationship with yourself. At the most, you have trust in yourself that a text will emerge from this and that you still have the sovereignty and the strength to throw it away if it amounts to nothing."[9] Kluge has used several of his stories as the basis for his films.
Kluge's major works of social criticism includeÖffentlichkeit und Erfahrung. Zur Organisationsanalyse von bürgerlicher und proletarischer Öffentlichkeit, co-written withOskar Negt and originally published in 1972, and "Geschichte und Eigensinn", also co-authored with Negt. "Öffentlichkeit und Erfahrung" has been translated into English asPublic Sphere and Experience: Toward an Analysis of the Bourgeois and Proletarian Public Sphere and "Geschichte und Eigensinn" was translated into English asHistory and Obstinacy, published in 2014 by Zone Books.
"Public Sphere and Experience" revisits and expands Jürgen Habermas's notion of the public sphere (which he articulated in his bookStructural Transformation of the Public Sphere) and calls for the development of a new "proletarian public sphere" grounded in the life experience of the working class. "Geschichte und Eigensinn" continues this project and tries to rethink the very nature of proletarian experience and develops a theory of "living labour" grounded in the work of Karl Marx.
He has also published numerous texts on literary, film and television criticism. In discussing his literary technique of blending fiction and reality with authorGary Indiana, Kluge also offers a critique of the media industry's presentation of "reality", which he asserts is intrinsically false:
...Human beings are not interested in reality. They can't be; it's the human essence. They have wishes. These wishes are strictly opposed to any ugly form of reality. They prefer to lie than to become divorced from their wishes...[they] forget everything and can give up everything except this principle of misunderstanding reality, the subjective... If this is real, then the media industry is realistic in telling fiction, and the construction of reality founded on this basis can only lie. This is one of the reasons why history isn't realistic: it's not documentary, it's not genuine, and it's not necessary.[10]
Learning Processes with a Deadly Outcome (1973) is one of Kluge's original contributions to thescience-fiction genre.
In 2000, he publishedChronik der Gefühle (Chronicle of Feelings), which critic Matthew D. Miller describes as a "modern epic".[11]
Since 2016 Kluge has been collaborating with the American writerBen Lerner. Their collaborations are collected inThe Snows of Venice, published in 2018 by Spector Books.
Die Universitäts-Selbstverwaltung. Ihre Geschichte und gegenwärtige Rechtsform (1958).
Lebensläufe (1962).Lifespan Narratives. This collection of nine stories includes "Anita G.", which Kluge adapted into the filmYesterday Girl.
First translated asAttendance List for a Funeral: Eleven Stories byLeila Vennewitz (1966);[15] this was later reprinted asCase Histories (1988).[16] Vennewitz's translation does not include "Korti" and includes three additional stories not in the original German collection: "Attendance List for a Funeral", "Sergeant Major Hans Peickert", and "Mandorf".
Vennewitz's translation was expanded to include "Korti" in 2025 by Alexander Booth asLifespan Narratives: Ten Stories from a Time of Disruption (Chronicle of Emotions, Notebook 3), but does not include "Attendance List for a Funeral" or "Mandorf".
Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: ratlos. Die Ungläubige. Projekt Z. Sprüche der Leni Peickert (1968)
Öffentlichkeit und Erfahrung – Zur Organisationsanalyse von bürgerlicher und proletarischer Öffentlichkeit (withOskar Negt) (1972).Public Sphere and Experience: Analysis of the Bourgeois and Proletarian Public, trans. Peter Labany, Jamie Owen Daniel, and Assenka Oksiloff (Verso Books, 2016).
Lernprozesse mit tödlichem Ausgang (1973).Learning Processes with a Deadly Outcome, trans. Christopher Pavsek (Duke University Press, 1996).
Gelegenheitsarbeit einer Sklavin. Zur realistischen Methode (1975).
Neue Geschichten, Hefte 1–18. "Unheimlichkeit der Zeit" (1977).New Stories, Notebooks 1–18: "The Uncanniness of Time". A collection of several hundred stories, some only one-page long, interspersed with documents, charts and images.
Die Patriotin. Texte/Bilder 1–6 (1979).
Geschichte und Eigensinn (with Oskar Negt) (1981).
History and Obstinacy, trans. Richard Langston, ed. and with an introduction by Devin Fore (Zone Books, 2014).
Die Macht der Gefühle (1984).The Power of Feelings.
Maßverhältnisse des Politischen (with Oskar Negt) (1992).
Die Wächter des Sarkophags. 10 Jahre Tschernobyl (1996).
In Gefahr und größter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod. Texte zu Kino, Film, Politik (1999).
Chronik der Gefühle (2000).Chronicle of Emotions. In two volumes:Basisgeschichten andLebensläufe. The first volume includesSchlachtbeschreibung (1964), in addition to a large amount of new material. The second volume includesUnheimlichkeit der Zeit (1977);Lernprozesse mit tödlichem Ausgang (1973); andLebensläufe (1962).[11]
The Principles of Life on Black Friday (Chronicle of Emotions, Notebook 1), trans. Martin Chalmers and Richard Langston (Seagull Books, 2023).
The Long March of Basic Trust (Chronicle of Emotions, Notebook 2), trans. Alexander Booth (Seagull Books, 2025).
Lifespan Narratives: Ten Stories from a Time of Disruption (Chronicle of Emotions, Notebook 3), trans. Leila Vennewitz and Alexander Booth (Seagull Books, 2025).
Der unterschätzte Mensch (with Oskar Negt) (2001).The Undervalued Man. In two volumes. The first book includes:Suchbegriffe (26 conversations and interviews);Öffentlichkeit und Erfahrung; andMaßverhältnisse des Politischen (revised). The second book isGeschichte und Eigensinn.
Verdeckte Ermittlung (2001).
Die Kunst, Unterschiede zu machen (2003).
Die Lücke, die der Teufel lässt. Im Umfeld des neuen Jahrhunderts (2003).The Devil's Blind Spot, trans.Martin Chalmers andMichael Hulse (New Directions, 2004). This collection of 500 stories includes some earlier works; an abridged English-language translation appeared in 2004 containing 173 of the 500 stories.
Vom Nutzen ungelöster Probleme (2003).
Fontane – Kleist – Deutschland – Büchner: Zur Grammatik der Zeit (2004).
Tür an Tür mit einem anderen Leben. 350 neue Geschichten (2006).
Geschichten vom Kino (2007).Cinema Stories, trans. Martin Brady and Helen Hughes (New Directions, 2007).
Soll und Haben. Fernsehgespräche (with Joseph Vogl) (2009).
Das Labyrinth der zärtlichen Kraft. 166 Liebesgeschichten (2009).The Labyrinth of Tender Force: 166 Love Stories, trans. Wieland Hoban (Seagull Books, 2019).
Dezember (withGerhard Richter) (2010).December, trans. Martin Chalmers (Seagull Books, 2012).
Das Bohren harter Bretter. 133 politische Geschichten (2011).Drilling Through Hard Boards: 133 Political Stories, trans. Wieland Hoban (Seagull Books, 2017).
Das fünfte Buch: Neue Lebensläufe. 402 Geschichten (2012).
Personen und Reden (2012).
Die Entsprechung einer Oase. Essay für die digitale Generation (2013).
"Wer ein Wort des Trostes spricht, ist ein Verräter." 48 Geschichten fürFritz Bauer (2013).Anyone Who Utters a Consoling Word Is a Traitor: 48 Stories for Fritz Bauer, trans. Alta L. Price (Seagull Books, 2020).
Nachricht von ruhigen Momenten (withGerhard Richter) (2013).Dispatches from Moments of Calm, trans. Nathaniel McBride (Seagull Books, 2016).
30. April 1945 (withReinhard Jirgl) (2014).30 April 1945: The Day Hitler Shot Himself and Germany's Integration with the West Began, trans. Wieland Hoban and Iain Galbraith (Seagull Books, 2015).
Le Moment fugitif (2014).
Kongs große Stunde. Chronik des Zusammenhangs (2015).Kong's Finest Hour: A Chronicle of Connections (Seagull Books, 2021).
Ferngespräche. Über Eisenstein, Marx, das Kapital, die Liebe und die Macht der zärtlichen Kraft (with Rainer Stollmann) (2016).
Weltverändernder Zorn: Nachricht von den Gegenfüßlern (withGeorg Baselitz) (2017).World-Changing Rage: News of the Antipodeans, trans. Katy Derbyshire (Seagull Books, 2019).
Schnee über Venedig (withBen Lerner) (2018).The Snows of Venice (2018).
Russland-Kontainer (2020).Russia Container, trans. Alexander Booth (Seagull Books, 2022).
Das Buch der Kommentare. Unruhiger Garten der Seele (2022).The Book of Commentary / Unquiet Garden of the Soul, trans. Alexander Booth (Seagull Books, 2023).
Kriegsfibel 2023 (2023).War Primer, trans. Alexander Booth (Seagull Books, 2024)
Der Konjunktiv der Bilder: Meine virtuelle Kamera (K.I.) (2024).The Dragon-Fly's Eye: My Virtual Camera, trans. Alexander Booth (Spector Books, 2024).[17]
Klugheit ist die Kunst, unter verschiedenen Umständen getreu zu bleiben, withAnselm Kiefer (2024).Intelligence Is the Art of Remaining Faithful under Shifting Circumstances, trans. Alexander Booth (Seagull Books, forthcoming)
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