Abstract

Born in Hungary to Hungarian-Jewish parents, Arnold Hauser and Georg Lukacs have had much in common. Both men are identified with German culture and their work, which encompassed a wide range, was originally written in German. Some basic differences, however, set them apart from the beginning. Lukacs was born in 1885 in Budapest, the son of a wealthy banker who was raised to the nobility in 1899. Hauser, born in 1892 in the small town of Temeswar, grew up in modest circumstances. In his father's house, Lukacs met the famous and the rich, among them Hugo von Hoffmannstahl.