Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ politico-economic writings have profoundly shaped global leftist political praxis and cultural production. In Germany, leftist writers and artists have continuously reinterpreted Marx and Engels’ theoretical texts in response to shifting political contexts, often mirroring broader historical transformations in German society. During the rise of the Nazi regime, Bertolt Brecht sought to artistically reframe Das Kommunistische Manifest as a poem, while Alexander Kluge reimagined Marx’s Das Kapital in his 2008 documentary film as a response to the global financial crises and the resurgence of capitalist contradictions. Both artists used media to evoke political emotions during times of crisis, exploring the role of media forms in mediating revolutionary affects. This paper brings Brecht and Kluge into dialogue and examines how political emotions are closely intertwined with media forms in German leftist cultural production. It focuses on the transmedial engagements that arise when Marxist theory is reworked across different media. In particular, it asks how diverse media forms serve to mediate, articulate, and disseminate political emotions within their respective historical and cultural contexts. By tracing these transmedial encounters, this paper highlights the ongoing relevance and adaptation of Marxist thought in German cultural production and its role in shaping political affect in times of crisis and transformation.

The academic community has already widely recognized the intermedia writing in the work The Unconsoled. This paper explores the relationship between the artistic philosophy and political justice conveyed by Kazuo Ishiguro in his intermedia writing. The small Central European city in the novel is plunged into an inexplicable crisis, and the citizens place high hopes on art, especially expecting the arrival of the protagonist, Ryder, to resolve this crisis. However, Ryder’s absurd experiences seem to confirm Plato’s view that art should be banished from the “Republic”. However, the exploration of various musical genres and art forms in the novel, along with its polyphonic writing and Kafkaesque experimental style, illustrates the close relationship between art and politics. The paradox of the use of art is shown in a humorous way, implying a contest between dependent art and autonomous art. The novel suggests that dependent art, represented by mass art, weakens the perceptual consciousness of the people. Commercial temptation and political manipulation lead people into a state of being unconsolable. Meanwhile, the people in crisis have already begun to develop a consciousness of change under the enlightenment of modern/postmodern music, experiencing painful metamorphosis, seeking the path to future freedom and happiness, and striving to build a just and good life.

American Fiction (2023), written and directed by Cord Jefferson and adapted from Percival Everett’s Erasure (2001), tells the story a novelist named Thelonius “Monk” Ellison whose anonymously published stereotype-catering book brings him unexpected commercial success.

As an adapted film, it exemplifies the double meaning of the verb “adapt” - to change behavior to fit in a place or a situation, or to change an artistic form to another. This article thus carries out a twofold analysis of adaptation: the adapted film not only reproduce the meta narratives in the novel, but also exhibits how Monk adapts his “not black enough” self to the stereotypical assumptions held by others concerning his race. The film can in this sense be considered as a meta-adaptation (i.e., an adaptation that highlights the concept of adaptation in itself) in which adaptation is discussed from both an intermedial perspective and a sociocultural one. The two aspects are inextricably joint as they shed light on each other. I borrow Lars Elleström’s definition of adaptation as transmediation that stresses the adapting process rather than considering it a unidirectional procedure. Correspondingly, the adaptation of a racial identity is also established not by the performer alone, but by audience’s participation with collective imagination and memories, rendering the adaptation a dialectic mechanism. The outcome of adaptation (a film adaptation of a novel/an identity performance) is not an unchanging termination. Instead, it leaves an impact on the source of adaptation (the novel/the original self identity) as it creates new meaning and opens up channels to new significance. Ultimately, this article proposes to examine adaptation as an active contributor to the weaving of a network of significance through self-reflexive mediality and self-conscious racial performance.

Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch (2013) explores the protagonist Theo’s journey through trauma, identity formation, and ethical dilemmas, with visual imagery and the gaze as central themes. The novel intertwines the narrative of Theo’s growth with the iconic painting The Goldfinch, using art as a symbol for Theo’s internal struggles and evolving identity. Key paintings, such as The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and Boy with a Skull, play significant roles in shaping Theo’s ethical consciousness.

The dynamic between Theo and the portraits he views—where the paintings seem to gaze back at him—offers a unique ethical perspective. Unlike typical subject-object gazes, these portraits engage the viewer in a reciprocal interaction, blurring the lines between observer and observed. This "gaze" becomes a metaphor for Theo’s self-examination and identity reconstruction, as the paintings challenge him to confront his past and make ethical decisions.

Portraiture, with its active gaze and spiritual resonance, guides Theo through his ethical struggles, prompting him to reevaluate his choices and develop a new sense of belonging. Through his encounters with these paintings, Theo redefines his relationship with himself and others, ultimately finding redemption and a clearer ethical path. The novel’s use of visual art suggests that the act of viewing is not passive but an active, ethical behavior that reshapes one’s identity.

This paper, informed by Nancy’s theory of artistic gaze, examines how the protagonist’s search for self-identity is mediated through visual ethics. By exploring Theo’s interactions with portraiture, this study offers a new perspective on the novel’s exploration of identity, ethics, and the power of visual culture in shaping our moral choices.