ABSTRACT
Kluge's first venture into film practice suggests the circuitous plot of one of his stories. Having just published his doctoral dissertation in law and dreading the prospect of a legal career, Kluge discussed his interest in filmmaking with Adorno, a philosopher not exactly known as a champion of the mass media. Adorno in turn wrote a letter to Fritz Lang, a Los Angeles acquaintance suggesting that Kluge be hired as an assistant in the production of the two-part spectacle, The Tiger of Eshnapur/The Indian Tomb (Der Tiger von Eschnapur/Das indische Grabmal, 1958–9), for which the director had returned to Germany. Lang declined but agreed to admit the neophyte onto the set. As soon as shooting began, Lang's ideas were systematically shortchanged by the producer, Artur Brauner, who interfered directly with decisions of lighting and set design and on the whole preferred the advice of his sister-in-law to that of the director. Mildly disgusted with this situation, Kluge spent much of his time in the cafeteria, writing stories; these were the beginning of a collection entitled Lebensläufe (Curricula Vitae), published in 1962. The story of Anita G. in that collection subsequently became the basis for Kluge's first feature film, Yesterday Girl (Abschied von gestern, 1966). 1
