This essay documents my interpretation and analysis of Kracauer’s first novel Ginster. The book, I argue, can be read as a model case for Kracauer’s variety of realism and contains many of the philosophical ideas, issues, and sensibilities common to Kracauer’s oeuvre. This goes especially for the entanglement of aesthetic and theoretical elements, for Kracauer not only discusses social and historical issues but establishes his reflections via processing documentary elements, experiential realities, and philosophical cartography. Moreover, Kracauer makes extensive use of figurative, linguistic, and representational strategies, which correspond intimately to the various experiences of negativity laid out in the novel. [My essay is, however, not a cohesive chapter but will be disassembled and allocated to the various thematic areas of my thesis. It is thus pertinent to keep in mind the structure of the overall work.]