Marcuse seems unaware of his own place in history. He is part of the antithesis. He – and One-Dimensional Man – are parts of the reaction he fears will not come. At the same time, he seems bent on making his dire prophecy self-fulfilling. His “masterwork” is convoluted and inaccessible – not due to the ideas, but simply due to the convoluted writing style. He is consistently unaware of his elitism. He complains about the impenetrable nature of philosophic speech – while being similarly impenetrable himself. He is routinely naive about the power-hungry nature of people. He spins a tight tautology that requires strict adherence to his own world-view – and anything less is being co-opted by the dominant paradigm.
And yet, despite all its flaws, the ideas in the text are revolutionary.