Theodor W. Adorno: An Introduction (Post-Contemporary Interventions)
By
James Rolleston (Contributor) Gerhard Schweppenhaeuser (Author)
Hardback
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Description
Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) was one of the twentieth century's most important thinkers. In light of two pivotal developments-the rise of fascism, which culminated in the Holocaust, and the standardization of popular culture as a commodity indispensable to contemporary capitalism-Adorno sought to evaluate and synthesize the essential insights of Western philosophy by revisiting the ethical and sociological arguments of his predecessors: Kant, Nietzsche, Hegel, and Marx. This book, first published in Germany in 1996, provides a succinct introduction to Adorno's challenging and far-reaching thought. Gerhard Schweppenhaeuser, a leading authority on the Frankfurt School of critical theory, explains Adorno's epistemology, social and political philosophy, aesthetics, and theory of culture.After providing a brief overview of Adorno's life, Schweppenhaeuser turns to the theorist's core philosophical concepts, including post-Kantian critique, determinate negation, and the primacy of the object, as well as his view of the Enlightenment as a code for world domination, his diagnosis of modern mass culture as a program of social control, and his understanding of modernist aesthetics as a challenge to conceive an alternative politics. Along the way, Schweppenhaeuser illuminates the works widely considered Adorno's most important achievements: Minima Moralia, Dialectic of Enlightenment (co-authored with Horkheimer), and Negative Dialectics. Adorno wrote much of the first two of these during his years in California (1938-49), where he lived near Arnold Schoenberg and Thomas Mann, whom he assisted with the musical aesthetics at the center of Mann's novel Doctor Faustus.
About the Author
Gerhard Schweppenhaeuser is Professor of Design, Communication, and Media Theory at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. He has written many books building on the sociocultural, analytical mission of the Frankfurt School, including two focused on Adorno. James L. Rolleston is Professor Emeritus of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Duke University. He has written books on Kafka, Rilke, and modern German poetry. His translation of Bernd Witte's Walter Benjamin: An Intellectual Biography won the German Literary Prize of the American Translators Association. His and Kai Evers's translation of Peter Weiss's last play, The New Trial, is also published by Duke University Press.
More Details
- Contributor: James Rolleston
- Imprint: Duke University Press
- ISBN13: 9780822344544
- Number of Pages: 200
- Packaged Weight: 885
- Format: Hardback
- Publisher: Duke University Press
- Release Date: 2009-04-06
- Series: Post-Contemporary Interventions
- Binding: Hardback
- Biography: Gerhard Schweppenhaeuser is Professor of Design, Communication, and Media Theory at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. He has written many books building on the sociocultural, analytical mission of the Frankfurt School, including two focused on Adorno. James L. Rolleston is Professor Emeritus of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Duke University. He has written books on Kafka, Rilke, and modern German poetry. His translation of Bernd Witte's Walter Benjamin: An Intellectual Biography won the German Literary Prize of the American Translators Association. His and Kai Evers's translation of Peter Weiss's last play, The New Trial, is also published by Duke University Press.
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