Language and History in Theodore W. Adorno's Notes to Literature (Studies in Philosophy)

Language and History in Theodor W. Adorno's Notes to Literature explores Adorno's essays on literature as an independent contribution to his aesthetics with an emphasis on his theory and practice of literary interpretation. Essential to Adorno's essays is his unorthodox treatment of language and history and his elaboration of the links between the two. One of Adorno's major but often-neglected claims is that truth is relative to its historical medium, language. Adorno persistently and creatively tries to narrow the gulf between truth and expression, philosophy and rhetoric, and his essays on literature are practical examples of his effort to critically rescue the rhetorical dimension of philosophy. Rather than relying exclusively on aesthetic concepts inherited from his predecessors in the Western tradition (Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard), Adorno's essays seek to transgress and transcend the conceptual limitations of aesthetic discourse by appropriating a non-conceptual, metaphorical vocabulary borrowed from the literary texts he investigates. Thus, Adorno's interpretations of literature mobilize an alternative subterranean, primarily essayistic and fragmentary discourse on language and history that eludes the categories that tend to predominate his thinking in his major work, Aesthetic Theory. This book puts forth the claim that Adorno's essays on literature are of central relevance for an understanding of his aesthetics because they challenge the conceptual limitations of philosophical discourse. This is the first book-length study of Adorno's philosophical criticism of literature contained in his four-volume Notes to Literature. Rather than relying exclusively on aesthetic concepts inherited from his predecessors in the Western tradition (such as Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard), Adorno's essays on literature seek to transgress and transcend the conceptual limitations of aesthetic discourse by appropriating a non-conceptual, metaphorical vocabulary borrowed from the literary texts he investigates. Adorno's interpretations of literature mobilize an alternative subterranean, primarily essayistic and fragmentary discourse on language and history that eludes the categories that tend to predominate his thinking in his major work, Aesthetic Theory Plass argues that Adornos essays on literature are of prime importance for an understanding of his aesthetics because they challenge the conceptual limitations of philosophical discourse. Selected Contents: Introduction: Adornos Literary Criticism 1. The Art of Transition 2. Rauschen 3. Conjuration 4. As If 5. The Wound 6. Exhaustion Conclusion Bibliography Index Introduction: Adorno's Literary Criticism -- The Art Of Transition -- Rauschen : Eichendorff -- Conjuration : Rudolf Borchardt -- As If : Stefan George -- The Wound : Heine -- Exhaustion : Goethe -- Conclusion. Ulrich Plass. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 225-241) And Index. Ulrich Plass explores Adorno's essays on literature as an independent contribution to his aesthetics with an emphasis on his theory and practice of literary interpretation