Adorno's Aesthetic Theory: The Redemption of Illusion (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought) - Hardcover

Zuidervaart, Lambert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262240327 ISBN 13: 9780262240321

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Theodor Adorno's Aesthetic Theory is a vast labyrinth that anyone interested in modern aesthetic theory must at some time enter. Because of his immense difficulty of the same order as Derrida - Adorno's reception has been slowed by the lack of a comprehensive and comprehensible account of the intentions of his aesthetics. This is the first book to put Aesthetic Theory into context and outline the main ideas and relevant debates, offering readers a valuable guide through this huge, difficult, but revelatory work. Its extended argument is that, despite Adorno's assumptions of autonomism, cognitivism, and aesthetic modernism, his idea of artistic truth content offers crucial insights for contemporary philosophical aesthetics.

The eleven chapters are divided into three parts: Context, Content, and Critique. The first part offers a brief biography, describes Adorno's debates with Benjamin, Brecht, and Lukacs, and outlines his philosophical program. The second part is an interpretation of Adorno's aesthetics, examining how he situates art in society, production, politics, and history and uncovering the social, political, and historical dimensions of his idea of artistic truth. The third part evaluates Adorno's contribution by confronting it with the critiques of Peter Burger, Frederic Jameson, and Albrecht Wellmer.

About this title

About the Author

Lambert Zuidervaart is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. He is the author of Adorno's Aesthetic Theory (MIT Press), Artistic Truth, Social Philosophy after Adorno, Religion, Truth, and Social Transformation, and other books.

Review

"Zuidervaart makes helpful comparisons between Adorno's thought and that of Benjamin and Lukács and illuminates very clearly the decisive Kantian and, especially, Hegelian elements in Adorno's complex ensemble of concepts.... In all, this is a book that does considerable justice to the subtlety and sheer range of Adorno's thought."
—Nicholas Walker, Times Higher Education Supplement
"This is a rich and generous book. The wealth of information on twentieth century European debates in aesthetics and cultural criticism is more than matched by the complexity and subtlety of the interpretation of Adorno's aesthetics."
—Thomas Huhn, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262240327
• ISBN 13: 9780262240321
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 414