The Theodor W. Adorno Walter Benjamin Debate

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• published: 02 Dec 2012
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Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈbɛnjamiːn];[1] 15 July 1892 -- 26 September 1940)[2] was a German literary critic, philosopher, social critic, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist. Combining elements of German idealism or Romanticism, Historical Materialism and Jewish mysticism, Benjamin made enduring and influential contributions to aesthetic theory and Western Marxism, and is associated with the Frankfurt School. Among his major works as a literary critic are essays on Goethe's novel Elective Affinities; the work of Franz Kafka and Karl Kraus; translation theory; the stories of Nikolai Leskov; the work of Marcel Proust and perhaps most significantly, the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Influenced by the Swiss anthropologist Johann Jakob Bachofen (1815--87), Benjamin coined the term "auratic perception", denoting the aesthetic faculty by means of which civilization may recover an appreciation of myth.[3] Benjamin's work is often cited in academic and literary studies, especially the essays "The Task of the Translator" (1923) and "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1936). Benjamin committed suicide in Portbou at the French--Spanish border while attempting to escape from the Nazis. Among Walter Benjamin's works are: Zur Kritik der Gewalt (Critique of Violence, 1921). Goethes Wahlverwandtschaften (Goethe's Elective Affinities, 1922). Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels (Origin of German Tragic Drama, 1928). Einbahnstraße (One Way Street, 1928). "Karl Kraus" (1931 in the Frankfurter Zeitung). Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1936). Berliner Kindheit um 1900 (Berlin Childhood around 1900, 1950). Über den Begriff der Geschichte (On the Concept of History / Theses on the Philosophy of History), 1940. Das Paris des Second Empire bei Baudelaire (The Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire, Theodor W. Adorno (/əˈdɔːrnoʊ/;[1] German: [aˈdɔʀno]; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; September 11, 1903 -- August 6, 1969) was a German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has come to be associated with thinkers such as Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse, for whom the work of Freud, Marx and Hegel were essential to a critique of modern society. He is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's foremost thinkers on aesthetics and philosophy, as well as one of its preeminent essayists."in the field of Cultural Studies have repeatedly cast Adorno in the role of the father [...] he has given life to the critical analysis of mass culture"(Apostolidis: p.56) ( As a critic of both fascism and what he called the culture industry, his writings—such as Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), Minima Moralia (1951) and Negative Dialectics (1966)—strongly influenced the European New Left. Main article: Theodor W. Adorno bibliography Kierkegaard: Construction of the Aesthetic (1933) Dialectic of Enlightenment (with Max Horkheimer, 1944) Philosophy of New Music (1949) The Authoritarian Personality (1950) Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life (1951) In Search of Wagner (1952) Prisms (1955) Against Epistemology: A Metacritique; Studies in Husserl and the Phenomenological Antinomies (1956) Dissonanzen. Musik in der verwalteten Welt (1956) Notes to Literature I (1958) Sound Figures (1959) Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy (1960) Notes to Literature II (1961) Hegel: Three Studies (1963) Critical Models: Interventions and Catchwords (1963) Quasi una Fantasia (1963) The Jargon of Authenticity (1964) Night Music: Essays on Music 1928-1962 (1964) Negative Dialectics (1966) Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link (1968) Critical Models: Interventions and Catchwords (1969) Composing for the Films (1969) Aesthetic Theory (1970) Beethoven: The Philosophy of Music; Fragments and Texts (1993) Current of Music (2006)