Fleeting Promise of Art , livre ebook

197

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English

Ebooks

2013

Écrit par
Uwe Hohendahl Peter

Publié par
Cornell University Press

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197

pages

English

Ebooks

2013

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Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 novembre 2013

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801469282

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

A discussion of Theodor Adorno's Aesthetic Theory is bound to look significantly different today than it would have looked when the book was first published in 1970, or when it first appeared in English translation in the 1980s. In The Fleeting Promise of Art, Peter Uwe Hohendahl reexamines Aesthetic Theory along with Adorno's other writings on aesthetics in light of the unexpected return of the aesthetic to today's cultural debates.Is Adorno's aesthetic theory still relevant today? Hohendahl answers this question with an emphatic yes. As he shows, a careful reading of the work exposes different questions and arguments today than it did in the past. Over the years Adorno's concern over the fate of art in a late capitalist society has met with everything from suspicion to indifference. In part this could be explained by relative unfamiliarity with the German dialectical tradition in North America. Today's debate is better informed, more multifaceted, and further removed from the immediate aftermath of the Cold War and of the shadow of postmodernism.Adorno's insistence on the radical autonomy of the artwork has much to offer contemporary discussions of art and the aesthetic in search of new responses to the pervasive effects of a neoliberal art market and culture industry.Focusing specifically on Adorno's engagement with literary works, Hohendahl shows how radically transformative Adorno's ideas have been and how thoroughly they have shaped current discussions in aesthetics. Among the topics he considers are the role of art in modernism and postmodernism, the truth claims of artworks, the function of the ugly in modern artworks, the precarious value of the literary tradition, and the surprising significance of realism for Adorno.

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 novembre 2013

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801469282

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

The Fleeting Promise of Art

Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory Revisited

Peter Uwe Hohendahl

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2013 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2013

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hohendahl, Peter Uwe, author. The eeting promise of art : Adornos aesthetic theory revisited / Peter Uwe Hohendahl. pagecsm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5236-9 (cloth : alk. paper)  ISBN 978-0-8014-7898-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Adorno, Theodor W., 19031969Aesthetics. 2. Aesthetics, German20th century. I. Title. B3199.A34H633 2013 111'.85092dc23 2013009769

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood bers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Clotphrinting Paperbacpkrinting

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgments vii

List of Abbreviations

Introduction 1

Contents

Part I 1. Human Freedom and the Autonomy of Art: The Legacy of Kant

2. The Ephemeral and the Absolute: The Truth Content of Art

3. Aesthetic Violence: The Concepts of the Ugly and Primitive

Part II 4. Reality, Realism, and Representation

5. A Precarious Balance: Rereading German Classicism

103 129

v i C o n t e n t s

Epilogue 152

Notes 167 Index 175

Acknowledgments

This book has a long and complex history. It grew out of individual but related projects focused on Adornos aesthetic theory and literary crit-icism. Some of them were originally conceived as more speci c investiga-tions or interventions, written either as essays or book chapters. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5 were previously published in somewhat different form. Part ofchapter 1 was published inThe Philosophical Forum(43:3, Fall 2012). Chapter 2  rst appeared in a volume edited by Gerhard Richter, Language without Soil: Adorno and Late Philosophical Modernity(Fordham University Press, 2010). A version of chapter 3 was originally published in Cultural Critique(60, Spring 2005), and chapter 5 rst appeared inNew Literary History(42:1, 2011). This project could not have been undertaken and completed without encouragement from colleagues and friends. I want to thank Rita Felsky, Gerhard Richter, and the late Jochen Schulte-Sasse for reading drafts of various chapters and providing generous critical feedback. While repeated conversations with Peter Gilgen and Andrew Chignell on problems of

v i i i A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

aesthetics encouraged me to put Adornos theory in the larger context of contemporary philosophy, frequent discussions with Paul Fleming in-spired me to rethink the nature and relevance of Adornos literary criti-cism. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to everyone I worked with at Cornell University Press for their enthusiastic and sustained support. In particular, Peter Potters advice and assistance have been invaluable.

Abbreviations

Ä Theodor W. Adorno.Ästhetik (1958/59): Nachgelassene Schriften,Ab-teilung IV: Vorlesungen, vol. 3. Edited by Erhard Ortland. Frank-furt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2009. ÄT Theodor W. Adorno.Ästhetische Theorie.Edited by Gretel Adorno and Rolf Tiedemann. 4th ed. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1980. AT Theodor W. Adorno.Aesthetic Theory.Translated and edited by RobertHullot-Kentor.Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,1997. BTFriedrichNietzsche.The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings.Trans-lated by Raymond Geuss and Ronald Speirs. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 1999. CIJmmanuKelant.Critique of the Power of Judgment.Edited by Paul Guyer. Translated by Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

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