Prisms

by Theodor W. Adorno, Shierry Weber Nicholsen (Translator), Samuel Weber (Translator)

The eminent critic and scholar analyzes a wide range of topics, including Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, jazz, the music of Bach, and museums

Genres: Philosophy, Theory, Nonfiction, Essays, Unfinished, Sociology, Cultural

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after World War II. Although less well known among anglophone philosophers than his contemporary Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and intellectuals in postwar Germany. In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Jürgen Habermas, Germany's foremost social philosopher after 1970, was Adorno's student and assistant. The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged. It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of contemporary Western society. He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of Critical Theory.

Unreliable translations hampered the initial reception of Adorno's published work in English speaking countries. Since the 1990s, however, better translations have appeared, along with newly translated lectures and other posthumous works that are still being published. These materials not only facilitate an emerging assessment of his work in epistemology and ethics but also strengthen an already advanced reception of his work in aesthetics and cultural theory.

Reviews

[meera · Rating 4 out of 5]

stop reifying!!! like for real STOP

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A phenomenal collection of works. One to revisit.

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

My dreams of becoming a cultural critic like Adorno, but with a heightened poetic sense, have yet to be realized.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly going on about music being fascist, though, there was a good chapter on Walter Benjamin

[Dylan Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe the best place to start for adorno

[Josh Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the essays better which were directed at specific targets. Even the ones about authors I haven't read evoked something of the essence of what Adorno wanted to say about broader therms. My only real criticism is that some of this stuff is so unbearably dense and abstract that it's tough to make out exactly what's being said. The more he tethers his ideas to those of others, the more I can understand them.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Say what you will about his opinions on jazz, but the Benjamin and Schoenberg essays are undeniably brilliant.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't read it all, but selected essays. But what I have is brilliant and dense and... often makes me feel really, really inadequate.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book. I would have used many of the essays here to put together my dissertation.

[Mark Martin]

Essential collection of essays by Adorno on a wide variety of topics, including Schoenberg (his obit and the best summation of his views on the composer), Bach (written for the 1950 Bach year and criticizing the uncritical adulation normally given this composer, while defending his accomplishments against common views of him), Spengler, Mannheim (critique of his "Sociology of Knowledge"), Kafka, and several others. One of the first collections to be translated into English.