Language Without Soil: Adorno and Late Philosophical Modernity

312 Pages·2009·1.77 MB·English

by  Gerhard Richter

LANGUAGE WITHOUT SOIL

Language Without Soil
ADORNO AND LATE PHILOSOPHICAL MODERNITY
Edited by
GERHARD RICHTER
FO RDHAM UN IVERSITY PRES S
New Y01-k
2010
Copyright © 2010 Fordham University Press
All rights reserved. 0 part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any foml or by any means---electronic mechanical,
t
photocopy, recording, or any other--except for brief
qllot3tions i.n primed reviews, withom the prior permission
of the publisher.
Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the
persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party
internet websites referred to in this publication and does not
guarantee that an}' content on such websites is, or will
remain, accurate or appropriate.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Andrew w. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary "Vorkshop
on Adorno (University of Vlisconsin-Madison)
Language without soil: Adorno and late philosophical
modernity / edited by Gerhard Richter.-Ist ed.
p. elll.
Early versions of some of the conrribuuons were initially
presented as lecrures and seminars in a year-long Andrew
"V. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary \Norkshop on
Adorno, Humanities Center at the University of\¥isconsiJl-
Madison.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8,),-) ,,6-) (cloth, alk. papcr)
ISBN 978-0-82)2-)127-0 (pbk., alk. paper)
t. Adorno, Theodor \1\1., 1903-1gC)9-Congresses.
I. Richter, Gerhard, '967- n. Title.
B)199.A)4J\66 2010
1 93- dc22
20090,0854
Printed in the United States of America
12 II 10 5 4 3 l
First edition
CO 'TENTS
Ack11lfw/edgllleJ/ts VII
Introduction
GERHARD RICHTER
I. Without Soil: A Figure in Adorno's Thought 10
ALEXANDER GARciA OOTTMANN
2. Taking on the Stigma of Inauthcnticity:
Adorno's Critique of Genuineness 17
MARTIS JAY
3. Suffering Injustice: Nlisrecognition as Moral Injury
in Critical Theory
"I.
J. BERNSTEIN 30
4. Idiosyncrasies: Of Anti-Semitism
JAN PLUG
5. Adorno's Lesson Plans' The Ethics of (Re)Education
in "The Meaning of '''Vorking through the Past'"
JAIMEY FISHER
6. Adorno-Naulrc-Hegel 99
TI'IERESA M. KELLEY
7. The Idiom of Crisis: On the Historical Immanence
of Language in Adorno "7
NEil. I.ARSEN
8. Aesthetic Theory and onpropositional Truth Content
in Adorno 131
GERHARD RICHTER
9. The Homeland of Language: A ate on Truth
and Knowledge in Adorno 147
MIRKO WISCHKE
10. Of Stones and Glass Houses: Minimn lVlamlin
as Critique of Transparency 157
ERIC JAROSINSKI
v
vi C011lems
1 r. The Polemic of the Late Work: Adorno's Holderlin
ROBERT SAVAGE
12. Twelve Anacoluthic Theses on Adorno's "Parataxis:
On Holderlin's Late Poetry" '95
DAVlD FARRELL KRELL
13. The Ephemeral and the Absolute: Provisional Notes
to Adorno's Aesthetic Them] 206
PETER UWE NOI·IENDAHL
Appendix: Who's Afraid of the Ivory Tower'
A Conversation with Theodor W. Adorno "7
TRANSLATED, EDITED, AND WITH AN [NTRODUCTION BY
GERHARD RICHTER
Notes '39
List of C01Jtribmo1> '93
Judex 297
acknowledgments
Earlyversionsofsixofthethirteencontributionscollectedherewereini-
tiallypresentedaslecturesandseminarsinthecontextofayear-longAn-
drewW.MellonFoundationInterdisciplinaryWorkshoponAdornothat
I co-directed with Theresa Kelley through the Humanities Center at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. The workshop attracted a sizable and
livelygroupoffacultyandgraduatestudentsfromavarietyofdisciplines.
AttheUniversityofCalifornia,Davis,KarenEmbryreliablyandthought-
fullyassistedinthepreparationofthefinalmanuscript,andGeoffreyWil-
dangerpreparedtheindex.TheeditorialstaffatFordhamUniversityPress
ably saw the manuscript through to book form. Earlier versions of some
of the chapters have appeared as follows: Theodor W. Adorno, ‘‘Who’s
Afraid of the Ivory Tower? A Conversation with Theodor W. Adorno,’’
translated, edited, and with an introduction by Gerhard Richter, Monats-
hefte 94: 1 (Spring 2002): 10–23 ((cid:2) 2002 by the Board of Regents of the
University of Wisconsin System; reproduced courtesy of The University
ofWisconsinPressandSuhrkampVerlag,FrankfurtamMain,Germany);
J. M. Bernstein, ‘‘Suffering Injustice: Misrecognition as Moral Injury in
CriticalTheory,’’InternationalJournalofPhilosophicalStudies13:3:303–24
(http://www.informaworld.com;usedbypermissionoftheTaylor&Fran-
cis Group); Alexander Garcı´a Du¨ttmann, ‘‘Ohne Erde: Eine Denkfigur
Adornos,’’Modernebegreifen:ZurParadoxieeinessozio-a¨sthetischenDeutung-
smusters, eds. Christine Magerski, Christiane Weller, and Robert Savage
(Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 2007), 255–62 (used by permission of GWV
FachverlageGmbH);MartinJay,‘‘TakingontheStigmaofInauthenticity:
Adorno’sCritiqueofGenuineness,’’NewGermanCritique,vol.97(Winter
2006): 15–30 (Copyright 2006 New German Critique, Inc. All rights re-
served. Used by permission of the publisher, Duke University Press); Jan
Plug,‘‘Idiosyncrasies:OfAnti-Semitism,’’Monatshefte94:1(Spring2002):
43–66 ((cid:2) 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin
System; reproduced by the permission of The University of Wisconsin
Press); GerhardRichter, ‘‘Aesthetic Theory andNonpropositional Truth
vii
viii Acknowledgments
ContentinAdorno,’’NewGermanCritique,vol.97(Winter2006):119–35
(copyright 2006 New German Critique, Inc.; reprinted by permission of
thepublisher,DukeUniversityPress);portionsofRobertSavage’scontri-
butionwereoriginallypublishedinhisHo¨lderlinaftertheCatastrophe:Hei-
degger—Adorno—Brecht(Rochester,NY:CamdenHouse,2008(copyright
(cid:2) Robert Savage, used by permission of Camden House/Boydell &
BrewerInc.).
LANGUAGE WITHOUT SOIL