Description
Book SynopsisIn the minds of many critical theorists, Theodor W. Adorno epitomizes the failure of critical theory to provide any concrete guidance for political practice. His name is almost synonymous with the retreat of the progressive intellectual from the creeping totalitarianism of contemporary mass democracy. This book endeavors to disrupt this misconception by offering a close reading of Adorno's philosophical confrontation with the Holocaust and the modern conceptions of history, morality and subjectivity that are complicit in genocide. By rethinking the relationship between reason and remembrance, morality and materiality, mimesis and political violence, Adorno's work offers not only incisive criticism of modern political ideas and institutions, it also shows us intimations of a different political practice.
Trade ReviewIn a way that is both broad-ranging in its treatment of themes from Adorno’s work and narrowly focused on exploring how they are influenced by the horrors of the Holocaust, Gary Mullen’s Adorno on Politics After Auschwitz reminds us that we can valuably reframe our understanding of an author by taking a familiar argument to new depths. . . . [T]hose who read this book will encounter an author who is very informed, perceptive, and knowledgeable about Adorno’s own writings. Mullen’s in-depth analysis on Adorno’s response to Auschwitz will help clarify and sharpen the perspective even of those scholars who are familiar in general terms with the significance of the Holocaust on his thought. * Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy *
Gary Mullen delivers a spirited defense of Adorno’s oft-maligned attempt to bring critical theory to bear on the history of European domination. By attending to the eschatological deep structure of Adorno’s philosophical project, Mullen deftly counters the popular interpretation of Adorno as a lapsed (and perhaps jaded) champion of reason and enlightenment. As portrayed by Mullen, in fact, Adorno is properly understood as calling for an intensification of the project of European enlightenment and as directing the critical power of reason toward the particularity of human suffering. As Mullen ably demonstrates, the normative power of Adorno’s contribution to critical theory derives from his candid confrontation with the Holocaust, which, Adorno believed, obliges us to re-think the nature and purchase of political judgment. This is an impressive, urgent, and deeply humane book. Adorno on Politics will be a valuable resource for students and scholars alike. -- Daniel Conway, Texas A&M University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Rationality and Remembrance Chapter 2: Morality and Materiality Chapter 3: Mimesis and Political Violence Chapter 4: Genocidal Politics: From Nazi Germany to Rwanda Chapter 5: Negative Dialectics, Democracy and Divine Violence Chapter 6: Violence and Utopia Chapter 7: Democracy as the Critique of Fascism Chapter 8: Political Judgment, Genocide and the Prison-Industrial Complex
