Max Horkheimer: Dialektik der Aufklärung. Philosophische Fragmente (1944) |
In Dialectic of Enlightenment Horkheimer and Adorno brought together a collection of more or less fragmentary reflections on the cultural and political crises that had culminated in the rise of authoritarianism, and the systematic persecution of Jews and other minority groups. The book was completed in 1944 (being distributed first as a mimeograph, and formally published in 1947), while the authors were in exile in the United States, with the first draft having reputedly been taken down by Adorno’s wife, Gretel, from conversations between Adorno and Horkheimer. The style of the book perhaps reflects its origins. Following the shifting and unpredictable logic of a conversation, rather than the deductive logic of a philosophi
This article in full comprises 2726 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.
All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.
Published 14 August 2006
Citation: Edgar, Andrew. "Dialektik der Aufklärung [Dialectic of Enlightenment]". The Literary Encyclopedia. 14 August 2006.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16366, accessed 3 December 2009.]
But I'm assuming that "taken down" here simply means that she was the stenographer and typist (i.e. D of E consists of her notes of what Hork and Adorno said), which, if correct, wouldn't be at all uncommon. It would certainly be much more interesting if she played a significant role in the drafting of the book, but at least that initial excerpt of the article doesn't see to me to be saying that.
ReplyDelete