Adorno's Aesthetic Theory: The Redemption of Illusion (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

Adorno's Aesthetic Theory: The Redemption of Illusion (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought) by Zuidervaart, Lambert. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780262740166.

This is the first book to put Aesthetic Theory into context and outline the main ideas and relevant debates, offering readers a valuable guide through this huge, difficult, but revelatory work. Theodor Adornos Aesthetic Theory is a vast labyrinth that anyone interested in modern aesthetic theory must at some time enter. Because of his immense difficulty of the same order as Derrida - Adornos reception has been slowed by the lack of a comprehensive and comprehensible account of the intentions of his aesthetics. This is the first book to put Aesthetic Theory into context and outline the main ideas and relevant debates, offering readers a valuable guide through this huge, difficult, but revelatory work. Its extended argument is that, despite Adornos assumptions of autonomism, cognitivism, and aesthetic modernism, his idea of artistic truth content offers crucial insights for contemporary philosophical aesthetics.The eleven chapters are divided into three parts: Context, Content, and Critique. The first part offers a brief biography, describes Adornos debates with Benjamin, Brecht, and Lukács, and outlines his philosophical program. The second part is an interpretation of Adornos aesthetics, examining how he situates art in society, production, politics, and history and uncovering the social, political, and historical dimensions of his idea of artistic truth. The third part evaluates Adornos contribution by confronting it with the critiques of Peter Bürger, Frederic Jameson, and Albrecht Wellmer.