Adorno in America

Author(s): Martin Jay

Source: New German Critique, No. 31, West German Culture and Politics (Winter, 1984), pp. 157-
182
Published by: Duke University Press
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Adorno
inAmerica*

byMartinJay
The exemplary anecdotesare knownto us all. Adornoarrivedin
America in 1938toworkon PaulLazarsfeld's PrincetonRadioResearch
Project.Lazarsfeldwrote of his new acquaintance: "He looksas you
would imaginea veryabsent-minded Germanprofessor, and he
behavessoforeign thatI feellikea memberoftheMayflower society."'
Adornotraveledto theProject'soffices in an abandonedbrewery in
Newark,NewJerseythrough a tunnelundertheHudson riverand
admitted:"I felta littleas if I werein Kafka'sNatureTheaterof
Oklahoma."2 Theattempt toadapthisideastotheneedsoftheProject
soon proved,not surprisingly, a failure,as Adorno'sconceptof
all efforts
resisted
fetishization tooperationalize it.Lazarsfeld's
hopeto
achievewhathe latercalled"a convergence ofEuropeantheory and
American empiricism"S was quickly abandoned withno smallamount
ofembarrassment and bitter feelingson bothsides.
A decadelater,theInstitute ofSocialResearchwasinvitedbackto
andAdorno,
Frankfurt, withnohesitation, joinedMaxHorkheimer and
FriedrichPollockinitsreconstruction. HavingnotedinMinima Moralia
that"everyintellectual in emigration is, withoutexception,muti-
lated,"inparticularbecausehislanguagehasbeenexpropriated, and
the"historicaldimension thatnourished hisknowledge, sapped,"4he
lefthisexilehomeforgood in 1953and neverlookedback.Twelve
yearslater,hetolda Germanaudienceina radiotalkentitled "Aufdie
Frage:Was istDeutsch?"s that both and
subjective objectivereasons

*Deliveredat theAdorno Conference,Frankfurt am Main, September,1983.

1. Paul Lazarsfeld,"An Episode in theHistoryofSocial Research:A Memoir,"The
Intellectual EuropeandAmerica,
Migration: 1930-1960,eds. Donald Flemingand Bernard
Bailyn(Cambridge:Harvard University Press,1969), p. 301.
2. Theodor W. Adorno, "ScientificExperiences of a European Scholar in
America,"TheIntellectual p. 342.
Migration,
3. Lazarsfeld,p. 313. For an account for the failurewrittenfromLazarsfeld's
perspective,see David E. Morrison,"Kulturand Culture:The Case of Theodor W.
45 (Summer,1978), 331-355.
Adorno and Paul F. Lazarsfeld,"SocialResearch,
4. Adorno, MinimaMoralia:Reflections fromDamagedLife,trans.E.F.N. Jephcott
(London: New LeftBooks, 1974), p.22.
5. Adorno,Gesammelte 10/2(Frankfurt
Schrifien, am Main: Shurkamp,1977).
157

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 inAmerica
158 Adorno

determinedhis return.The formerincluded the slightto his self-

esteemdealt him by an Americanpublisherwho criticizedPhilosophie
derneuenMusikforbeing "badly organized."6The latter,which he
claimedweremoresubstantial, centeredaroundhisdesiretowritein his
nativetongue,whose"electiveaffinity" forphilosophy,inparticularits
speculative and dialectical moment, he feltis superior to that of
English.
When Adorno died in 1969, TheNew YorkTimescarrieda short
obituary,whichsoon gained modestnotoriety foritsremarkablegar-
bling of Adorno's life and work.7Focusing mysteriousreasonson
for
an obscurepiece he once wroteonjitterbugging, itfailedtorecordany
oftheimportanttheoreticaldimensionsofhis thought.Atthetimeof
his death,Adorno was knownin Americaalmostentirelyas thefirst
name on the titlepage of TheAuthoritarian a studywhose
Personality,
uneasy mixture of empirical methods and CriticalTheorywas very
atypical of hiswork as a whole. The onlytranslationof hiswritingson
cultural themes then available was Prisms,which a small British
publisherhad broughtout in 1967and failedto distribute inAmerica.
Not a singlephilosophicalworkwas accessible to readersunable to
takeon the challengeofAdorno's formidableGerman.
The imageofAdorno'srelationtoAmericaconveyedbytheseanec-
dotes is not difficult
to discern.The sensitiveEuropean mandarinis
shocked and bewildered by the commercialism,vulgarity,and
theoreticalbackwardnessof his temporaryhome. Belittlingthe as-
similationisttendenciesof otheremigr6sas a formof cravenaccom-
modationto economic necessity,he hustlesback to Germanyas soon
as theopportunity availsitself.Americain returnfindshim arrogant,
snobbishand incomprehensible.His departureis littlenotedand even
less mourned.
That thisimage is more thanjust impressionistically anecdotal is
confirmedbya sampleofthecriticalliterature on Adorno'srelationto
America.The linguisticbarrier,forexample,is widelyremarkedeven
aftertranslationsare attempted.The musicologistand Stravinsky con-
fidanteRobertCraftspeaksformanywhenhe complainsthat"a more
convoluted,abstruse,and floridlyunintelligiblestyleis scarcelycon-
ceivable.Itcan havebeen designedforone purposeonly,thatofmain-

6. Ibid.,p. 698.
7. TheNewYorkTimes, August7, 1969. It is held up to ridiculein Hans Mayer,Der
undderMartyrer:
Repriisentant derLiteratur
Konstellationen (Frankfurtam Main: Suhrkamp,
1971), p. 145; MartinJay,"The FrankfurtSchool in Exile,"PerspectivesinAmericanHis-
VI (1972), 356; and Zoltan Tar, TheFrankfurt
tory, ofMax
School:TheCriticalTheories
Horkheimer and TheodorW.Adorno (New York:Wiley,1977), p. 11.

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 Jay 159
Martin

tainingthe higheststandardsof obfuscationthroughout."'No less

disconcertingto manyis Adorno's mercilesscritiqueofmass culture,
whichoffendsthe populistpietiesof progressiveAmericanthought.
Edward Shils, Leon Bramson,and HerbertGans lead a phalanx of
criticswho pointto theapparentparadoxofa self-proclaimed leftist
so
contemptuous of democratic tastesand values.9 Adorno is called a
covertPuritanand asceticforhishostility tothesimplepleasuresofthe
common man.'0 Behindthefacadeofa modernist,one criticspies "a
yearningforEuropean liberal-bourgeois societyand thelifestyleofits
cultured upper middle class members."" According to another,
Adorno's debts to figureslike Spenglerand Nietzsche make it "far
more usefuland evocativeto regard"him and his colleagues in the
Frankfurt School "as men of the Rightthan of the Left."'2To stilla
third,Adornocan "be described,notaltogether as a materialist
unfairly,
dandy...astranded spiritualaristocratdoomed to extinctionbythe'ris-
ing tide of democracy.' "'S
These examplesare all takenfromAmericanresponsesto Adorno,
but the image theyconveyhas not been confinedto our shores. In
1976, a very hostile essay entitled" 'Beute der Pragmatisierung':
Adorno und Amerika"was publishedin a collectionon Die USAund
Deutschland edited by WolfgangPaulsen.'4 Its author,Dagmar Bar-

8. RobertCraft,"A Bell forAdorno,"Prejudices inDisguise(NewYork:Knopf,1974),

p. 94.
9. Edward Shils, "Daydreams and Nightmares:Reflectionson the Criticismof
Mass Culture,"SewaneeReview,LXV (Autumn,1957), 487-608; Leon Bramson,The
PoliticalContext (Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1961); HerbertJ.
ofSociology
Gans,"Popular CultureinAmerica:Social Problemina Mass Societyor Social Assetin
a PluralistSociety?"in SocialProblems,A ModemApproach, ed. HerbertS. Becker(New
York:Wiley,1966).
10. This in particularwas Shils'argument,whichpaid no attentionto thehedonist
dimensionof CriticalTheory.
11. Tar, p. 118.
12. George Friedman,ThePolitical oftheFrankfurt
Philosophy School(Ithaca: Cornell
University Press,1981), p. 32.
13. Irving Wohlfahrt,"Hibernation: On the Tenth Anniversaryof Adorno's
Death,"Modern Language Notes,94 (December, 1979);980-981.Wohlfahrt, who studied
withAdornoin the1960sand wroteone ofthefirst introductionstohiminEnglish(the
short"Presentationof Adorno" in NewLeftReview46, [anuary, 1968]),is a farmore
sensitiveanalystofAdorno's work,and thatof Benjamin,theneitherof thetwopre-
viouslycitedauthors.He ends thiscompact,but veryinsightful piece byreversingits
generallycriticaldirectionand warningagainst"blamingthemessenger[Adorno]for
the news" (p. 982).
14. Dagmar Barnouw," 'Beute der Pragmatisierung':Adorno und Amerika,"in
Die USA und Deutschland. Wechselseitige
Spiegelungenin derLiteratur
der Gegenwart,ed.
WolfgangPaulsen (Bern: Francke,1975). The authorteachesin theGermanDepart-
mentof BrownUniversity in America,so perhaps theessaycan be takenas another
example of the Americanresponse to Adorno ratherthana Germanreadingof it.

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160 Adornoin America

nouw,compared Adornowiththe Frencharistocrats who emigrated

during the French Revolution. Criticizinghis "autocraticsnobbism"
and paranoiac ressentiment, she concluded thatworkslike Dialecticof
Enlightenment werelittlemorethan"poeticperformances in totalreac-
tion againsta social reality"'"thatAdorno neitherunderstoodnor
appreciated.
The grainof truthin thesecontentions,howeverexaggeratedand
one-sided theymay be, must be acknowledged.The Adorno who
could complainthat"it is made unmistakably clearto theintellectual
fromabroad thathe willhave to eradicatehimselfas an autonomous
being ifhe hopes to achieveanything"'6 was clearlynotan eagercon-
vertto the"Americanwayoflife."There can be no questionthatthe
linguisticuprootednessthatAdornofeltwitha keenessmoretypicalof
literarythanscholarlyemigres'7was a genuinetrauma,as hisfrequent
quarrelswithSiegfriedKracauerover the use of Englishabundantly
demonstrate."8 Nor is it disputable,as Adorno's notoriouslyunsym-
pathetic treatment ofjazz illustrates,thathe tendedto flattenout the
dynamic contradictions of the popularculturehe knewonlyfromafar.
Itis equallyclearthatmanyoftheanalyseshe made ofhisemigrehome
werecoloredby theaftereffects ofhis forceddeparturefromEurope.
As one commentatorhas recentlynoted, the major workshe com-
pleted in exile all "contained many passages which assimilated
American societyto thatof Nazi Germany"'9withan insensitivity
obviousinhindsight. And itwouldbe no lessdifficult todetailtheways
in whichtheAmericanreceptionofAdornomirrorsthisimageofhos-
tilityand incomprehension.
Butitwould nonethelessbe a travesty ofthetruthto remaincontent
with so one-dimensionalan account of the impact of America on
Adornoand theimpactofAdornoon us. To makebettersenseofthis
dual relationship, itwouldbe usefultoborrowthecelebratedimageof
a constellationwhichAdornohimselfborrowedfromBenjamin.It is,
infact,helpfultoconceptualizeAdorno'sgeneralplace in theintellec-
tual lifeof the 20thcenturyby understandingthemultipleimpulses

15. Ibid.,p. 76.

16. Adorno,Prisms:CultureCriticism and Society,
trans.Samuel and ShierryWeber
(London: Spearman, 1967), p. 98.
17. Fora good discussionofthisissue,see Anti-Nazi inExile
Writers
EgbertKrispyn,
(Athens:University of Georgia Press,1978).
18. The correspondencebetween them,which can be found in the Kracauer
Nachlass in the SchillerNational Museum in Marbach am Neckar,containsmany
examples of theirdifferingviewsof English.
19. Eugene Lunn, Marxismand Modernism: An Historical
StudyofLukdcs, Ben-
Brecht,
jaminandAdorno(Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress,1982), p. 209.

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 Jay 161
Martin

containedin his workas forming a figureofjuxtaposedelements

irreducible toanyonedominant star.Forrather thanturning Adorno
intoessentially an elitist
mandarin merely pretending to be a Marxist
oran aesthetic modernist withonlyresidualnostalgia fortheworldhe
leftbehind,itis bettertoacknowledge thecountervailing energiesof
eachoftheseforcesinhisfield.Ifweadd tothemseveralothers, most
his
notably ambiguous identificationwith theJews, which appearsin
his darkruminations on themeaningof the Holocaust,and what
mightbe calledhisproto-deconstructionist impulse,to whichI will
return later,a more fullynuanced understanding oftheirreconcilable
tensionsin Adorno'sformation can be grasped.Ratherthanreduce
Adornoto anyone starin his constellation, be itWesternMarxist,
elitist
mandarin, aesthetic or
modernist, whatever, wemustcredit allof
themwiththeoftencontradictory powerthey had in shapinghis
idiosyncratic variant of CriticalTheory. For what made Adornoso
remarkable a figure wasthefactthatthenegative dialecticsheso stead-
fastlydefended,withits valorizationof non-identity and hetero-
was
geneity, concretely exemplified in his own intellectual com-
position, which never producedanyharmoniously totalized world-
view.
The sameapproach,I wanttoargue,willallowus tomakesenseas
wellofhisuneasyrelationship toAmerica, whichwasfarmorecom-
plicated than the conventional imageexpressedin theanecdotesand
scholarship mentioned a few moments ago.Foralthough therecanbe
littledoubtthattheEuropeanstarin Adorno'sconstellation shone
brighter than the American, the gravitational pullofthe latter wasby
no meansnegligible.If theaphorismsofMinimaMoraliawerethe
reflections ofan emigre'sdamagedlife,it is, afterall, important to
recognize that the originalsource ofthe damage was not the culture
industry in America,but ratherthecrisisof Europeancultureand
societythatforcedhimintoexileinthefirst place.Although itwould
be foolishtoclaimthatthedamagewas somehowhealedduringhis
stay,it is also not entirely correctto see his experienceas merely
deepeninghispessimism abouttheuniversality and irreversibility of
thecrisis.ForwhenAdornoreturned to Frankfurt,he wasa changed
man."Itis scarcely an exaggeration tosay,"Adornowouldultimately
acknowledge, "thatany contemporary consciousnessthathas not
appropriated the American experience, even ifin opposition,has
something reactionary about it."20Although Adorno'sappropriation

20. Adorno,"ScientificExperiencesofa European Scholarin America,"pp. 369-

370. H. StuartHughes is one ofthefewobserverswho has notedthevalidityofAdor-
no's remarksabout his debt to America. See his TheSea Change:TheMigration of
SocialThought,1930-1965 (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), p. 105f.He pointsout

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 inAmerica
162 Adorno

was largelyin opposition,it nonetheless did includetwopositive

elements.
First,thedoubtshe had alreadyentertained abouttheredemptive
of
power high doubts
culture, instilled
in him in partbyhisMarxist
and aestheticmodernistinclinations, were immeasurably streng-
thenedbyhiscontactwitha societyin whichno suchfaithcouldbe
found."In America,"he laterwrote,"I was liberated froma certain
naivebeliefincultureandattainedthecapacity toseeculturefromthe
thepoint:inspiteofall socialcriticism
outside.To clarify andall con-
sciousnessof the primacyof economicfactors,the fundamental
importanceofthemind- 'Geist'- was quasi a dogma self-evident
to
mefromtheverybeginning. Thefactthatthiswasnota foregone con-
clusion,I learnedinAmerica.""2 Adornoputthisknowledge togood
use in theessayhe wrotein 1949 entitled"CulturalCriticism and
Society,"whichwas first publishedtwoyearslaterin a Festschrift for
LeopoldvonWieseand thenservedas theopeningessayofPrisms.22
HisAmerican-induced critique ofthefetishismofhighculture, which
expandedon theearlieranalysisof"affirmative madeby
culture"23
Horkheimer andMarcuseintheyearsshortly after ownarrivals
their in
NewYork,might, infact,be seenas evidenceoftheradicalizing effect
ofAdorno'semigration. One commentator hasgoneso faras toclaim
thatthischangeshowsthat"incertain ways Adorno nowmovedcloser
towarda Marxiananalytical framework."24
In moredirectly politicalterms,however, theemigration seemsto
havehad theoppositeeffect. ForthesecondlessonAdornoappro-
priatedfromhisyearsin theUnitedStateswasderivedfromwhathe
calledhis"morefundamental, andmoregratifying...experienceofthe
substanceofdemocratic forms:thatinAmericatheyhavepenetrated
thewholeoflife,whereasin Germany at leasttheywerenevermore
thanformal rulesofthegame."25 HereAdornoseemstoexemplify the

how frequently Americantermsenterhis vocabularyin thewritingsdone afterhis

return,termslike "healthysex life," "some fun," "go-getters,""social research,"
"team," "middle rangetheory,""trialand error,""administrative research,""com-
mon sense," "factfinding,""statementof fact,""case studies,""factsand figures,"
"nose counting,"and "likesand dislikes"(p. 166).
21. Adorno, "ScientificExperiencesof a European Scholar in America,"p. 367.
22. See, forexample,hisremarksthat"thegreatestfetishofculturalcriticismis the
notionofcultureas such...Onlywhenneutralizedand reified,does Cultureallowitself
to be idolized. Fetishismgravitatestowardsmythology."Prisms, pp. 23-24.
23. See, in particular,Marcuse,"The AffirmativeCharacterofCulture,"Negations:
Essaysin Critical
Theory,
trans.JeremyJ. Shapiro(Boston:Beacon Press,1968); thefirst
use ofthetermcame in Horkheimer's"Egoismusund Freiheitsbewegung," Zeitschrift
V (1936), 161-219.
fir Sozialforschung,
24. Lunn, p. 208.
25. Adorno,"ScientificExperiencesof a European Scholar in America,"p. 367.

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 MartinJay163

deradicalization familiar in thehistories ofmanyleftist intellectuals

whocametoAmerica, muchtothechagrin ofsomelaterobservers like
But
JoachimRadkau.26 interpreted more generously, theseremarks
can be seen as indicating a cautiously realisticoptimismabout the
valueoftrying to contribute "something towardpoliticalenlighten-
ment"27 in his nativeland, as he was toput manyyearshence.Forby
it
hisactionsafter hisreturn, itisclearthatAdorno,liketheothermem-
bersoftherepatriated Institute had hopesthatthesubstanceof
staff,
democratic formsmightalso be introduced toa Germany whichhad
neverknowntheminthepast.Ratherthanbemoaning thepenetration
ofAmerican commercialism andvulgarity, whichtobe surehedidin
othercontexts, AdornocamebacktoEuropewiththebeliefthatsome-
thingof genuinepoliticalvaluemightbe broughtwithhimacross
theAtlantic.
It was in thisspiritthatAdorno,obviouslyfighting his earlier
inclinations,cautiouslydefendedtheusefulnessof publicopinion
researchin Germanyin the 1951 conference on empiricalsocial
research inFrankfurt.21 Pointing tothedisparagement ofsuchtechni-
ques duringtheerathathadjustended,he notedthattheNazishad
understood alltoowellthedemocratic ofamethodthattreats
potential
every voice as havingequal weight. With belated recognitionofthe
aim
original of Lazarsfeld's Radio Research he
Project, contended that
theunmediatedoppositionpositedby some between"administra-
tive"and "critical" socialresearch wasa fallaciousover-simplication.
His positiveexperienceworkingon TheAuthoritarian
Personality
project

26. JoachimRadkau,Diedeutsche aufdieamerikanische

indenUSA:IhrEinfluss
Emigration
1933-1945 (Duisseldorf:
Europapolitik Bertelsmann,1973). Radkau includestheInstitut
in hisgeneralindictmentbecause of theirpsychologizationofsocial
fir Sozialforschung
problems.But he notes thatAdorno's "ScientificExperiences"essayhas a "sceptical
and pessimisticundertone"thatsets itapartfromotheremigrememoirs(p. 13).
27. Adorno, "ScientificExperiencesof a European Scholar in America,"p. 370.
The desireofthereturning Institutememberstocontributeto politicalenlightenment
is expressedin a letterHorkheimersentto L6wenthalon April 13, 1951, in whichhe
wrote:"We standhereforthegood things:forindividualindependence,theidea ofthe
Enlightenment, sciencefreedfromblinders.When Fred[Pollock]reportsto me that
youand otherfriendssee thetypeofempiricalsocialscienceweare conductinghereas
in manyways conventional,I am convincedthatyou would be of anotheropinion
could yousee thethingwithyourowneyes...Asmuchas I yearnforpurephilosophical
workagain,as muchas I am determinedto takeitup again undertherightconditions
and devotemyselfsolelytoit,so muchdo I also knowthateffectiveness here,eitherfor
the educationof studentsor forourselves,is not lost." (L6wenthalarchive).
28. Adorno, "Zur gegenwairtigen Stellungder empirischenSozialforschungin
Deutschland,"in Empirische Meinungs-
Sozialforschung: undMarktforschung Methoden und
Probleme: desInstituts
Schrifienreihe zurFdrderungiffentlicher e.v.(Frankfurt
Angelegenheiten
am Main: Frankfurter Societits-Druckerei,1952).

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 inAmerica
164 Adorno

dearlyleftitsmarkon Adorno,as itdid on othermembersof the

Institute.29
Although in lateryears,he wouldreconsider someofhis
enthusiasm forempirical techniques,becauseoftheirthreat toreplace
CriticalTheoryentirely,he neverlosthisrespect fortheirpotential as
toolsofenlightenment.
In a country
wheremostofthebasic"facts" ofsocialandpolitical life
hadbeensystematically distortedfora dozenyears,itisnotdifficult to
see whyAdornowould have modifiedhis earlierhostility to em-
piricism orevenhavebeguntalking positivelyaboutthepossibility of
enlightenment. of
It was, course, with the of
hope re-educating his
countrymen aboutthosefactsthatAdornowouldlatercontribute to
thedebateaboutGermany's "unmastered past"insuch essays as "Was
bedeutet:Aufarbeitung derVergangenheit" in 1959and "Erziehung
nachAuschwitz" in 1966.30ThatAdornocouldspeakpositively about
pedagogy ratherthan revolution shows how deeplyimpressed byhis
American experiencehe was. So,too,does hisemphasis on the impor-
tanceofpsychoanalysis intheprocessofre-education, foritwasoneof
the cardinallessons of TheAuthoritarian thatthe traditional
Personality
progressivefaithin reasonalonewasinadequate.As theconcluding
sentencesofthestudy "weneednotsupposethatappealtoemo-
assert,
tionbelongsto thosewho strivein thedirectionof fascism, while
democraticpropaganda mustlimititself
toreasonandrestraint.
Iffear
and destructivenessare themajoremotionalsourcesoffascism, eros
to
belongsmainly democracy."'; Itwas in the of
hope harnessing the
of for
insights psychoanalysis emancipatory that
purposes Adorno and
hisInstitute
colleagues organizedtheinfluential
conference
on "Freud
in derGegenwart" in Frankfurt
in 195632andweresupportive ofthe
workofAlexanderMitscherlich and theSigmundFreudInstitute.
29. See, forexample, FriedrichPollock,ed. Gruppenexperiment: Ein Studienbericht:
Frankfurter zurSoziologie,
Beitriige II (Frankfurtam Main: EuropdiischeVerlagsanstalt,
1955).
30. Adorno,Gesammelte 10/2.
Schriften,
31. Adornoetal., TheAuthoritarian (NewYork:Harper& Row, 1950),vol.
Personality
II, p. 976.
32. The proceedingsof the conferencewere collected as Freudin derGegenwart:
Frankfurter BeitrdgezurSoziologie,
6 (Frankfurt am Main: EuropdischeVerlagsanstalt,
1957).The Institute'spurpose in sponsoringthisconferencewas expressedin a letter
Horkheimersentto L6wenthalonJanuary20, 1956: "I participatein theaffair- on
theurgentrequestofMitscherlich- because such an eventin Germanymeansa re-
strengthening ofenlightenedculturalforces,because youngpeople ingeneralno lon-
gerknowofthesethings,butshouldbe led throughthem,because thejuristsinregard
to thenewformation ofthepenal code, theministers
and pedagoguesin regardtothe
new teachingcode should be remindedofthesethings,because psychiatry to a great
extentis a scandal. I am veryawareoftherisksbroughtbysuchan undertaking, butit
belongstothethingsthatjustfiy mybeinghere."(L6wenthalarchive).

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 MartinJay165

In his essay on "Aufarbeitungder Vergangenheit,"Adorno ex-

plicitlytiedtheabsence ofa livelypsychoanalytic culturein Germany
totheeffects ofanti-Semitism,whosecentralimportanceseemsonlyto
havebecome graduallyapparenttoAdornoand hiscolleaguesduring
theirAmericanexile.Whentheyreturnedto Germany,theglibMarx-
ist formulasthat had characterizedtheirwork at least as late as
Horkheimer's"DieJuden und Europa" of 1939werenowthingsofthe
past."3 In the "Elements of Anti-Semitism"section of Dialecticof
Enlightenment in particular,Adorno had come to understandthe
intimaterelationshipbetweenhatredoftheJewsand theextirpation of
non-identity thatwas thedominantbugbearofhisnegativedialectics.
It was not merelythe supposed guiltof the survivorthatmade him
sensitiveto theimplicationsofAuschwitzforWesternculture,butalso
theexperiencehe had in Americaofa non-reductive reactionto anti-
Semitismthatavoided the trivializations of the European Left.
In summary,although it mightbe said thatwhile in America,
Adorno tendedto interpret his new surroundingsthroughthelens of
hisearlierexperience,once back home,he sawGermanywiththeeyes
of someone who had been deeply affectedby his years in exile.
Negatively,thismeantan increasedwatchfulness forthe signsof an
American-style cultureindustry Europe."4Positively,it meant a
in
warinessof elitistdefensesofhighcultureforitsown sake,a new res-
pectforthevalue ofdemocraticpolitics,a grudgingrecognitionofthe
emancipatorypotentialin certainempiricaltechniques,and a keen
appreciationof theneed fora psychologicaldimensionin pedagogy.
To put itin capsule form,onlyan Adornowho had spenttimein the
UnitedStatescould havewritten a sentencelikethefollowingfromhis
IntroductiontotheSociologyofMusic: "In general,outrageat thealleged
mass era has become an articleformass consumption,fitforinciting
themasses againstpoliticallydemocraticforms.""3
Ifitis misleading,then,todiscounttheeffects ofAdorno'sAmerican
experience as a subtlecounterweight to his European originsand thus

33. For an overviewof theFrankfurt School's changingattitudetowardsthisissue,

see MartinJay,"Frankfurter Schule undJudentum:Die Antisemitismusanalyse der
KritischenTheorie," GeschichteundGesellschaft,
V (1979), 439-454, in Englishas "The
Jewsand theFrankfurt School: CriticalTheory'sAnalysisofAnti-Semitism," NewGer-
manCritique, 19 (Winter,1980), 137-149.
34. See, forexample, his remarkin Introduction totheSociology
ofMusic,trans.E.B.
Ashton(New York:Seabury,1967), that"it is different in America,whereone meets
scientistswho must straineven to imagine experiencingmusic otherwisethan by
radio.The cultureindustryhas become muchmoreofa second naturethanthusfaron
theold continent."(p. 231)
35. Ibid.,p. 132.

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 inAmerica
166 Adorno

missthedynamic tensions inhisintellectualforce-field,itwouldbe no

lessso to characterize theAmerican responseto hisworkas entirely
uncomprehending and hostile.Forhere,too,therelationbetween
Adornoand Americais farmorecomplexand ambivalent thanthe
anecdotalimpressions mentioned earlierwouldsuggest.As earlyas
1954 and C. Wright Mills'acknowledgement in TheSaturday Review
thatthereturn ofHorkheimer and Adornoto Germany was"to the
greatloss ofAmericansocialstudies,"36 a positiveawarenessof his
workwas evidentamonggrowing circlesofAmericanintellectuals.
Benefiting fromthepopularity oftheirformer colleagueHerbert Mar-
the
cuse-in 1960s, the FrankfurtSchoolas a wholegainedwidespread
attentionintheUnitedStatesonlya fewyearsafter itsexplosiveriseto
prominence in West Germany. CriticalTheoryseemed the most
appropriate form of heterodox Marxism fora societywithout a large-
scalemilitant working-class movement and with a growing counter-
culturedistrustfuloftechnological UnlikeinBritain,
rationality. where
Althusser's brand of scholasticism
scientistic and politicalorthodoxy
attractedextensive admiration, inAmerica, theNewLeftfoundMar-
cuse's versionof theFrankfurt School'sideas especiallycongenial.
Some of its members,like Donald Kuspit,36a Samueland Shierry
Weber, Jeremy and
Shapiro Angela Davis,were stimulated enoughto
go to the source and studyin Frankfurt.
Adorno,ofcourse,wasinitially farlesswell-known backinAmerica
and was thus spared the typeof controversy over the practical
implications ofhisideasthatswirled aroundhiminGermany shortly
beforehisdeath.Although I canrecalla heatedconversation in 1968
withtheleaderoftheColumbiaUniversity SDS and latermemberof
theWeatherman underground, Mark Rudd, whodismissed Adornoas
"a betrayer of the revolution," thisattituderarelysurfacedin the
AmericanNewLeft'sreception ofhiswork,suchas itwas.Farmore
typicalwasthejointdedication ofa bookeditedbyPaulBreinescalled
Critical NewLeftPerspectives
Interruptions: onHerbert publishedin
Marcuse,
which,withno apparentirony,
1970,37 wasaddressedtoAdornoand

36. C. WrightMills, "I.B.M. Plus RealityPlus

Humanism-Sociology,"Saturday
Review(May, 1954), 54.
36a. Kuspitactuallywentearlier,from1957to 1960.See his"TheodorW. Adorno:
A. Memoir," ChateauReview,6 (1983), 20-24.
37. Paul Breines,ed., CriticalInterruptions:
New LeftPerspectives
on HerbertMarcuse
(New York' Herder& Herder, 1970). In 1968, Breineshad writtenan essayon "Mar-
cuse and theNew LeftinAmerica,"Jiirgen Habermas,ed., inAntworten Mar-
aufHerbert
cuse(Frankfurtam Main: Suhrkamp,1968) in which he noted that"Horkheimer,
Adorno, Benjamin and the perspectivesdeveloped in the Institut
fir Sozialforschung
remainall but unknown"in America.(p 137)

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 Martin
Jay 167

another recentlydeceased hero of the movement,Ho Chi Minh.

Althoughby the mid-1970s,some of the same complaintsagainst
Adorno's politics thathad appeared in Germanywere repeated in
America, it was in the less volatile context of the post-political
academizationof Marxism.38
If the momentwhenAdorno's workbecame more thanmerelyan
enticingrumorforthe AmericanNew Leftcould be dated, itwould
probablybe 1967 withthe publicationof an essayentitled"Adorno:
or, HistoricalTropes" bytheMarxistliterary criticFredricJameson in
thejournal Salmagundi.39Four yearslater,it servedas the opening
chapterin hiswidelyinfluential MarxismandForm, whichpresentedthe
firstsubstantivesurveyof WesternMarxismto an English-speaking
audience. AlthoughconcludingthatNegative was "in thelong
Dialectics
run a massivefailure,"Jameson nonethelesspraised Adorno's con-
crete studies as "incomparable models of the dialectical process,
essaysat once both systematicand occasional, in whichpretextand
consciousnessmeettoformthemostluminous,iftransitory, offigures
or tropesof historical
intelligibility."'4
In thesame yearasJameson'sessaysfirst appeared,GeorgeSteiner's
highlylauded collectionLanguageand SilenceintroducedAdorno's
lamentabout the impossibilityof writingpoetryafterAuschwitzto
Americanreaders.4'Scatteredremarksthroughouttherestofthebook
indicatedthatSteinersaw Adornoand othercontinentalMarxistslike
Benjaminand Lukaicsas majorculturalcritics, whoseabsencefromthe
Anglo-Americanscene was a scandalous indicationofitssterility. No
less powerfulan endorsementcame fromtheotherleadingguide to
recent European theoryof those years, George Lichtheim,whose
interestlaymore in politicaland philosophicalmattersthanaesthetic
or culturalones. Althoughmanyofhisbestpieces appeared in British
journals like the TimesLiterary Supplement, in 1968, Northwestern
University'sTriquarterlypublished his sympatheticoverviewof Wes-
ternMarxismentitled"From Marx to Hegel," whichtreatedAdorno

38. See, forexample,theworkofBen Agger,"On Happiness and

Damaged Life,"
inJohn O'Neill, ed., On CriticalTheory(New York: Seabury,1967); and "Dialectical
SensibilityI: CriticalTheory,Scientismand Empiricism,"CanadianJournal ofPolitical
and SocialTheory, I (Winter,1977) 1-30; "Dialectical SensibilityII: Towards a New
Intellectuality,"
CanadianJournal andSocialTheory,
ofPolitical I (Spring-Summer, 1977),
47-57.
39. FredricJameson, "Adorno: or, HistoricalTropes," Salmagundi 5 (Spring,1967),
3-43.
40. Jameson,Marxismand Form:Twentieth-Century DialecticalTheoriesofLiterature
(Princeton:PrincetonUniversity Press,1971), pp. 58-59.
41. GeorgeSteiner,Language andSilence:EssaysonLanguage, Literature
andtheInhuman
(New York:Atheneum,1967).

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168 Adorno
inAmerica

as the "spiritualantipode"42to Lukics in thattradition.Three years

later,Lichtheimrepublishedthe piece in a collectionwiththe same
name thatincludedan admiringessaysolelyon Adorno,whichhad
appeared anonymouslyin theTLSin 1967,as wellas severalother
first
essayson CriticalTheory.Althoughsomewhatjournalisticin tone,
Lichtheim'ssympathetic appreciationsof the Frankfurt School, with
whosegeneralpositionhe explicitly played
identified,43 a constructive
role in theearlyyearsofAdorno's Americanreception.
AlthoughAdorno'sdeathin 1969 was,as we have seen,an eventof
littleimportancein the popular media, it was followedby a more
seriousappraisalofhissignificance in academiccircles.In December,
1969, theJewishreview,Midstream, publishedmyessayon "The Per-
manent Exile of Theodor W. Adorno,""44 which triedto provide a
broad overviewofhis career,includingitslast,unhappyepisodes. In
thefollowingyear,thenewlyfoundedradicalphilosophyjournal Telos
broughtout the firstof its many considerationsof Adorno's work,
RussellJacoby's ecstaticallyfavorablereviewof Aufsiitze zur Gesell-
whoseadmirationforAdornowentso farthathe
schaftstheorie.45Jacoby,
emulated manyof his stylistic mannerisms,soon became his major
Americandefenderagainstall attacksfromtheRightor Left.Intran-
sigentlyinsistingthatnegativedialecticswas completelycompatible
withMarxismat itsmostradical,he quicklybecame notoriousforhis
sharplyworded critiquesof all otherattemptsto make sense of the
Frankfurt School's workin less glowingterms.46
Teloswas also thejournal whereotherverypositiveassessmentsof
Adorno's work by Dick Howard and Susan Buck-Morssfirstap-

42. GeorgeLichtheim,"From Marxto Hegel," Triquarterly, 12 (Spring,1968),5-42;

republishedinFromMarxtoHegel(NewYork:Herder& Herder,1971),wherethecita-
tionappears on p. 21.
43. Lichtheim,FromMarxtoHegel,p. viii. For an overviewof Lichtheim'scareer,
whichdiscusses his linkswithCriticalTheory,see MartinJay,"The Loss of George
Lichtheim,"Midstream, XIX (October, 1973), 41-49.
44. MartinJay,"The PermanentExile of Theodor W. Adorno," Midstream, XV,
(December, 1969), 62-69.
45. RussellJacoby,reviewof Adorno,Aufsitze zurGesellschaftstheorie,
Telos,6 (Fall,
1970),343-348.Fora generalaccountofTelosand itsdebt to CriticalTheory,seeJohn
Fekete,"Telosat 50," Telos,50 (Winter,1981-1982),161-171.
46. RussellJacoby,"Marcuse and the New Academics:A Note on Style,"Telos5
(Spring,1970), 188-190;"Marxismand theCriticalSchool," Theory andSociety,
I (1974),
231-238; "Marxismand CriticalTheory:MartinJayand RussellJacoby,"Theory and
II (1975), 257-263; reviewof Phil Slater,Originand Significance
Society, oftheFrankfurt
Schoolin Telos,31 (Spring,1977), 198-202;reviewofZoltanTar, TheFrankfurt Schoolin
andSocialResearch,
Sociology 63 (1978), 168-171;reviewofGeorgeFriedman,ThePolitical
PhilosophyoftheFrankfurtSchoolin Telos,49 (Fall, 1981), 203-205.

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 169
MartinJay

peared.7AlthoughfarfromthecenterofAmericanintellectual life
duringtheseyears- in itsSpring,1970issue,itproudlydescribed
itselfas "a philosophical journaldefinitelyoutsidethemainstream of
American philosophical -
thought"48 itsoonestablished itself
as the
majorinterpreter ofWestern MarxistideasfortheEnglish-speaking
world.Its onlyrivalwas theNewLeftReview in England,whichwas
muchmorefavorably inclinedtowardsAlthusserian and otheral-
legedly scientificMarxisms than towards CriticalTheory.49 Other
journals likeSocial New
Research, German Critique, and
Theory Society, and
Hermeneutics
Cultural alsoopenedtheirpagestoarticles aboutAdorno
andhiscolleagues, butnonewasas tenacious as Telosinpromoting his
workin America,notonlythrough articlesabout him,butalso by
translating manyofhismoreimportant essays.
The difficulttaskofrendering Adorno'slongerworksintoEnglish
beganinearnestintheearly1970s:Dialectic ofEnlightenment andAspects
in
ofSociology 1972,Philosophy ofModern Music,Negative Dialectics,
and
Jargon ofAuthenticityin 1973,Minima Moraliain 1974,Introduction tothe
SociologyofMusic and ThePositivistDispute inGerman Sociologyin 1976,In
Search ofWagner in 198 1, and Against and the
Epistemology republication
ofPrisms in 1982.Further translations oftheNotes onLiteratureand the
AestheticTheoryhave been announced. of
Although very mixed quality
-Edmund Jephcott's rendition ofMinima Moraliais oftensaidto be
themostsuccessful, whileseveralothersvieforthehonorofbeingthe
least- theEnglishtranslations ofAdorno'smajorworksin thepast
decadedidmakeitpossiblefora muchwideraudiencetoconfront his
work.Against thebackdropofseveral accountsoftheFrankfurt School
as a whole,whichbeganwithTheDialectical Imagination in 1973 and
continuedwiththesurveysand collectionsof Slater,Tar, O'Neill,
Held, Friedman,Connerton, and Aratoand Gebhardt,50 theypro-

47. Dick Howard, reviewofJargon derEigentlichkeit,

Telos,8 (Summer,1971), 146-
149; Susan Buck-Morss,"The DialecticofT.W. Adorno,"Telos14 (Winter,1972),137-
144.
48. Telos,5 (Spring,1970), table of contents.
49, TheNewLeftReviewdid publisha two-parttranslationof Adorno's "Sociology
and Psychology"in numbers 46 (November-December,1967) and 47 (January-
February,1968),but itsfirstextendedanalysisofCriticalTheorywas theAlthusserian
attack of Goran Therborn, "FrankfurtMarxism: A Critique," in number 63
(September-October,1970), 65-89. My essay "The Frankfurt School's Critique of
MarxistHumanism,"SocialResearch, XXXIX,2 (Summer,1972),285-305,was inparta
rebuttalto Therborn.
50. MartinJay,TheDialecticalImagination: A HistoryoftheFrankfurt Schooland the
InstituteofSocialResearch,
1923-1950 (Boston: LittleBrown,1973); Phil Slater,Origin
and Significance
oftheFrankfurt
School:A Marxist (London: Routledge& Kegan
Perspective
Paul, 1977); Tar, TheFrankfurt School;O'Neill, ed., On CriticalTheory;David Held,

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170 Adorno
inAmerica

videdthebasisforan increasingly sophisticatedAmericanreceptionof

his work,whichis by no means at itsend.
One of the clearestindicationsof thatsophisticationis the pro-
gressiverefinement of theAmericanperceptionof Adorno's unique
place in the Western Marxist tradition,which is now no longer
understoodin thesimplifiedtermsofa return"fromMarx to Hegel."
In 1977, Susan Buck-Morsspublished her penetratingstudyof The
OriginofNegative whichused previouslyuntappedprimary
Dialectics,"s
sources to demonstrateAdorno's indebtedness to Benjamin and
subtledifferences withHorkheimer.Movingbeyondmyemphasison
the relativecoherenceof a unifiedFrankfurt School in TheDialectical
she
Imagination, persuasively showed the waysin whichAdorno was
an
always idiosyncratic member of the Institut's
innercircle.Other
scholarshave scrutinizedthecomplexitiesofAdorno's relationships
with his friendsSiegfriedKracauer and Leo Lowenthal,as well as
exploringthe implicationsof Lichtheim'sremarkthat he was the
"spiritualantipode" of Lukics withinWesternMarxism.52More re-
centlystill,the fullramifications of his complicatedinteractionwith
Benjamin have been re-examined, most probinglyin excellentnew
books by RichardWolin and Eugene Lunn.53Lunn, in fact,has suc-
ceeded in modifyingstillfurtherBuck-Morss'smodificationof my
argumentabout the collectivecoherenceof the Frankfurt School by
demonstrating the differences between Adorno and Benjaminevenin
the 1920s,beforetheircelebrateddisputeovermass culture,technol-
ogy and political engagement.StressingAdorno's roots in an Ex-

Introduction
toCritical
Theory: toHabermas(Berkeley:University
Horkheimner ofCalifornia
Press,1980); Friedman,ThePolitical ofthe
Philosophy Frankfurt School;Paul Connerton,The
Tragedy AnEssayontheFrankfurt
ofEnlightenment: School;(Cambridge:CambridgeUniver-
sityPress,1980); AndrewAratoand Eike Gebhardt,eds., TheEssential School
Frankfurt
Reader(New York: Urizen 1977); and TheNewLeftReview,ed., Aesthetics and Politics:
DebatesBetween Bloch,
Lukdcs,Brecht,Benjamin,Adorno (London: New LeftBooks, 1977).
Foran overviewoftheAmericanreceptionofCriticalTheory,see Douglas Kellnerand
Rick Roderick,"Recent Literatureon CriticalTheory," New German
Critique,23
(Spring-Summer,1981), 141-170.
51. Susan Buck-Morss,TheOrigin ofNegativeDialectics:
Theodor W.Adorno, Walter
Ben-
jaminandtheFrankfurt Institute
(New York:FreePress,1977). See also her"Piaget,Ador-
no, and thePossibilitiesofDialecticalOperations,"in Hugh L. Silverman,ed., Piaget,
and theHumanSciences
Philosophy (AtlanticHighlands: Humanities,1980).
52. David Gross, "L6wenthal,Adorno, Barthes:Three Perspectiveson Popular
Culture," Telos,50 (Fall, 1980), 122-140; MartinJay,"The Concept of Totalityin
Luk~icsand Adorno,"Telos,32 (Summer,1977), 117-137;and in ShlomoAvineri,ed.,
Varieties
ofMarxism(The Hague: Nijhoff,1977); MartinJay,"Adorno and Kracauer:
Notes on a Troubled Friendship,"Salmagundi, 40 (Winter,1978), 42-66.
53. RichardWolin,Walter Benjamin:AnAestheticofRedemption (New York:Columbia
University Press,1982); Lunn, Marxism and Modernism.

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 Martin
Jay 171

pressionism thatwasmovingbeyonditssubjective phasetowards the

objectificationof its anguish, he contrasted Adorno's version of
aestheticmodernism withBenjamin's, whichwasmoredeeplyindeb-
tedtoSurrealism andSymbolism withtheirrelative indifferencetothe
fateofsubjectivity.
Adorno'sdifferences withHabermas,mostextensively spelledout
in an articlebyAxelHonnethtranslated in Telosin 1979,54havealso
attractedwidespread comment inrecentyears.Thoseliketheecolog-
icallyminded anarchistMurray Bookchin useAdorno'sanalysis ofthe
domination ofnature againstHabermas, whom they accuseof complicity
withtheinstrumental theolderFrankfurt
rationality Schoolfoundso
oppressive.55 OtherslikeJoelWhitebook invoketheambiguities ofthe
dialecticofenlightenment againstwhat they see as Habermas' "com-
pulsivelymodernistic"56 project.Stillothers,like the Englishso-
ciologistGillianRose,theauthorofa majorstudyofAdornoentitled
TheMelancholy Science,chastiseHabermasfor violatingAdorno's
injunctionagainstidentity theorythroughhis positingof an ideal
speechsituation.57 Those,on theotherhand,who findHabermas'
positionmorepolitically promising, oftencontrast hisstresson inter-
subjectivitywithAdorno'sretreat intothewreckage ofthebourgeois
subject.58Admiring Habermas'attempt tobreakthelogjamofclassi-
cal Critical
Theoryand developnewwaysofconceptualizing thestill
unresolved contradictionsofcontemporary society, theyalsoapplaud
hissearchformoreviablenormative groundthantheimmanent cri-
tique whose power Adorno himself often came to question.
Although thesedebatescannotbe pursuedingreater detailnow,I
hope the generalpoint has been made. The American reception of

54. Axel Honneth,"Adorno and Habermas," Telos,39 (Spring,1979), 45-61. See

theresponsein thesame issuebyJamesSchmidt,"OffensiveCriticalTheory?Replyto
Honneth," 62-70.
55. MurrayBookchin,TheEcology ofFreedom(Palo Alto: Cheshire,1982); "Finding
theSubject:Noteson Whitebookand'HabermasLtd.,' " Telos,52 (Summer,1982),78-
98.
56. Joel Whitebook,"Saving the Subject: Modernityand the Problem or the
Autonomous Individual,"Telos,50 (Winter,1981-1982),94.
57. GillianRose,TheMelancholy Science:An totheThought
Introduction ofTheodorW Adorno
(London: MacMillan, 1978), p. 146f.She continuestheattackon Habermas in Hegel
Contra (London: Athlone,1981),p. 33f.,but now herperspectiveis closerto
Sociology
Hegel thanto Adorno,whom she also accuses of regressingback to a formof neo-
Kantianism.
58. See, forexample,Jean Cohen, "WhyMore PoliticalTheory?,"Telos40 (Sum-
mer, 1979), 70-94 and Seyla Benhabib, "Modernityand the Aporias of Critical
Theory,"Telos,49 (Fall, 1981),39-59.Althoughthesewriters are byno means uncriti-
cal supportersofHabermas, theyclearlyfindhisversionofCriticalTheoryan advance
overAdorno's.

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172 Adorno
inAmerica

Adorno'sworkhas been immeasurably improvedbytheincreasing

precisionofourunderstanding ofhisplacein thegeneralcontextof
WesternMarxism.Not onlyare we increasingly awareof the dif-
ferencesaswellas similarities
between Adornoandtheothermembers
oftheFrankfurt School,wearealsofarmoresensitive thanwewereto
theunexpected convergences betweenhispositionand thatofother
Western Marxistsintheanti-Hegelian camp,likeAlthusser andCollet-
ti.59Althoughtherearestillsomedefenders oftheabsolutedistinction
betweencriticaland scientific
Marxisms,60 thesecondthoughts many
American leftists
havehadaboutthevirtues ofneo-Hegelianism have
led themto seeknewwaysto conceptualizethelegacyofWestern
Marxismand Adorno'splacein it.
Ifweturnnowtothewaysthatspecific dimensions ofAdorno's work
havebeentreated inAmerica, theimplicationsofthisshiftwill
become
apparent.Asmight be expected,certain
aspectsofAdorno's workhave
beenmorereadilyacceptedthanothers.In largemeasurebecauseof
theabsenceoftranslations, hiswritingson literatureand aesthetics
have been less widelydiscussedthan his culturalcriticism and
philosophy. Asidefromstillunpublisheddissertations by Michael
Joneson theliterary essaysand LambertZuidervaart on theAesthetic
there
Theory,6' have been no treatments
full-length of thesethemes.
Although scholars who teach like
Europeanliteratures, Jameson,
RussellBermanand PeterUweHohendahl,62 haveincorporated and
debatedAdorno'sideas, thosewho concentrate on Englishand
Americanliterature havenot.As FrankLentricchia concedesin his

59. See, forexample,thereviewofColletti'sMarxism andHegelbyBen AggerinTelos,

24 (Summer,1975), p. 191. See also the
chapteron Della Volpe and Collettiin my
Marxism andTotality:
TheAdventuresofaConceptfrom toHabermas
Lukdcs (Berkeley:Univer-
sityof CaliforniaPress,1984).
60. See, forexample,RussellJacoby,Dialectic
ofDefeat:Contours
ofWestern Marxism
(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1981).
61. Michael T. Jones, "Constellationsof
Modernity:The LiteraryEssays of
TheodorW. Adorno,"(Ph.D. diss.,Yale U., 1978);Lambert "Refractions:
Zuidervaart,
Truthin Adorno'sAestheticTheory,"(Ph.D. diss., U. of
Amsterdam,1981),Zuider-
vaartis a Canadian; thebestessayin Englishon Adorno'saesthetic
theoryis Richard
Wolin, "The De-Aestheticization of Art:On Adorno's Aesthetische Telos,41
Theorie,"
(Fall, 1979), 105-127. See also RobertLane Kauffmann,"The Theoryof the
Lukacs,Adorno,and Benjamin"(Ph.D. diss. U. ofCalifornia,San Essay:
"The of Diego, 1981),and
N.J.Mohanty, Concept Intuitionin AestheticsAproposa CritiquebyAdor-
no," TheJournal ofAesthetics
andArtCriticism,
39 (1980), 39-45.
62. Russell Berman,"Adorno, Marxismand Art,"Telos,34
(Winter,1977-1978),
157-166; Peter Uwe Hohendahl, "Autonomyof Art: Looking Back at Adorno's
Aesthetische German
Theorie," 54 (1981), 133-148,and TheInstitution
Quarterly, ofCriticism
(Ithaca:CornellUniversity Press,1982).

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 Martin
Jay 173

theNew Criticism,
magisterialsurvey,After Adorno and otherWestern
Marxistaestheticians"havea greatdeal to sayto Americancritics,
but...theyhavenot been shapinginfluences."63
Adorno'smusicalwritings,whicharesomewhat morereadily avail-
able in English,havefaredmarginallybetter.Butscatteredessaysby
RonaldWeitzmann (whoisEnglish),DonaldKuspit, WesleyBlomster,
RoseRosengard SubotnikandJamesL. Marshcannotreallycompare
withtheveryextensive receptionofAdorno'smusicological worksin
Germany."6 In CharlesRosen'swidely admired book on Schoenberg,
forexample,thereis no mentionofAdorno,noris hewidelycitedin
theAmericanliterature on Wagner.65And ifAdornohas had little
on
impact musicological itisevenlesslikely,
circles, althoughI cannot
be absolutelycertain,thathe has influenced actualAmericancom-

63. FrankLentricchia, AftertheNewCriticism (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press,

1980), p. xii.
64. Ronald Weitzmann,"An Introductionto Adorno's Music and Social Criti-
cism,"Musicand Letters,CII (uly, 1971),287-298; Donald B. Kuspit,"CriticalNoteson
Adorno's SociologyofMusic and Art,"Journal andArtCriticism,
ofAesthetics 33 (1975),
321-377;WesleyBlomster,"SociologyofMusic:Adornoand Beyond,"Telos,28 (Sum-
mer, 1976), 81-112; "Electronic Music," Telos,32 (Summer 1977), 65-78; Rose
RosengardSubotnik,"Adorno'sDiagnosisofBeethoven'sLateStyle;EarlySymptoms
of a Fatal Condition,"Journal oftheAmerican Musicology XXIX (Summer,1976),
Society,
242-275;"WhyIs Adorno'sMusic CriticismtheWayIt Is?" MusicalNewsletter, VII (Fall,
1977), 3-12; "The HistoricalStructure:Adorno's 'French Model' for 19th-Century
Music," 19th-Century Music,II (July,1978),36-60;"Kant,Adorno,and theSelf-Critique
of Reason: Toward a Model forMusic Criticism,"Humanities inSociety,II (Fall 1979),
353-386,andJamesL. Marsh,"Adorno'sCritiqueofStravinsky," NewGerman Critique,
28 (Winter,1983), 147-169.One mightalso add twoarticlesby theHungarian-born
sociologist,now livingin Australia,Ferenc Feher, because theywere writtenfor
Americanjournals: "NegativePhilosophyof Music - PositiveResults,"NewGerman
Critique,4 (Winter,1975),99-111,and "RationalizedMusicand itsVicissitudes(Ador-
no's Philosophyof Music)," Philosophy and SocialCriticism,
IX (1982), 42-65. Compare
this ratherpaltrycollection of essays with the German reception of Adorno's
musicologicalworks,a bibliographyofwhichcan be foundin Burkhardt Lindnerand
W. MartinLiidke,eds.,Materialien zuriisthetischen Th. Adornos
Theorie: Konstruktion der
Moderne W.
am Main: Suhrkamp,1979), p. 543f.For the receptionin several
(Frankfurt
otherEuropean countries,see theessaysinAdorno unddieMusik,ed. Otto Kolleritsch
(Graz: UniversalEdition,1977).See also AnneG. MitchellCulver,"TheodorW. Ador-
no's PhilosophyofModern Music: Evaluationand Commentary."(Ph.D. diss.,U. of
Colorado, 1973).
65. CharlesRosetz,Arnold Schoenberg(Princeton:PrincetonUniversity Press,1975),
whichdoes notevenlistanythingbyAdornoin the
bibliography.Rosen gavea hostile
paper on "Adorno and Stravinsky" at the Adorno conferenceat the University of
SouthernCaliforniain 1979,but itwas notincludedin the
proceedingspublishedin
Humanities inSociety,
II (Fall, 1979). Adorno's influencecan, however,be seen in Gary
Schmidgall,Literature as Opera(New York:OxfordUniversity Press,1977),especiallyin
thechapteron Berg's Wozzeck.

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174 Adornoin America

posers,as Carl Dalhaus claims was the case in Germanyduringthe

1950sand 1960s.66PerhapsRobertCraft'sremarkin hiscriticalreview
of the translationof PhilosophyofModernMusicsuggeststhe reason: it
"comes twenty-five yearstoo lateto exertanyactiveinfluence.Not that
Adorno's interpretation has been provedor disproved.It simplyhas
been passed by,relegatedto academe whenthemusicfinallyescaped
the custodyof theoreticalcritiquesand enteredthe live performing
repertory.''6
Adorno's thoughtson culturein general,however,have been far
moreinfluential in thestilllivelydebate overtheimplicationsofmass
culture. The model of the "culture industry"was, afterall, first
developed with America in mind and several of Adorno's former
colleagues who remainedin the United States,especiallyL6wenthal
and Marcuse, were notable contributorsto the discussion which
followed. In the 1950s, many respected American intellectuals,
includingDwightMacDonald and David Riesman,drewon Adorno's
work,even ifindirectly.Bythe 1960s and 1970s,manyyoungercom-
mentators,such as Diane Waldman, Andreas Huyssen, Stanley
Aronowitz,Douglas Kellner,Philip Rosen, Miriam Hansen, Mattei
Calinescu,John Brenkmanand Thomas Andrae, found Adorno a
source of even greaterinspiration.68 one of thekeenest
Interestingly,

66. Carl Dalhaus, Esthetics

ofMusic,trans.WilliamAustin(Cambridge:Cambridge
University Press,1982),p. 101.
67. Craft,p. 92.
68. Andreas Huyssen, "Introductionto Adorno," New German 6 (Fall,
Critique,
1975), 3-11; Diane Waldman,"CriticalTheoryand Film:Adorno and 'The Culture
Industry'Revisited,"NewGermanCritique, 12 (Fall, 1977), 39-60; StanleyAronowitz,
TheCrisisin Historical Materialism:Class,Politicsand Culturein MarxistTheory (South
Hadley: Bergin& Garvey,1981); Douglas Kellner,"TV, Ideology,and Emancipatory
Popular Culture," SocialistReview,45 (1979), 13-53; "Network Television and
AmericanSociety;Introductiontoa CriticalTheoryofTelevison,"Theory andSociety,
X
(January,1981), 31-62; "Kulturindustrie und Massenkommunikation. Die Kritische
Theorie und ihre in Bonss and Axel Honneth,eds. Sozialforschung
als Kritik: Folgen;" Wolfgang
Zumsozialwissenschaftlichen
PotentialderKritischenTheorie(Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp,1982);PhilipRosen,"Adornoand FilmMusic:TheoreticalNoteson Com-
posing forthe Films," YaleFrench Studies,60 (1980), 157-182; MiriamHansen, "In-
troductionto Adorno, 'Transparencieson Film' (1966)" New German 24-25
Critique
(Fall/Winter,1981-82), 186-198; Mattei Calinescu, Faces ofModernity: Avant-Garde,
Decadence, Kitsch(Bloomington:Indiana UniversityPress, 1977); John Brenkman,
"Mass Media: FromCollectiveExperienceto theCultureofPrivatization," SocialText,
I (Winter,1979),94-109;Thomas Andrae,"Adornoon Filmand Mass
Culture,"Jump
Cut,20 (May, 1979). Forstillmorerecentconsiderations,seeJ. Frow,"Mediationand
Metaphor:Adornoand theSociologyofArt,"Clio,12(1982), 57-66and PatrickBrant-
linger.Breadand Circuses:Theories ofMass Cultureand SocialDecay (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press,1983), Chap. 7.

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 MartinJay 175

areas of interesthas been Adorno's scatteredremarkson film,which

have attractedattentionin part because of the increasedAmerican
awareness of the new German cinema. The impact of Adorno's
criticismsof traditionalHollywood filmson directorslikeAlexander
Klugehas notgone unnoticedbyAmericancritics.The translations of
Adorno'sessays"CultureIndustryReconsidered"and "Transparencies
on Film""6have also led to an appreciationof the waysin whichhe
cametonuancetheremittingly bleakprognosisoftheoriginalanalysisin
Dialectic
ofEnlightenment. His reconsiderations in thisarea haveallowed
his critiqueof filmto be taken more sympathetically than his less
forgiving attackonjazz, which is probably theleastsuccessful aspectof
his workin America.
Adorno's powerfulcritique of mass culture has been especially
influentialbecause of itsrootsin his social psychology.Althoughthe
dust raisedby thecontroversy over TheAuthoritarian settled
Personality
long ago in the 1950s, other aspects of Adorno's appropriationof
Freudhavecontinuedtoattractattention.In workslikeBruceBrown's
Marx,Freud,and theCritique ofEverydayLifeand RussellJacoby'sSocial
Amnesia,70Adorno's defenseof the radical potentialof Freud's early
workand hiscritiqueoftheprematureharmonyofsociologyand psy-
chology,a critiqueof the prematureharmonyof sociologyand psy-
chology,a critiqueelaboratedby Marcuse in his attackon Frommin
Erosand Civilization,have been endorsedwithenthusiasm.In theeven
more influentialstudies of ChristopherLasch, Haven in a Heartless
Worldand TheCulture manyof the Frankfurt
ofNarcissism,71 School's
arguments about the declineof thefamily and itsinvasion bythepro-
fessionalbureaucraciesoftheadministeredworldhavebeen givenstill
greatercurrency.Joel Kovel's probingdissectionsof contemporary
analyticpractice,A Complete GuidetoTherapy and TheAgeofDesire:Reflec-
tionsofa RadicalPsychoanalyst,72are also indebtedto CriticalTheory's
earlierconsiderationsofthisissue.Thus, althoughthegeneralFrank-
furtSchool use ofFreudhas notbeen sparedcriticism froma varietyof
perspectives,"7 it has nonetheless been and continues to be an enor-
69. Adorno,"CultureIndustryReconsidered,"NewGerman 6 (Fall, 1975),
Critique,
12-19;"Transparencieson Film,"NewGerman 24-25
Critique, (Fall/Winter,1981-82),p.
199-205.
70. Bruce Brown,Marx,Freud,and theCritiqueofEveryday Life:TowardA Permanent
CulturalRevolution(New York:MonthlyReview,1973); RussellJacoby,SocialAmnesia
(Boston: Beacon, 1975).
71. ChristopherLasch,Havenina Heartless World(New York:Basic, 1977); TheCul-
tureofNarcissism(New York: Norton,1979).
72. Joel Kovel,A Complete (New York:Pantheon,1977); TheAgeof
GuidetoTherapy
ofa RadicalPsychoanalyst
Desire:Reflections (New York,Pantheon,1981).
73. See, forexample,Jessica Benjamin, "The End of Internalization:Adorno's
Social Psychology,"Telos,32 (Summer, 1977), 42-64; "Authorityand the Family

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176 Adorno
inAmerica

mous stimulusto theAmericanattemptto harnessFreudianismfor

emancipatoryends.
If,however,we reallywant to understandthe implicationsof the
shiftI mentioneda fewmomentsago in the perceptionofAdorno's
place in the WesternMarxisttradition,it is to the receptionof his
philosophythatwe mustturn.For itis here thatthemostmovement
has occurredin the past tenyearsin theAmericanunderstandingof
Adorno's work. In fact,just as Adorno's differencesfrom more
mainstreamWesternMarxistslikeLukics werebecomingincreasingly
appreciated,so too werehis similarities withnon-Marxist continental
philosophers. Adorno's complicatedrelationship withphenomeno-
logy,forexample,has been thesourceofconsiderableinterest, in part
because of thetranslations of his critiquesof Heideggerand Husserl
and in partbecause of a priorawarenessof Marcuse's debt to these
same thinkers. In theearly1970s,Telos,inparticularitseditorPaul Pic-
cone, was hopeful of findinga common ground between Critical
Theoryand phenomenology.Bemoaningtheoverthostility ofAdorno
towardsHusserland Heidegger,Picconeand theItalianshe translated
in TeloslikePierAldo Rovatti,74 refusedto taketheirapparentincom-
patability as thefinalword on this issue.To reachtheoppositeconclu-
sion,theirstrategy was to emphasize theimportanceofHusserl'slate
work,in particularTheCrisisofEuropean whichappeared after
Sciences,
theFrankfurt School'spositionagainstHusserlhad hardened.Finding
common ground in theircriticalattitudestowardstechnologyand
hoping to integratethe phenomenological investigationof the
Lebenswelt withnegativedialectics,Piccone and his allies contended
that the resultswould offera betterbasis for a more genuinely
materialist MarxismthanthatprovidedbyLukacs' neo-Hegelianism.
Bytheend of thedecade, however,Piccone'sfaithin Marxismofany
kind had waned so farthatany thoughtsof a creativesynthesishad
vanished,althoughhe continuedto relyon the traditionalCritical
Theorynotion of an administeredworld in his notion of "artificial
negativity."75

Revisited:or,a WorldWithoutFathers,"NewGerman 13(Winter,1978),35-57;

Critique,
"Die Antinomien des patriarchalischenDenkens: KritischeTheorie und Psy-
choanalyse,"in Bonssand Honneth;MarkPoster,Critical Theory
ofthe Family(NewYork:
Pluto, 1978).
74. Pier Aldo Rovatti,"CriticalTheoryand Phenomenology,"Telos,15 (Spring,
1973), 25-40. Rovattiis an editor of AutAut and heavilyinfluencedby the phe-
nomenologicalMarxismofEnzo Paci,whichalso had a strongimpacton Piccone.See,
forexample,his"BeyondIdentityTheory" in O'Neill, inwhichhe attckstheFrankfurt
School foritslackofappreciationforHusserl.
75. Paul Piccone,"The CrisisofOne-Dimensionality," Telos,35 (Spring,1978),43-
54; "The ChangingFunctionofCriticalTheory,"NewGerman 12 (Fall, 1977),
Critique,

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 MartinJay 177

At about the same time,a paralleleffort was being made by Fred

Dallmayr to find fruitful
links between Adorno and Heidegger.Once
again the strategy was to claim that Adorno's hostilitywas directed
his
moreagainst target'searly than late works.In an essayhe published
in 1976 and a book entitledTwilight toa Post-
Contributions
ofSubjectivity:
Individualist
Theory ofPolitics
that appeared fiveyearslater,76 Dallmayr
argued thatdespite the outwardsignsof animosity,a close kinship
existed between the two thinkers:"Adorno's stricturesagainst in-
dividualismand thephilosophyof consciousnesscorrespondclosely
to Heidegger'scritiqueof 'subjectivism'and of the traditionofWes-
tern'metaphysics'withits accent on subjectivereflection.Likewise,
Adorno's commentson the ambivalenceof Enlightenment thought
and modern rationalismfinda parallel in the existentialist posture
towardlogical calculationand the conception of man as 'rational
animal'; in particular,the argumentthatthe growingsway of 'in-
strumental'rationality reflectsultimately man's 'willto power' - the
desiretosubjugateand controlnature- is reminiscent ofHeidegger's
treatment of moderntechnologyas an anthropocentric strategem.A
furtheraffinity...canbe found in the common stressof thetwothinkers
on historicalexegesisand on theimportanceof'pre-understanding' or
traditionin human cognition."77
Thus, like Hermann M6rchen,78Dallmayr called into question
Adorno'sown self-understanding in ordertofindconvergenceswhere
previouslyonly antagonism had been recognized. What made
Dallmayr'srapprochement plausiblewashisemphasison Heidegger's
late workswiththeircritiqueof identityand defenseof difference.
Insistingas well on the parallelsbetweenboth of theirpositionsand
Merleau-Ponty's philosophyofambiguity,Dallmayrsoughtto forgea
and
post-subjectivist post-humanist philosophythatwould avoid the

29-37. Piccone'spointis thatthesystemis so well-establishednow thatitcan tolerate,

indeed even generate,pocketsof "artificial"negativitythatnonethelessfunctionto
stabilizeit.
76. FredR. Dallmayr,"Phenomenologyand CriticalTheory:Adorno,"Cultural Her-
meneutics,3 (1976), 367-405; Twilight
ofSubjectivity: toa Post-Individualist
Contributions
Theory(Amherst:University of MassachusettsPress,1981). It mightalso be notedthat
anotherphilosophicaltargetof Adorno's,Wittgenstein, has been defendedin pre-
ciselythesame way.Accordingto H. StuartHughes, "in Adorno's failureto come to
gripswiththe Philosophical an enormous intellectualopportunitywas
Investigations,
missed - thechance to associatetwoof thefinestintelligencesof thecenturyin the
enterprise ofbridgingthephilosophicaltraditions whichWittgenstein's deathhad cut
offin midcourse."(TheSea Change, p. 167).
77. Dallmayr,"Phenomenologyand CriticalTheory:Adorno," p. 395.
78. Hermann Mdrchen,Adornound Heidegger - Untersuchung einerphilosophischen
Kommunikationsverweige Klett-Cotta,
(Stuttgart: 1981).

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 inAmerica
178 Adorno

dominationofnatureand egologicalindividualismpresentinso many

traditionalWesternphilosophies.
To establishhis point,Dallmayralso drewon theworkofa fourth
figure,whose surprising resemblancetoAdornohas receivedincreas-
ing notice in America, Jacques Derrida. Indeed, as I mentioned
earlier,itis arguablethatone ofthestarsin Adorno'sintellectualcon-
stellationcan be identifiedwiththepost-structuralism of Heidegger's
heterodoxFrenchdisciples.This is not to say,however,thatAdorno
should be construedas a deconstructionist avantla lettre
or thatwe can
the
ignore veryimportant differences between hisposition,withitsstill
Hegelian and Marxistdimensions, and theirs.Indeed, as one of the
post-structuralists,Jean-FrangoisLyotard, has recognized,79a very
non-deconstructionist nostalgiafor a losttotality permeatesevena
still
negative And
dialectics. yet,itmakes even lesssensetobuildimperme-
able wallsbetweentwoof themostsignificant theoreticalmovements
of our time.
The most compelling historicalreason for the similarityis, of
course,thecommonrespectforNietzschefoundin bothAdornoand
the post-structuralists.Virtuallyall of the literatureon Adorno in
Englishrecognizeshis remarkabledebt to a philosopherforwhom
mostotherMarxists,Westernor otherwise,had onlycontempt.80 It is
partlyforthisreasonthatwritersliketheEnglishcriticTerryEagleton
have contended that "the parallels between deconstructionand
Adorno are particularlystriking.Long before the currentfashion,
Adornowas insistingon thepowerofthoseheterogeneousfragments
thatslipthroughtheconceptualnet,rejectingall philosophyofidenti-
ty,refusingclass consciousnessas objectionably'positive,'and deny-
ingtheintentionality ofsignification. Indeed thereis hardlya themein
contemporary deconstruction thatis notrichlyelaboratedin hiswork
- a pointer,perhapsto themutualinsularity of Frenchand German
culture,whichnow,ironically,convergemore and more onlyin the
Anglo-Saxonworld."8'An evenmoreextensiveattemptto defendthe

79. Jean-FrancoisLyotard,"Adorno as the Devil," Telos,19

(Spring,1974), 128-
137.
80. See, forexample,JamesMiller,"Some ImplicationsofNietzsche's
Thoughtfor
Marxism,"Telos,37 (Fall, 1978),22-41,and Rose, p. 18f.Anothercommonthemethat
some commentatorshave claimed linksAdorno and Derrida is the
Husserlas a targetoftheirwork.Itwould,infact,be very importanceof
tocompareAdor-
interesting
no's Metakritik
derErkenntnistheorie
withDerrida'sSpeech andPhenomena: and Other
onHusserl'sTheory Essays
ofSigns,trans.David B. Allison(Evanston:Northwestern University
Press, 1973).
8I1. TerryEagleton,WalterBenjamin:Or Towards a Revolutionary
Criticism
(London:
Verso, 1981),p. 141.

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 Martin
Jay 179

comparison hasbeenmadebyMichaelRyanin his1982Marxism and

Althoughacknowledging
Deconstruction.82 thatAdorno's emphasisis
on societyand Derrida'sonlanguage,henonetheless arguesthatboth
sharea hatredof logocentric hierarchies,bothattack"theidealist
privilegeofidentityovernon-identity, overparticularity,
universality
overobject,spontaneouspresenceoversecondary
subj.ect rhetoric,
timelesstranscendence overempirical content
history, overmodeof
expression, self-reassuring overthreatening
proximity ontol-
alterity,
ogyovertheontic,andsoon.""SInfact, inhiszealtoassimilateAdorno
andDerrida,Ryangoessofaras tomakethemcommonenemiesofthe
dominationof reason,withoutacknowledging thatAdorno'smore
discriminating wrathwas directedagainstonly certainformsof
rationality tout
ratherthanrationality court.
If theparallelsbetweenAdornoand Derridahavebeen notedin
America,so toohavethosebetweenAdornoand Foucault.84In par-
ticular,thestriking betweenthearguments
similarity of Dialectic
of
and Punishabout thepervasivenessof dis-
and Discipline
Enlightenment
ciplinary powerin our administered worldhas been remarked.85
Although itwouldbe misleading ignoretheirdifferent
to evaluations
ofpsychoanalysis,bothAdornoand Foucaultsharea commonscep-
ticismabout the sexualutopianism in-
of certainFreudo-Marxists,
cluding Marcuse.And both are at in
one theirsensitivityto whatin
Dialectic he
ofEnlightenment and Horkheimer calledthe"underground
oftheEuropeanbody,whichFoucault's
history"86 of
investigations
have
"bio-power" helpedbringtothe
surface.
Onefinalparallel
might
be mentioned
whichconcerns
Adorno's insistence
regretful in"The
ofPhilosophy"
Actuality thatitwasno longerpossibleforthought"to
graspthe of
totality the real" and Foucault's
contentionin Power/
that"therolefortheory
Knowledge todayseemstometobejustthis:not
toformulate
globalsystematic which
theory inplace,
holdseverything
butto analysethespecificity
ofmechanisms ofpower,to locatethe
connectionsand extensions,to build littleby littlea strategic

82. MichaelRyan,Marxism andDeconstruction:

A Critical
Articulation (Baltimore:Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1982).
83. Ibid.,p. 75.
84. Hubert L. Dreyfusand Paul Rabinow,MichaelFoucault: Beyond Structuralism
and
Hermeneutics(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1982), p. xii; Charles C. Lemert
and GarthGillan,Michel Foncault:
SocialTheoryandTransgression(NewYork:Columbia U.
Press,1982), p. 106-7.
85. Tom Long, "Marx and WesternMarxismin the 1970s," TheBerkeley Journalof
XXV (1980), 36.
Sociology,
86. Horkheimerand Adorno,Dialectic trans.JohnCumming(New
ofEnlightenment,
York:Seabury,1972), p. 231.

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 inAmerica
180 Adorno

knowledge.""87In bothcases,a micrologicalanalysistakestheplace of

thegrandsynthesesthatwereso mucha trademark ofHegelianMarx-
ism at its most ambitious.Or more precisely,forboth Adorno and
Foucault,totalityis retainedonlyas a termofopprobriumto indicate
the pervasive domination of power relations that can only be
challengedon thelocal and particularlevel.
One way,to be sure,in whichAdorno and the post-structuralists
partcompanyis in theirdiffering attitudestowardsaestheticmoder-
nism. WhereasAdorno seems to have had littlefaithin an art that
would followthe classical modernismof Schoenbergand Beckett,
many post-structuralists such as Lyotardeagerlydefend the post-
modernism that apparently has. Interestingly,leftistAmerican
studentsof CriticalTheory who have struggledwith the elitism
inherentin Adorno'spositionhavefoundthisalternative a promising
one. Thus,forexample,thesame FredricJameson whodid so muchto
introduceAdornotoAmericanaudiencesnowcomplainsthathislater
workin particularfailsto registertheinevitablehistoricity
of moder-
nism.88Ratherthaneternally contrasting modernismand
avant-garde
thecultureindustry,
post-modernism, callsinto
soJamesonsuggests,
AgainstAdorno,Jamesonnowargues
questiontheverydichotomy.
for"somesenseoftheineradicable
drivetowards thatcan
collectivity
be detected,no matterhow faintly
and feebly,in the mostdegraded
worksof mass culturejust as surelyas in theclassicsof moder-
nism."89
Whether ornotpost-modernismcanbe harnessed
forradical
pur-
of not as
posesis, course, yetclear, Habermashas warned.90
frequently
It maytherefore
be healthyto contrastAdorno in some respectswith
thoserecent currents
philosophical thatsupportit,rather
thanassimi-
latehimtooquickly
tothem.Moreover,
as Habermashasalsorecently
cautioned,9'thereare importantdistinctionsthat ought not to be
intheirdifferent
forgotten oftheNietzschean
appropriations critique
oftheEnlightenment,
whichpreventedAdorno,contrary
to thehasty

87. Foucault,Power/Knowledge: Selected

Interviews
and OtherWritings 1972-1977,ed.
Colin Gordon,trans.Colin Gordon et al. (New York:Pantheon,1980),p. 145.
88. Jameson, "Reificationand Utopia in Mass Culture,"SocialText,i (Winter,
1979), 130-148.See also his furtherreflectionson theseissues in ThePoliticalUncon-
scious:Narrative
as a Socially
SymbolicAct(Ithaca:CornellUniversity Press,1981);and his
"Reflectionsin Conclusion" to AestheticsandPolitics.
89. Jameson,"Reificationand Utopia in Mass Culture,"p. 148.
90. Habermas,"ModernismversusPostmodernity," NewGerman 22 (Win-
Critique,
ter,1981),3-14.
91. Habermas,"The Entwinement ofMythand Enlightenment," NewGerman Criti-
que,26 (Spring/Summer, 1982), 13-30.

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 MartinJay181

readingof Ryan,fromattacking all formsof rationalityas oppres-

sive.
Andyet,despitethedangersofturning Adornointoa deconstruc-
tionist
witha Germanaccent,itwouldbe equallymisguided toignore
theundeniable parallelsthatallowuswithhindsight toseetheimplica-
tionofAdorno'sthought as morecomplicated thanwouldhavebeen
foreseen duringhisownlifetime. AndifEagletoniscorrect inclaiming
thatthisrecognition has happenedprimarily in theAnglo-Saxon
worldbecauseofthe"mutualinsularity ofFrenchand Germancul-
ture,"thenwemusttakeseriously theimpactofhisAmerican recep-
tion.For ifAdornohad to leave home to learnthelessonsabout
democratic politicsand thefetishization of highculturedescribed
the
earlier, emigration ofhisthought mayalsohavebeennecessary to
bringout all of its potentialimplications. It has sometimesbeen
arguedthatthefirstdetachedandanalytical overviewsoftheFrankfurt
School'shistory could onlyhavebeen written byoutsiderswithno
stakein thepolemicalwarswithin Germany thatsurrounded Critical
Theory.92 No lessperhapsmight be saidof thereceptionofAdorno's
someofwhoseimplications
work, maybe moreapparent
onforeign
shoresthanathome.Although, as I mentioned Adornonever
earlier,
returnedtoAmerica after1953,itisthusperhapssymbolicallyjustthat
whenhisheartgaveoutinSwitzerland 16yearslater,hewasinfactpre-
paringtodo so inordertogivetheChristian Gausslectures atPrince-
ton University.The lectureswere neverdelivered,but Adorno's
thoughtdidreturn nonetheless.93
Wemight therefore
inconclusion
adoptthetropeofchiasmus,
so
used
frequently by Adornohimself,to describe
his complicated
toAmerica.9'
relationship As in suchsentences
as "history
is nature;
natureis history,"
Adornoemployedchiasmusto indicatethe
unreconciled
andunsublated betweentwoelements
relationship that
nonetheless
areinextricably
interwined.
It is appropriate
tocallhis
peculiarstatusas a thinker suspendedbetweenhisnativeland
tensely
andhisemigrehomea formofchiasmus.Foras an American, hewas

92. See, forexample, PeterUwe Hohendahl, reviewof Buck-Morssin Telos,34

(Winter,1977-78) 185.
93. As the examples citedabove demonstrate,his Americanreceptionhas been
confinedalmostentirely toacademic circles.Buta glimmerofa slightlymorepopular
appreciationmayperhapsbe discernedinthefactthataplayentitled"The Dialecticof
Enlightenment" byDarylChin was producedoffBroadwayin New Yorkin 1982.The
playseems to have borrowedonlythetitlefromHorkheimerand Adorno'swork.But
surelythereis some significance
in thefactthatthereviewerforTheVillageVoice,
Robert
Mason Faber,could assume enough recognitionoftheauthorsto pun on one oftheir
names in his negativereview,whichwas called "Adore? No."
94. See Rose, p. 13.

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 inAmerica
182 Adorno

obviouslya displaced European,whileas a European,he was deeply

affectedby his yearsin America.As a resulthe was able to remainin
permanentexile fromboth contexts,and stilldoes afterhis death.
Althoughsurelya sourceofpain, thiscondition,as Adornodoubtless
knew,was also a stimulusto his creativityand originality.It also
paradoxicallymade him into somethingof an exemplaryfigurefor
contemporary man. For as he arguedin his essayin NotenzurLiteratur
entitled"Die Wunde Heine," "today, the fate Heine sufferedhas
literally become thecommonfate:homelessnesshas been inflicted on
everyone. All,in language and being,have been damaged as theexile
himselfwas."95
It is perhaps especiallyfitting thatI borrowthiscitationfromthe
opening remarks made by the American criticHarveyGrossat
literary
theearliersymposiumhonoringAdornothatwas held in Los Angeles
on the tenthanniversary of his death.96For not theleastof Adorno's
gifts to his emigr6asylum,a countryknownforreceivingratherthan
generatingrefugees,was theknowledgethatin some sensewe too are
stillsufferingfromHeine'swound,we too are stillleadingthedamaged
livesof men unable to findtheirwayhome.

95. Adorno, "Die Wunde Heine," in Notenzur Literatur,Gesammelte 2

am Main: Suhrkamp,1974), p. 100. Schriften
(Frankfurt
96. Harvey Gross, "Adorno in Los Angeles: The Intellectualin
Humanities
in Society, Emigration,"
II (Fall, 1979), 350.

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