Theodor Adorno

This collection provides an overview of the English language reception of the work of the philosopher, social theorist and cultural critic, Theodor W. Adorno. The first part of the collection contains sketches of Adorno's career by Martin Jay, Irving Wolfarth and Adorno's colleague, Leo Lowenthal. Part two examines Adorno's general conception of critical theory and includes influential essays by Frederic Jameson, Susan Buck-Morss and Gillian Rose. The third part of the collection contains essays examining Adorno's cultural criticism and focuses, in particular, on his critique of the 'culture industry'. Part four brings together a group of interpretive essays on the most important product of Adorno's American exile, Dialectic of Enlightenment - a work written in collaboration with his colleague, Max Horkheimer. The final section is made up of essays exploring Adorno's later work on the relationship between art and utopia, with particular attention to his posthumously-published Aesthetic Theory.