Adorno war ein Genie, ich sage das ohne alle Zweischneidigkeit . . .
Adorno was a genius. I say that without a hint of ambiguity. In the case of Horkheimer or Marcuse, with whom, by the way, I had a less complicated and, if you like, more intimate relationship, no one would have ever thought of saying such a thing. Adorno had an immediacy of awareness, a spontaneity of thought, and a power of formulation which I have never encountered before or since. One could not observe the process of development of Adorno's thoughts: they issued from him complete - he was a virtuoso in that respect. Also, he was simply not able to drop below his own level; he could not escape the strain of his own thinking for a moment. As long as one was with Adorno, one was caught up in the movement of his thought. Adorno did not have the common touch, it was impossible for him, in an altogether painful way to be commonplace.
Professor Jürgen Habermas, recalling his time as a younger colleague
and assistant of Adorno, interviewed by Josef Früchtl.
from Jürgen Habermas, Autonomy and Solidarity , ed. Peter
Dews, London/NY: Verso, 1986/1992. revised and enlarged 1992, p.220.
originally in German in Geist Gegen Den Zeitgeist: Erinnern an Adorno
eds. Josef Früchtl, and Maria Calloni. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1991
p.51.
Adorno deserves reading. See Reading Adorno.
For those to whom Adorno is unknown, Adorno in 2
Minutes is a not altogether serious introduction to the great man.
For more serious information on the Frankfurt School try Doug Kellner's
Critical Theory website
at the University of Texas, Austin.
Published research on Theodor Adorno by Evelyn Wilcock is listed in the
bibliography on her home page.
http://members.aol.com/eandcw/index.html.
site design
Evelyn Wilcock
August 1999