English 188A - Spring, 2014

Topics in Literary & Critical Theory

Topic: Theodor W. Adorno: Politics and Aesthetics at the Terminus of Modernity

Class Information

Instructor: Brown, Nathan
CRN: 42926
Time: TR 3:10-4:30
Location: 248 Voorhies

Description

The term "critical theory" derives from its usage by the Frankfurt School of social thought in Germany, in the 1930s. The term is meant to describe an intellectual relation to culture and history responsive to Marx's famous declaration that "hitherto philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it." Critical theory, for the thinkers associated with the Frankfurt School, offers an analysis of modern society targeting the foundations of political and economic oppression, attacking in particular ideologies of "enlightenment" and "progress" they saw as constitutive of modernity.

This course will focus on the principle theorist of the Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno. We will begin with selections from The Dialectic of Enlightenment, co-authored with Max Horkheimer, before reading his fragmented reflections on the "damaged life" of modernity, Minima Moralia. In the second half of the quarter we'll then turn to his landmark analysis of modernist art and its social production, Aesthetic Theory.

The course will thus be an opportunity to grapple in some depth with the key texts of one of the major theorists of the twentieth century.

Grading

Attendance and Participation: 20%
Weekly Discussion Posts: 20%
Term Paper: 40%
Final Exam: 20%

Texts

Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory
Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia
Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, The Dialectic of Enlightenment