Adorno's Poetics of Form
Published on 2. January 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-4384-6984-3 (ISBN)
Description
A critical study of the concept of form in Adorno's writings on art and literature.
Adorno's Poetics of Form is the first book-length examination of the elusive deployment of the concept of form in Adorno's writings on art and literature, and the first monograph to offer a comprehensive account of the relation of these writings to his broader philosophical project. It examines form within the constellation of concepts that exist around it, considering how it appears when seen in conjunction with and in opposition to content, expression, genre, and material. Illuminated from these angles, form is revealed as the site of a complex web of dynamic conceptual interactions. The book thus offers a resolution to a problem in Adorno's work that has remained unsolved for several decades, and in doing so sets out the consequences of Adorno's poetics for literary and critical theory today.
Adorno's Poetics of Form is the first book-length examination of the elusive deployment of the concept of form in Adorno's writings on art and literature, and the first monograph to offer a comprehensive account of the relation of these writings to his broader philosophical project. It examines form within the constellation of concepts that exist around it, considering how it appears when seen in conjunction with and in opposition to content, expression, genre, and material. Illuminated from these angles, form is revealed as the site of a complex web of dynamic conceptual interactions. The book thus offers a resolution to a problem in Adorno's work that has remained unsolved for several decades, and in doing so sets out the consequences of Adorno's poetics for literary and critical theory today.
Reviews / Votes
"Adorno's Poetics of Form is at once a kind of casebook (Robinson has read a lot of Adorno so you don't have to) and a critical work (Robinson has drawn out implicit Adornoian concerns and drawn together a constellation of formal concerns). Taken together, this simply means that Adorno's Poetics of Form invites (and deserves) the same kind of attention it gives to its collection of texts." - Mediations"In Adorno's Poetics of Form, Josh Robinson carries out a necessary and fruitful investigation into the way we think about art, and the potential embedded in particular works ... Robinson has produced a highly readable and accomplished contribution to the scholarship on Theodor Adorno's aesthetic project as it pertains to the question of form, and a thought-provoking reformation of the Marxist theory of art." - Phenomenological Reviews
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
471 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4384-6984-3 (9781438469843)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Josh Robinson
Adorno's Poetics of Form
E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
De Gruyter
from
€84.99
Available for download
Person
Josh Robinson is Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.
Content
Abbreviations of Works by Adorno
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Form
Adorno
Poetics
Philology
Constellation
1. Form and Content
Adorno and Heidegger: The Form of the Thing
'Parataxis'
Parataxis and Linguistic Form
Form as Sedimented Content
Parataxis in Adorno's reading of 'Der Einzige'
Consequences for Form and Content
2. Form and Expression
The Mediation of Form and Expression
Literary and Musical Expressionism
Expressionism and Surrealism
Kafka
Mimesis
Consequences for the Theory of Form
3. Form and Genre
The Fraying of Borders
The Genesis of the Forms
Universal and Particular
Nominalism and its Discontents
Bourgeois Art and the Culture Industry
The Novel as Form
Theory of the Essay
4. Form and Material
Material and Content
Technique and the Mastery of Material
Language and Poetry
The Literary Manifestation of Form and Material
Consequences for the Theory of Form
5. Artistic Form and the Commodity Form
Social and Abstract Labor
Abstraction and Exchange
Mediation and Form
Purposiveness, Communication, Language
Poetry and Reconciliation
Art Beauty and Natural Beauty
Priority of the Object
Coda
Lyric
Engaging Form
Beyond the New Formalism
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Form
Adorno
Poetics
Philology
Constellation
1. Form and Content
Adorno and Heidegger: The Form of the Thing
'Parataxis'
Parataxis and Linguistic Form
Form as Sedimented Content
Parataxis in Adorno's reading of 'Der Einzige'
Consequences for Form and Content
2. Form and Expression
The Mediation of Form and Expression
Literary and Musical Expressionism
Expressionism and Surrealism
Kafka
Mimesis
Consequences for the Theory of Form
3. Form and Genre
The Fraying of Borders
The Genesis of the Forms
Universal and Particular
Nominalism and its Discontents
Bourgeois Art and the Culture Industry
The Novel as Form
Theory of the Essay
4. Form and Material
Material and Content
Technique and the Mastery of Material
Language and Poetry
The Literary Manifestation of Form and Material
Consequences for the Theory of Form
5. Artistic Form and the Commodity Form
Social and Abstract Labor
Abstraction and Exchange
Mediation and Form
Purposiveness, Communication, Language
Poetry and Reconciliation
Art Beauty and Natural Beauty
Priority of the Object
Coda
Lyric
Engaging Form
Beyond the New Formalism
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index