The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory expounds the development of critical theory from its founding thinkers to its contemporary formulations in an interdisciplinary setting. It maps the terrain of a critical social theory, expounding its distinctive character vis-a-vis alternative theoretical perspectives, exploring its theoretical foundations and developments, conceptualising its subject matters both past and present, and signalling its possible future in a time of great uncertainty. Taking a distinctively theoretical, interdisciplinary, international and contemporary perspective on the topic, this wide-ranging collection of chapters is arranged thematically over three volumes: Volume I: Key Texts and Contributions to a Critical Theory of Society Volume II: Themes Volume III: Contexts This Handbook is essential reading for scholars and students in the field, showcasing the scholarly rigor, intellectual acuteness and negative force of critical social theory, past and present.

Adorno’s Brecht: The Other Origin of Negative Dialectics

Adorno’s Brecht: The Other Origin of Negative Dialectics

Adorno’s Brecht: The Other Origin of Negative Dialectics
Matthias Rothe

Adorno and Brecht: Moving beyond aversion

Theodor W. Adorno and Bertolt Brecht: this is how the story commonly goes. The former is repulsed by the unconcerned activism and the vulgar Marxism of the latter; the latter is rejecting the former along with the other Frankfurt School theorists for their ‘stilted, abstract language, their elitism, … their wrong-headedness’ (Lyon, 1980: 260).1 Gene Ray then sums up their relation to one another: ‘Bertolt Brecht and Theodor W. Adorno stand for opposing modes and stances within an artistic modernism oriented toward radical social transformation’ (2010: 1). He closely follows Susan Buck-Morss, who observed before him: ‘Brecht opted for ...

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