After Adorno

After Adorno: Culture in the Wake of Catastrophe
Author(s): Michael Rothberg

Source: New German Critique, No. 72 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 45-81
Published by: Duke University Press
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AfterAdorno:
Culturein theWakeofCatastrophe*
MichaelRothberg
L Introduction: ThePoliticsofCommemoration
In January 1995 a controversy eruptedin connection withthefiftieth
anniversary commemoration of theliberationof theAuschwitzconcen-
trationcamp.UpsetthatthePolishgovernment seemedto be slighting
thespecificallyJewishelements oftheNazi extermination at Auschwitz,
Jewishleadersand spokespeople, includingElie Wiesel,threatened to
boycott the ceremonies. In the end,many Jewish groupsattended, but
theyalso organized an alternativeceremony thattookplace whilePolish
PresidentLech Walesawas openingtheofficial Government commemo-
rationwitha speechthatmadeno specificmention of Jewishvictims.1
This controversy constitutesone moreepisodein a half-century history
of struggleoverthemeaningand memory of Auschwitz(and theNazi
genocideforwhichithas cometo stand).Fromdebatesoverthenumber
of victimswho died there,to thebarelyveiledanti-Semitism of Holo-
caust denierswho claimthatno genocidetookplace, to the conflicts
overthenational, religious,or moral"ownership" ofthesite,Auschwitz
has been contested ground sincethe first
Soviet soldiersarrivedat the
endof January 1945.The recentinternational focuson theso-calledlib-
erationhas revivedthememory wars,whichcan serveas toolsofeduca-
tion,but such a focusalso limitsan understanding of Auschwitzby
* I am grateful to AndreasHuyssenand AnsonRabinbachfortheircomments.
Thanksalso toStuartLiebman,forall ofhishelp,toNancyK. Miller,as ever,toRussCas-
BethDrenning,
tronovo, Escoffier,
Jeffrey Gerhard andNeilLevi forreading
Joseph, earlier
ofthisessay,andtoYaseminYildiz,forshowing
versions methepowerofAdorno'sthinking.
1. Thiscontroversy wasreported intheNewYorkTimes27 Jan.1995:A3.
45
46 AfterAdorno
framing thenarration of theeventsby thepointof view of thevictors.

WhentheSovietsenteredthecamp,theyfound7,000prisoners - all
whoremained ofthealmostone anda halfmillion(90% of whomwere
Jewish)whohadpassedthrough theAuschwitz complex.Manyof those
survivorsdied afterliberation.
SeveraldaysbeforetheSovietsarrived,
theNazis had takenthemajority of thesurviving65,000prisonerson a
deathmarchin a perverseeffort to maintaincontroland hidetheevi-
denceof atrocityas thewar slippedaway.Placingtheseeventsunder
thesignof liberationsaysless abouttheeventsof theHolocaustthanit
does aboutthedesireofcontemporary to masteran elusivepast
cultures
whoseechoesstillresonate inthepresent.
Whilerecenteventshighlight theethnicandnationalpoliticsof mem-
oryand identity,Auschwitz has also longbeen a locus forintellectual
debateaboutwhatGerman-Jewish philosopherTheodorAdomocalled
in 1959, "coming to termswiththe past" [Vergangenheitsbewdltigung].
Adomois verymuchresponsible forthecentralitythatAuschwitzhas
had in academicandpopulardiscourses. that"[t]owrite
His proposition
poetry Auschwitz
after is amounts
barbaric" - along withWalterBen-
jamin's relatedinsightthat "[t]hereis no document of civilization
whichis notat thesametimea document -
of barbarism" to themost
famousandprobably mostfrequently citedstatementaboutmodemcul-
turein thetwentiethcentury.Adomo'sphrase(notevena fullsentence
in theoriginalGerman)has beenquoted,andjust as oftenmisquoted,2
2. Formisquotations, see note4. Amongthemanycitations, see, forexample,in

philosophy: Jean-FrangoisLyotard, TheDifferend,trans.GeorgeVan Den Abbeele(Min-
neapolis:U of MinnesotaP, 1988); DetlevClaussen,"Nach Auschwitz," Zivilisations-
bruch:Denkennach Auschwitz, ed. Dan Diner (Frankfurt/Main: Fischer,1988). In
theology, see RichardRubenstein, AfterAuschwitz:RadicalTheology and Contemporary
Judaism(New York:Bobbs-Merrill, 1966);Johann BaptistMetz,"Suffering UntoGod,"
CriticalInquiry20.4 (1994): 611-22;EmilFackenheim, To MendtheWorld:Foundations
ofPost-Holocaust JewishThought (New York:Schocken,1982).In aesthetics, see Lam-
bertZuidervaart, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory:TheRedemption of Illusion(Cambridge:
MIT, 1991);TerryEagleton,TheIdeologyoftheAesthetic (Cambridge: Blackwell,1990).
In literaryand cultural
criticism,see LawrenceLanger,TheHolocaustand theLiterary
Imagination (New Haven:Yale UP, 1975); IrvingHowe,"Writing and theHolocaust,"
Writing andtheHolocaust,ed. BerelLang(NewYork:HolmesandMeier,1988);George
Steiner,Languageand Silence:Essayson Language,Literature, and theInhuman(New
York:Atheneum, 1967);EricSantner, StrandedObjects:Mourning, Memory, andFilmin
PostwarGermany (Ithaca:CornellUP, 1990).See also MauriceBlanchot'sreflections in
ApresCoup(Paris:Minuit,1983).Lastly,Charlotte Delbo's memoirs, Auschwitz
entitled
et Apres,were recently translated.See Charlotte Delbo, Auschwitz and After,trans.
RosetteLamont(NewHaven:Yale UP, 1995).
MichaelRothberg 47
by writersworkingin a varietyof contextsand disciplines, including

philosophy, theology,aesthetics,and literarycriticism.3 Besides the
consciousrewritings of Adorno'sthoughtwhichextendit to fields
nevermentionedby Adornoand the unconsciousdistortions of his
words - "No poetryafterAuschwitz,""AfterAuschwitz,it is no
longerpossibleto writepoems"4- thephrasehas also circulated with
even greaterease in the reduced,ever-malleable form:"afterAus-
chwitz."As a two-word soundbite,"afterAuschwitz"has becomethe
intellectual of
equivalent the politicalposterslogan"NeverAgain!"
Without a doubt,Adornowouldbe horrified to see his ownwordson
theNazi genocideturnedinto an academic truism;he wouldprobably
also be unsurprised,findingin the commodification of Holocaustdis-
courseonemoreproofofthepowerofthelatecapitalist totalityto repro-
duce itselfand to colonizeeventheseemingly mostresistant areas of
sociallife.Yet,Adorno'sself-citationsandhisuse ofthesound-bite ver-
sion"nachAuschwitz" - which,translated intotheEnglish"afterAus-
chwitz,"has an ironicallypoeticeffect - havefacilitated thefrequency
3. As testimony tothecontinued inAdornoandAuschwitz

interest intheGerman
context,twovolumeshaverecently appeared.ManuelK6ppen'seditedvolumeKunstund
LiteraturnachAuschwitz (Berlin:ErichSchmidt, 1993)is an interdisciplinarysetofinter-
ventions growing outof a recentconference. Reclamhasjustissuedan important source
bookentitled LyriknachAuschwitz? ed. PetraKiedaisch,(Stuttgart:Reclam,1995) that
collectsexcerptsfromAdorno'sworkinwhichthestatusofAuschwitz is inquestionand
responsesby poetsand criticsto his dictum.The editor'sintroduction is theonlyessay
thatI knowotherthanthepresent one andtheonebyClaussencitedabovewhichdraws
attentionto thevariety of Adorno'sarticulations andto thefrequent partialor mis-cita-
tionsofAdorno'scritics.However,whileKiedaischandClaussenareat painsto empha-
size thecontinuityofAdorno'sthought, I argueherefordiscontinuitiesinhisarticulations
ofAuschwitz. In thissenseI amcloserto SigridWeigel,who,whilenotproviding a sys-
tematic readingofAdorno'soeuvre,doesemphasize betweenthewritings
thedifferences
of the 1940sand thoseof the 1960s.See Weigel,"'Kein philosophisches Staunen'-
'Schreibenim Staunen':ZumVerhiltnis vonPhilosophie undLiteratur nach1945:Ben-
jamin,Adorno,Bachmann." DeutscheVierteljahresschrift 70.1(1996): 120-37.
4. Thefirst phrase(orparaphrase) is fromSteiner,LanguageandSilence53; here-
afterreferredtoparentheticallywithin thetextas LS. Thesecondcase is slightly stranger.
ShoshanaFelmansubtly, butsignificantly,misquotes Adorno'sNegativeDialectics- "it
mayhavebeenwrongto saythatafterAuschwitz youcouldno longerwritepoems"-
thusdetracting fromthetentativeness of Adorno'ssentence, and addingthequestionof
which,as we willsee,is a complexone.Nevertheless,
"possibility," on thebackcoverof
Testimony,thequotationis thestandard, correctone fromAdorno'soriginalstatement,
nowherecitedbyFelmanor Steiner.(There,however, Adornois referred to as an "Aus-
trianmusicologist"!) See ShoshanaFelmanandDoriLaub,Testimony: Crisesof Witness-
ing in Literature, Psychoanalysis and History(New York: Routledge,1992) 33. Cf.
Adorno'sNegativeDialectics,trans.E. B. Ashton(NewYork:Continuum, 1973)362.
48 AfterAdorno
withwhichthe concepthas circulated.5 In thiscase, it is the repeti-

tions,and nottheoriginal, whichhaveattracted themostattention. The
most frequentallusionsto the "afterAuschwitz"proposition which
actuallyciteAdomoreferto worksin whichAdomowas commenting
on his earlierstatement. Giventhispattern, as wellas theinfamous dif-
ficulty of Adorno'sthought, it is notsurprising thatmostcommentary
on thisthemehas de- and re-contextualized the words,oftentaking
themfarfrom Adorno'sintended meaning.
The interdisciplinary natureof Adorno'swriting has,somewhat ironi-
cally, lefta fragmentary intellectual legacy,reaching diverse groupsof
readers, both hostileand friendly, in isolatedinstitutional locations. Few
of Adomo's commentators who have picked up on his Auschwitz
hypothesis have been interested in his systemof thinking as a whole;
rather, theyhave been concerned withtheimplications of theproposi-
tionforthestudyofsomeaspectofculture inthelightoftheNazi geno-
cide. Inversely, thosewho have been concerned withAdomo's philo-
sophicalsystem have tended not to assign a central positionto Aus-
chwitz,relating at
it, most, to the larger issues of his sociologicaltheory,
his relationto othermembers of the Frankfurt School,his unorthodox
Marxism,or his particular versionof dialectics.This splitin critical
approaches makesa morebifocalreading ofthesignificance oftheHolo-
caustinAdorno'sthought all themoreattractive, ifno lessdaunting.
Afterbriefly tracking theway Adomo's proposition has enteredthe
writings of twoverydifferent critics(GeorgeSteinerand EricSantner),
I will offera close readingof Adomo'sAuschwitz textsand of related
works.One purposeof suchan exerciseis to bringto viewtheproduc-
tionof an important culturalcategory, one whichhas migratedfrom
theheightsof philosophy intothecurrents of popularintellectual cul-
ture.More crucially,I want to demonstrate, an
through analysis based
on Bakhtin'scategory of thechronotope, howcriticalandphilosophical
approachesto the Shoah, even ones whichdeclare its uniqueness,
alwaysprojecta theoryof history. Accordingto Bakhtin,thechrono-
tope capturesthe simultaneity of spatialand temporalarticulations in
culturalpractices:in theproduction of chronotopes, "[t]ime, as it were,
thickens, takes on flesh,becomesartistically visible;likewise,space
becomeschargedand responsive to themovements of time,plot,and
5. GaryWeissmanpointedouttomethepossiblepoeticseductiveness
ofthenear
assonancein"after
Auschwitz."
MichaelRothberg 49
history."6 As HaydenWhiteremarks, the"sociallystructured domain"

of the chronotope "definesthe horizonof possible events,actions,
agents,agencies,socialroles,and so forth of all imaginativefictions-
and all real storiestoo."7WhileAdornohimselfdoes notuse theterm
"chronotope," his accountof culture"afterAuschwitz" bothconstructs
a complexphilosophical chronotope and serves as a stunningexample
ofthekindofanalysisenvisioned byBakhtin.
AfterAuschwitz,Adorno implies,philosophicalcategoriesmust
themselves becomechronotopes - time-places thatserveas imperfect
embodiments of historical eventsand tendencies. Adorno'smeditations
on Auschwitzultimately transform his own thinking fromwithinand
lead himto reformulate thephilosophy of history thathad buttressed
his writings of the 1940s. One of the laterAdomo's mostimportant
insights is that the Holocaustforcesa confrontation betweenthought
and the eventfromwhichneither philosophy historycan emerge
nor
In
unscathed. place of the negativeteleologyof modernity foundin
Adomo's earlierworks,NegativeDialecticsrepresents modemhistory
as a traumatic shock,a shockwhichleadsto a criticalreformulation of
enlightenment. But Adorno'sfocuson Auschwitzis notjust turned
towardthepast;rather, it createsa constellation betweenthepastand a
seriesof postwardevelopments in Germanyand to a lesserextentin
the UnitedStatesand the SovietUnion.These developments include
thepersistence of theverymodesof thinking and social organization
thatmade theHolocaustpossible.The becoming-historical of thought
in Adornothuscorresponds to an ethicalandpoliticalimperative to pre-
venttherecurrence of "Auschwitz," an imperative whichentailsa criti-
cal programof public pedagogyand an ongoingengagement with
and
modernity democracy.8
Adorno
II. Rewriting
Among the of Adomo, two strategiesof interpretation
rewritings
haveemerged, one whichreadshima la lettreand one whichtakeshis
6. M. M. Bakhtin, TheDialogicImagination,trans.C. EmersonandM. Holquist
(Austin:U ofTexasP, 1981)84.
7. HaydenWhite,"Historical Emplotment andtheProblemofTruth," Probingthe
LimitsofRepresentation: " ed. Saul Friedlander
Nazismand the "FinalSolution, (Cam-
bridge:HarvardUP, 1992)341n.
8. Foran extended discussion
ofAdorno'sinterventionsindemocratic
pedagogical
see PeterUwe Hohendahl,
practiceand theory, "EducationAftertheHolocaust,"Pris-
maticThought: TheodorW.Adorno(Lincoln:U ofNebraskaP, 1995)45-72.
50 AfterAdorno
wordsas a jumpingoffpointforevengrander claims.Bothstrategies

haveproducedconflicting evaluations of thoseinterpretations,although
thegreatmajority of theliteralistcriticshaverejectedAdorno'sclaim.
ofpoetrycontinues
Afterall, theproduction apace withno immediately
obviousbarbaricsideeffects. Adornohas foundmoresympathetic read-
ers in thosewho choose to stretch his insightsbeyondthe restricted
realmof poetry,as he himselfultimately did. Many,of course,have
readAdomoin bothways,combining a particular to poetryor
attention
language withconsiderations of other areas of culturewhich readily
cometo mindas vulnerable to thecatastrophe of genocide.I havecho-
sento discusstwoparticular adaptations here,notbecausetheyarenec-
essarilytypicalof eithertendency, because,even in misreading
but
Adorno,theyproducesignificant variantsofhisAuschwitz chronotope.
Carefulattentionto the literalrealmof Adorno'sproposal(thatis,
poetry)does notnecessarily resultin an Adorniananalysis,as thecase
of George Steinerdemonstrates. Adorno'sclaim has producedsus-
tainedreflectionby Steiner on the statusof poetryand languageafter
Auschwitz.Steiner,who is probablyresponsible forthe initialimpact
of thephraseon an English-speaking audience,is one of thefewwho
have takenseriouslythe effectof Nazi brutality on the writingof
poetry.In 1959,andwithout mentioning Adorno,he diagnosedtheGer-
man languageas notyetfreeof thecontamination producedby years
of serviceto the ThirdReich. Steinerimpugnsnotjust the human
agentsof Nazism,buttheirinstruments as well: "theGermanlanguage
was not innocentof the horrorsof Nazism. . . . Nazism found in the
languagepreciselywhatit neededto givevoice to itssavagery."What
it needed,Steinerimplies,was preciselytheoppositeof thelanguage's
richpoetictradition:Hitler"sensedin Germananother musicthanthat
of Goethe,Heine,and Mann;a raspingcadence,halfnebulousjargon,
halfobscenity" (LS 99). Even fifteenyearsafterthefallof theReich,
Germany'sreconstruction was, as the essay's titlemaintains,
a "Hol-
low Miracle,"becausethenation's"languageis no longerlived,"but
propagates"a profound deadnessofspirit"(LS 96).
Despitesome reconsiderationsaboutthestatusof contemporary Ger-
man literature,
Steinerreprinted the alreadycontroversial in
essay his
1967 collection,Language and Silence. Althoughpossessing an
extremely wide rangeof reference, thisworkon "language,literature,
andtheinhuman" is premisedon theAdornian and seemsto
proposition
Michael Rothberg 51
reflecta readingespeciallyofAdorno'sNotesTo Literature, whichcon-

tainshis second,betterknownpronouncement on Auschwitz.In the
preface,Steinerdeclares,"We come after.We knownow thata man
can read Goetheor Rilke in the evening,thathe can play Bach and
Schubert, and go to his day's workat Auschwitzin themorning" (LS
ix). Thisparadoxicalrelationof poetryand cultureto barbarism stimu-
lates some of the book's fineinsightsintothe spatialand temporal
frameworks in whichgenocidetakesplace and in whichwe who come
afterapproachit. In an essayaptlytitled,"Postscript," Steinerdefines
his projectas an attempt "to discovertherelations betweenthosedone
to deathand thosealivethen,and therelations of bothto us; to locate,
as exactlyas recordand imagination are able,themeasureof unknow-
ing,indifference,complicity, commission whichrelatesthecontempo-
raryor survivor to theslain"(LS 157). Steinerdraws(imprecisely) on
Adorno'schronotope in a macabreillustration of such a relationship
betweenpast and present:"'No poetryafterAuschwitz,'said Adorno,
and SylviaPlathenactedtheunderlying meaningof his statement in a
manner andprofoundly
bothhistrionic sincere"(LS 53).
As theseformulations indicate,Steinerconsiderslanguagenotjust a
transparent,instrumental medium- although"The Hollow Miracle"
- but partof the historical
how it can be instrumentalized
demonstrates
metabolism ofthesocial.Yet Steiner'sviewofhistory is profoundlydif-
ferentfromAdorno's.Steiner'sconception of "after"imports an ideol-
ogy foreignto Adorno,for,unlikeAdorno,Steinerpresupposesthe
existenceof whathe calls "humaneliteracy": "We comeafter,and that
is thenerveof our condition. Aftertheunprecedented ruinof humane
valuesand hopesby thepoliticalbestiality of ourage" (LS 4). Such a
storyof declineis farfromAdorno'sdialectical evaluationofthelegacy
oftheEnlightenment, as I willargueinthenextsection.Insteadofmark-
ingtheintimate connection betweenbourgeois cultureandmodemterror
- explicitin Benjaminandin Adorno'sappropriation ofhim- Steiner
lamentsthelatter'semergence at theexpenseof theformer: "The possi-
bilitythatthepoliticalinhumanity of thetwentiethcentury and certain
elementsof thetechnological, mass societywhichhas followedon the
erosionof Europeanbourgeoisvalueshave done injuryto languageis
theunderlying themeofthisbook"(LS 49). Suchan idealistunderstand-
ingof historical
change,whichplacesvaluesbeforematerialand politi-
cal determinants,inverts Adorno'sthinking. Since at leastDialecticof
52 AfterAdorno
Enlightenment'sreadingof The Odyssey,Adorno has demonstrated

the
brutality inherent in the tendential hegemonyof "bourgeoisvalues."
The messageof "afterAuschwitz" is notone ofnostalgiafora glorious
culturewherelanguageapproximated lightor music,butof theneces-
sityof a new relationship tothe future.9
If Steiner'saccountstandsor fallson its conception of whatcomes
before Auschwitz (which one could for
contrast, example,to Adomo's
discussionof lyricpoetry),otherapproacheshave attempted to move
Adomo intoa new era afterAuschwitz. In a fascinatingstudyof post-
warGermanfilmandculture, EricSantner providesa strong andexpan-
sive misreading of the poetryproposition. Santnerframeshis study,
whichdeals primarily withthemourning and workingthrough of the
recentGermanpast,by proposingto investigate the symmetries and
asymmetries of the and
"postwar,""post-Holocaust," "postmodem"
periods.He critically alignshimselfwithpostmodem theory,arguing
thatit "represent[s] a kindof translation intomoreglobal termsof
Adorno'sfamousdictumthattherecouldbe no poetryafterAuschwitz.
AfterAuschwitz - afterthistraumato Europeanmodernity - critical
theorybecomesin largepartan ongoingelaboration of a seemingly
endlessseriesof 'no longerpossibles."'Santnerconsidersaesthetic,
political,cognitive,and socialpractices as partofthatiterative chainof
whathas becomesimpossible: "an inability to tolerate
difference,heter-
ogeneity,nonmastery."10 He thus understands the phrase "afterAus-
chwitz"as signifying a fundamental transformation in culturewhich
displacestheconditions of,andleadingup to,Auschwitz.
SantnerfollowsAlice Jardine in givingan affirmative readingof the
"no longerpossibles."Jardine writes,"I havepreferred to speakof our
epochas one of impossibility, andto call foran ethicsof impossibility:
9. See Steiner,Languageand Silence41-46.WithIn Bluebeard'sCastle(New

York:Atheneum, 1971),Steinerappearstobe making a somewhat perhapsmore
different,
Adornian, argument. Herehe wantsto readtheinhuman eventsof thetwentieth century,
nowreferred toas the"ThirtyYear's War"of 1915-1945, as anticipatedbythe"ennui"'of
nineteenth-centuryculture.
However, eveninnegatingthepastoral viewofthelastcentury
andthemoregeneralnostalgiaforpast"GoldenAges,"hiswriting stillpreserves
thesen-
timentofdecline.Implicit insuchphrasesas "undermining Europeanstability,""thedis-
solutionof civilizednorms,"and"thebreakdown of theEuropeanorder"(22, 25, 29) is
thesameinvestment inthegreatness ofEuropeanculturefoundinLanguageandSilence,
evenat thesametimethatthatculture'simpotence beforebarbarism is exposed.To get
outofthisbind,Steiner constructsa "religious"
theoryofculture,
whichisparticularly un-
Adornian initsanachronisticidealism.
10. Santner 8-9.
Michael Rothberg 53
theantithesis
im-possi-bility, ofposse/potis/patis, theantithesis of that
whichrelieson power,potency,possessors,despots,husbands,mas-
ters."11Santner's(and Jardine's)visionof the post-Holocaust future
appearsas a kindofmirror of Steiner'snostalgichumanism. If thepost-
modernists emphasizedifference as opposedto somemythical common
culture,they neverthelessboth a
posit positive vision of an alternative
thathas existedor does exist.In thistheyare equallyfarfromAdorno,
who despitetheambiguousformulations of his texts,allows no direct
formulation of cultureafterAuschwitzand proposesno such absolute
breakinmodernity (whether ornotithasinfacttakenplace).
WhileSantnerdistanceshimself fromsomepostmodern tendencies to
erasehistorical his
specificity, appropriation of Adomo leaves it unclear
whether the"no longerpossibles"whichhe and Jardine enumerate are
sketchesof an ethicalimperative or theactuallyexisting condition of our
epoch.Santner's ofAdorno's"poetry
translation afterAuschwitz" dictum
intothepostmodem ethicaldemand"totolerate difference,heterogeneity,
nonmastery" elidesthematerialist and radicallynegativedimensions of
Adomo's thought and replacesthemwitha liberalpluralistdiscourse.
Adomo'scomments are notso mucha call foropposition to power,as
buta questioning
are Jardine's, of thepossibility of suchresistance. In
bringingthesetwo very differentdiscourses together,Santner risks revers-
ingthesignificance ofAdorno'sthought withoutremarking on it.At the
least,sucha translationwould need to specifythe relationbetween ideo-
formulations
logical/theoretical of differenceand thematerial conditions
in whichtheytakeplace.Ifthisproblem remainsunresolved in Santner's
text,Santnerneverthelessposestheimportant questionofhowto "[undo]
a certainrepetition
compulsion ofmodemEuropeanhistory" that"found
itsultimatestaging in Auschwitz."l12In turningto Adomo's oeuvrethe
question becomes: in what ways does Adorno'sphilosophical restaging
of Auschwitz entail(or notentail)a breakwiththecondition of moder-
nitywhichconstitutesthematrix oftheNazigenocide?
III. AdornoonAuschwitz
takesplace in a complicated
Adorno'sphilosophizing tensionwith
themodernist - thebeliefin a constant
of progress
chronotope move-
ment forwardthrougha homogenousspace/time that continuously
11. Citedin Santner165n.See AliceJardine, 1 (Fall
2000,"Copyright
"Copyright
1987):6.
12. Santner9.
54 AfterAdorno
breakswiththepast.13Fromhis DialecticofEnlightenment, co-written

withMax Horkheimer in 1944butnotpublished until1947,to hisNeg-
ativeDialectics,Adornosimultaneously revealsthelacunaein thepro-
gressive vision of history and holds out formoreenlightenment, as
opposed to an impossible return to the pre-modem.14 Viewing
Adorno'sworkthrough the veryparticular lens of Auschwitzcannot
give thecompletepictureof his,in anycase, incredibly diversework.
But,giventhestatusof theHolocaustwithindebatesaboutmodernity,
theviewopenedup by a close,contextual readingofthepertinent texts
is notinsignificant. Adomo's Auschwitzchronotope is, in fact,a con-
stellation of conceptswhichreconfigures itselfoverthecourseof two
decades.It combineselements ofaesthetics ("To writepoetry"), tempo-
and
rality("after"), place ("Auschwitz") with a morallyor politically
evaluativepredicate("is barbaric").My readingof Adomowill mobi-
lize all of thosecategories in an attempt to reconstruct and examinehis
successiveconceptualconstellations. Despitethe simplisticsymmetry
impliedby thecopula("is"), neither thephraseas a wholenoritsindi-
vidualparticles is transparent, andtheyall demandinterpretation.
A briefconsideration of thestatusof "Auschwitz" servesto unsettle
whateverliteralist suspicionsunderlieone's readingof the phrase.As
architectural historian Robert-Jan van Pelthas demonstrated, Auschwitz
was initially to be thesiteof a NationalSocialist"designforutopia":
"Himmlerinsistedthatall Poles and Jewswouldbe removedfromthe
area,and thatAuschwitz itselfwouldbecomea 'paradigmof thesettle-
mentin theEast."' Onlyoverthecourseof time,and relatively latein
the camp's existence, did Auschwitz becomethe"dystopia"whichwe
know it as today- althoughcertainly, I would argue,this second
13. The spatio-temporal ofmodernity

articulation as consisting
ofa constant
break
betweenthe"spaceofexperience"
andthe"horizon
ofexpectation"
canbe foundinRein-
hartKoselleck, Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time, trans.Keith Tribe
(Cambridge:MIT, 1985).
14. In "Cultural CriticismandSociety," Adomowrites: "Thecultural
criticis barred
fromtheinsight thatthereificationof liferesultsnotfromtoomuchenlightenment but
fromtoolittle."See Adorno, Prisms,trans.SamuelandShierry Weber(Cambridge: MIT,
1981) 24. Hereafterreferred to parentheticallyas P in thetext.ConsideringAdorno's
ideasinthelightofdebatesovermodernity andpostmodemity, AlbrechtWellmerargues
fora notionofpostmodernity as a "second"or "postmetaphysicalmodernity":"a moder-
nitywithoutthedreamof ultimate but[which]wouldstillpreserve
reconcilliations, the
rational,
subversive,and experimental spiritof modemdemocracy, modemart,modem
scienceandmodemindividualism." See Albrecht Wellmer, ThePersistence
ofModernity.
Essays on Aesthetics.Ethics,and Postmodernism(Cambridge:MIT, 1991) viii.
MichaelRothberg 55
moment was alreadycontained in the"utopian"visionof thefirst.15 As

a Germanization by the occupyingpower of the Polish town of
Oswiecim,thenameAuschwitz alreadyrevealscolonialviolence.But it
is almostimmediately clearthatAuschwitz, a place name,is intended to
refernotso muchto a place as to an eventor events.How else could
something comeafterit?We knowtodaythattheeventto whichitrefers
is theslaughter byNazi Germany of an estimated 1.6 millionpeople(of
whom90 percentwereJewish)duringthecourseof fouryears(1940-
1944).The extermination whichcreatedAuschwitz's infamy was,forthe
mostpart,carriedout at AuschwitzII, knownas Birkenau,itselfthe
sightof a razed Polishvillage,Brzezinka.16 At the timethatAdorno
wrote,however, an accurate account of events at Auschwitz was notyet
available,norwas Auschwitz eventhecampbestknownto theEuropean
and Americanpublics,whichweremorefamiliar withthecampsliber-
ated by Britainand the UnitedStates,such as Belsen,Dachau, and
Buchenwald.In disseminating sucha formula, it seemsunlikely, then,
thatAdomomeantto refer only to the effectsof the events at Auschwitz,
sincethatparticular campwas partof a muchlargersystemcreatedand
runby theNazis. Auschwitz takeson bothmetonymic and synecdochic
in the
significance Adorno'sphrase: place-name refers bothto events
to
proximate andit to a of
totality events ofwhich itis one part.17
PierreNora's workon "sitesof memory" and JamesYoung's crucial
consideration of Holocaustmemorials as such sitesin The Textureof
Memory remindus thatmemory is notindigenous to a (rhetoricalor lit-
eral) place, but must be created through the ongoing intervention of
humanagents.18 In thecase of Auschwitz, theprocessof memorializa-
tionhad alreadybegunby the timeof Adorno'sfirstmentionof it:
15. Robert-Jan VanPelt,"A SiteinSearchofa Mission,"Anatomy oftheAuschwitz

Death Camp,eds. YisraelGutmanand MichaelBerenbaum (Bloomington: IndianaUP,
1994)94, 106.
16. JamesYoung,TheTexture ofMemory (NewHaven:Yale UP, 1993) 128.
17. Whilewe intheUnitedStateshave,sincethe1960s,conventionally calledthat
thatAdorno,at leastinhisearliestwritings,
ofeventstheHolocaust,itis unlikely
totality
hadthesameobjectinmindwhenhereferred toAuschwitz. Morelikely,hewas referring
tothetotality andnotnecessarily
ofNazi barbarism, Jewishcomponent.
itsspecifically It
is importantto keepin mindthatthegeneralsignificance of Auschwitzchangedalong
withAdorno'sconceptualizationof it- although Adorno'sprophetic reference to what
wouldbecomethebestknowof thecampsalso makesclearhowinfluential his thought
was inthisveryhistory.
18. PierreNora,"BetweenMemory andHistory:Les Lieuxde MImoire,"Represen-
tations26 (Spring1989):7-25.
56 AfterAdorno
"[i]n 1947, the Polish parliamentdeclared that the [remains] of the

campwouldbe 'forever as a memorial
preserved to themartyrdom
of
the Polish nation and otherpeoples'." This incipientnationalizationof
memory contrastedwith anothertendency,that of the International
Committeeof Auschwitz,foundedin 1952, to put a socialist spin on
the memorypreservedthere.19Unlike the effortsof the Polish and
Soviet states,the International
Committee,othergroupsof survivors,or
variouslyinterestedparties,Adorno does not seek to alterthe physical
topographyof Auschwitz.Nevertheless,throughhis mobilizationof the
propername Auschwitz,he has intervenedin Holocaust memorywork
and has powerfullycontributedto the negotiatedsignificanceof Aus-
chwitzas a literaland rhetoricalsiteof remembrance.
Much of Adorno's writingduringhis exile fromNazi Germanyin the
1940s concernsthe links between modernity, fascism,capitalism,and
culture.This is trueforthe grandtheorizingof Dialectic of Enlighten-
mentas forthe fragmentary, morepersonal insightsof Minima Moralia
(written1944-47; published 1951).2o These works set the stage forthe
Auschwitzcomments,whichappear firstin theessay "CulturalCriticism
and Society" (written1949; published1951). This essay does not prima-
rilyconcernthe effectsof WorldWar II or the implicationsof genocide.
Adomo dedicatesthe majorityof the essay to a kindof sublationof cul-
turalcriticism.In good Hegelian Marxistfashion,he firstdemonstrates
the implicationof such criticismin "sinister,integratedsociety"(P 34)
and in the culturewhich "shares the guilt of society"(P 26); he then
arguesthatculturalcriticismcan be surpassedby thedialecticalcritic:
To acceptcultureas a wholeis todepriveitoftheferment whichis its

verytruth - negation.The joyous appropriation of cultureharmo-
nizeswitha climateof military musicandpaintings ofbattle-scenes.
Whatdistinguishes dialectical
fromcultural is thatitheight-
criticism
ens cultural
criticismuntilthenotionofcultureis itselfnegated,ful-
filled,andsurmounted inone.(P28)
The dialecticalmethod,forAdorno,entailsa double movementback and

forthbetween"the knowledgeof societyas a totality"and "the specific
contentof theobject"(P 33). Culturalcriticism, on the otherhand,either
reducesthe object to a simplifiednotionof the social or exaltscultureas
19. Young130.
20. Adorno,MinimaMoralia,trans.E. F. N. Jephcott
(NewYork:Verso,1974).
Michael Rothberg 57
a source of humane values. Against these tendencies,Adorno respec-

tivelycastigatesvulgarclass analysisand insiststhat,"only insofaras it
withdrawsfromMan, can culturebe faithful to man" (P 20, 23).
If Adorno's stated goal as dialectical critic is "to shed light on an
object in itselfhermeticby castinga glance at society [and] to present
society with the bill which the object does not redeem" (P 33), what
can we make of the intrusionof Auschwitz in the essay's final para-
graph? This last passage exemplifiesAdorno's characteristicabsolut-
ism and puts the Auschwitzphrase in a contextnot usually considered
by culturalcritiquesof Adorno:
The moretotalsocietybecomes,thegreater thereification

ofthemind
andthemoreparadoxical itseffort onitsown.Even
toescapereification
themostextreme consciousnessofdoomthreatens todegenerate intoidle
Cultural
chatter. criticism
findsitselffacedwiththefinalstageofthedia-
lecticofculture andbarbarism. To writepoetry afterAuschwitz is bar-
baric.And thiscorrodeseventheknowledge of whyit has become
impossible to writepoetrytoday.Absolutereification, whichpresup-
posedintellectual progressas one of itselements,is nowpreparing to
absorbthemindentirely. Critical cannot
intelligence be equaltothischal-
lengeas longas itconfines toself-satisfied
itself contemplation.(P 34)
As the movementof thispassage (and the essay fromwhich it is taken)

demonstrates, Auschwitzdoes not stand alone, but is part of a histori-
cal process. Adorno assigns Auschwitz a criticalposition in this his-
tory,but less as an autonomousentitythan as a moment:Auschwitzis
"the final stage of the dialectic of cultureand barbarism."This does
not necessarilyentail a positionon the uniqueness of the event,but it
does demonstratewhat is missing fromcriticsof Adorno who ignore
theplace of genocidein "societyas a totality."
The complicatedand ambiguous structureof Adorno's German (as
well as the tendencyto decontextualizethe Auschwitzphrase- a ten-
dency facilitatedby its English translationinto a separate sentence)
revealsthe source of themistakeninterpretation thatAdornois declaring
Auschwitzthe source of poetry'simpossibility. The contextreveals that
the agentof the impossibilityis "absolutereification,"the process which
"absorb[s] the mindentirely."In this essay at least,Adornoplaces Aus-
chwitzwithinhis largercritiqueof capitalistmodernity and the Enlight-
enment, which stand behind the movement of reification.Adorno
assigns Auschwitza particularpositionas the of
apotheosis barbarism,
58 AfterAdorno
but the significanceof barbarismemergesfromits place in whathe sees

as its Enlightenment dialecticwithculture.The specificityof Nazi bar-
barismdoes not rupture,but continues,the strangeblend of instrumen-
tally rational means and irrationalends that the FrankfurtSchool
understands as theprimarylegacyof modernity.
The barbarism or irrationalityof poetry after Auschwitz is that,
against its implicitintentions,it cannotproduce knowledgeof its own
impossiblesocial status.This impossibility is neithertechnicalnor even
moral, forAdorno clearlydoes not see barbarismas the resultof indi-
vidual abilities,actions,or attitudes;it resultsinsteadfroman objective
and objectifyingsocial process which tends toward the liquidationof
the individual.As a formof ostensiblyfree individualexpression,the
writingof poetry would contributeto that "semblance of freedom
[which] makes reflectionupon one's own unfreedomincomparably
more difficult"(P 21). That semblance is false since the tendential
expansion of capitalistsocietyintegratesthe individualas well as rela-
tivelyautonomousspheressuch as culture,and unifiesthemaccording
to the identificatory logic of exchange.In Adorno's readingeven Marx-
ist theorymustchange to keep up withthe logic of capital since the lat-
ter "no longer tolerates even those relativelyindependent,distinct
momentsto which the theoryof causal dependence of superstructure
on base once referred.In the open-airprisonwhichthe worldis becom-
ing, it is no longerso importantto know what depends on what, such
is the extentto whicheverything is one" (P 34). The darkvision of this
passage is self-evident,but it also leaves open possibilitiesfor a less
absolutistposition. The emphasis on "becoming" is a crucial qualifier
to Adorno's totalizingcritique,implyingthat dominationhas not yet
eliminated all possible resistance. Secondly, the change in relation
between base and superstructure signals an increased role for cultural
politics since the culturalrealm appears no longer derivativeof eco-
nomics. Yet, however other critics or a later Adorno might exploit
theseopenings,in "CulturalCriticism"no such optimismis to be found.
In this essay, experienceand expectationcollapse into each other,as
the mindis absorbed,creatinga surfaceon whichdominationplays itself
out with deadeninglyrepetitiveblows. Time is reduced to a series of
stages whose difference is one of degreebut not kind.Meanwhilespace
suffersa similar iterativedemise as the concentration camp replicates
itselfin theplaces of public life:theworldbecomes an "open-airprison."
Michael Rothberg 59
If thecitizensof theworlddo notrecognize Auschwitz as thereflection

to Adorno,becauseterror
of theirlives,thatis only,according functions
moreabstractly outsideofthecampsthrough thelogicofidentity thatlaid
thegroundwork forgenocideandwhichhasnotdisappeared. The triumph
of exchangevalue,another nameforidentity in Adorno'swork,prepared
theway formassmurder by renderinghumanlifeindifferentand there-
foreexpendable. The twowordsofthephrase"afterAuschwitz" arethus
equivocal:theymarkthelimitsof an era,butone whichwas alreadyon
its way and whichremainstoday;and theylocatea crisis,butonlyin
ordertoextenditseffects spaceofexperience.
wellbeyonditsoriginal
The formthatAdorno'sreflections takehereseemsas mucha prod-
uct of Adorno'slongexile in theUnitedStatesduringthe 1930s and
1940s as it does of the situationin Europe.Adorno'sexperienceof
whathe called "late capitalism"in theUnitedStatesdid not initially
leave himwithmuchbeliefin theexistenceof alternatives to thelogic
of fascism.21 To the contrary, Horkheimer and Adorno'sanalysisin
- with its adjacent chapterson the culture
Dialectic of Enlightenment
and anti-Semitism
industry - suggestsa parallelbetweenAmerican-
stylemonopolycapitalism HitlerianNationalSocialism.Passages
and
inthe"CultureIndustry"
chaptermakethosesimilarities
explicit:
"Noonemustgohungry ifanyone
orthirsty; does,he'sforthecon-
camp!"Thisjokefrom
centration Hitler's
Germany mightshineforth
as a maximfrom oftheculture
aboveall theportals industry...
Under liberalism
thepoorwerethoughttobe lazy;nowthey areauto-
matically ofsuspicion.
objects Anybody whois notprovided forout-
sideshouldbeina concentration orat
camp, any in
rate the hell
ofthe
mostdegrading workandtheslums.2
Whateverits truth-value(and who can denyits grainof truthin an
Adorno'sargument
era of homeless"shelters"and welfare"reform"),
21. ForsomeofAdorno'sreflections on hisU.S. exile,see Adorno,"On theQues-

tion:'Whatis German?'"New GermanCritique36 (Fall 1985): 121-31;and Adorno,
"Scientific of a EuropeanScholarin America,"TheIntellectual
Experiences Migration:
Europeand America,1930-1960,eds. DonaldFlemingandBernardBailyn(Cambridge:
HarvardUP, 1969) 338-70.The latteraccount,in particular,
represents a morepositive
inAmericathanthewartime
takeon hisexperiences andimmediate postwarwritingsdo.
Hohendahl
In PrismaticThought, arguesconvincingly thatthis"pro-American reorienta-
bytheconfrontation
tion"was "motivated withpostwar Germany" (43).
22. Max Horkheimer andTheodorAdorno, DialecticofEnlightenment, trans.John
Cumming (NewYork:Continuum, 1972) 149-50.
60 AfterAdorno
demonstrates the spatio-temporalsituatednessof the productionof chro-

notopes (the latterare always producedfromwithinotherchronotopes).
First,Adorno's writingbears obvious tracesof his Americanlocation,as
his laterwritingswill intervenein a more strictlyGermancontext.Sec-
ondly,I thinkit is arguablethatsuch a "comic" comparisoncould only
take place at a momentbeforethe camps had been sacralizedas sites of
ultimateand unspeakableterror- beforeAuschwitzwas "Auschwitz."
This is not to say thattherewas not alreadyconsciousnessof the camps
whichAdomo cites in creatingthisphrase,forindeedtherewere already
memoirs,films,and otheraccounts.But it is to suggestthatthetemporal
break which we retroactively inferin the phrase "afterAuschwitz"had
not yet takenplace in the 1940s' public consciousness.The responseto,
and the form of, some of the texts of the late 1940s (including
Adomo's) confirmthatthe afterlifeof an eventneeds to be periodized
as carefullyas the eventitself.An eventalone does not always rupture
history;rather,the constellationwhichthateventformswithlaterevents
createstheconditionsin whichepochaldiscontinuity can be thought.
The tenuous,if not imaginary, qualityof the individualand of non-rei-

fied productionin "administeredsociety" is certainlyone of Adomo's
greatthemes,one whichhe expressedmost emphaticallyin the "Culture
Industry"chapterof Dialectic of Enlightenment. But poetry,to which
Adorno refersin this context,presentsa particularaestheticcase which
should not be immediatelysubsumedunderthe generalview of culture
under late capitalism. In reflectingon the specificityof poetry in
Adomo's systemwe observe the emergenceof inconsistencies.In his
1957 essay "On Lyric Poetryand Society,"Adornoshows the limitsof
lyricpoetry- "the most fragilethingthatexists"- in the attempt"to
attainuniversalitythroughunrestrained individuation."23 The process of
individuationfails, and the lyriccannot remainaloof fromthe "bustle
and commotion"of society,because "the demandthatthe lyricworldbe
virginal,is itselfsocial in nature.It impliesa protestagainsta social situ-
ationthateveryindividualexperiencesas hostile,alien,cold, oppressive"
(NL 37, 39). Poetrycannotactualize its own ideal and standoutsidethe
forces of the rationalizedsocial totality.However, the essay on lyric
poetrydoes not entirelyendorsethe pessimismabout cultureevidentin
23. Adomo,NotestoLiterature vol. 1,trans.Shierry

WeberNicholsen(New York:
ColumbiaUP, 1991)37,38. Hereafter
referredtoparenthetically
inthetextas NL.
MichaelRothberg 61
the culturalcriticismessay,becauseit showspoetryas registering an

elementof protest.Poetryis not simplyan ideologicalattempt"to
falselypresentsomeparticular valuesas generalones,"Adornowarns
in 1957.The essenceofpoems,andotherworksof art,"consistsin giv-
ing formto thecrucialcontradictions in real existence":in directcon-
tradictionto theideas of ideologycritique, "thegreatness of worksof
art... consistssolelyin thefactthattheygivevoice to whatideology
hides"(NL 39). For Adornoin thelate 1950s,poetryhas an important
mimeticfunction, one thatconsistsnotin reproducing theharmonious
narrativeof traditionalrealistforms,but ratherin expressing the rifts
thatrealistmimesisrepresses.The distinction betweenthisrevelatory
notionof artas expression and theearlieridea thatpoetryafterAus-
chwitzmystifies knowledgeof thesocial pointsto theexistenceof a
dual theoryof poetryin Adorno.When,in a laterdiscussion,Adorno
switchesfrom"poetryafterAuschwitz"to "lyricpoetryafterAus-
chwitz,"he also shiftshisconception oftheaesthetic fromthatin "Cul-
and
turalCriticism Society" tothatin"On LyricPoetry inSociety."
Thirteen yearsafterfirstmeasuring thepossibility of post-Auschwitz
cultureand aftermuchintervening publicdebate,Adornoreturned to
the themein his essay "Commitment." This work,betterknownthan
"CulturalCriticismand Society,"criticizesSartre'sthenfashionable
notionof engagedliterature. The Auschwitzsection,entitled in one of
its Englishtranslations as "The Problemof Suffering," servesas a
hingebetweena critiqueof Sartre'sand, especially,Brecht'spoliti-
cized aestheticand a defenseof the "autonomous" art of Kafka and
Beckett.Adornodevastatingly revealsthe contradictions of Sartre's
conception of art,demonstrating thathis playsare "bad modelsof his
own existentialism":"theydisplayin theirrespectfortruththe whole
administered universewhichhis philosophyignores;the lesson we
learnfromthemis one of unfreedom."24 Adornosimilarly exposesthe
lack of fitbetweenformand contentin Brecht'ssatireof fascism.
Brechttrivializesfascism, makingit appear"merehazard,likean acci-
dent or crime," so that its "true horror. . . is conjured away" ("C"
308). Adorno is not immuneto Brecht'spoliticalclaims, but he
remainsunimpressed by the politicallevel of the work:"If we take
Brechtat his wordand makepoliticsthecriterion by whichto judge
24. Adorno, "Commitment,"The Essential FrankfurtSchool Reader, eds. Andrew
AratoandEikeGebhardt(NewYork:Continuum,
1982)304. Hereafter referred
primarily
inthetextas "C."
toparenthetically
62 AfterAdorno
his committedtheatre,by the same tokenit proves untrue"("C" 309).

Thus far then, Adorno seems to confirmthe aestheticpessimism we
saw in the earlieressay, now extendingit beyondbourgeoisindividual-
istproductionintotheengagedartof thepeople.
The example of Auschwitzreveals a thirdpossibilitybeyondthe anti-
nomy of political/apoliticalart.Adornobegins by self-consciouslyreit-
eratinghis earlier claim, now specifiedas a citational"saying" about
lyricpoetry, and then goes on to complicate(if notcontradict)it:
I have no wishto softenthesaying[Satz]thatto writelyricpoetry

afterAuschwitz is barbaric;
itexpressesinnegativeformtheimpulse
whichinspirescommitted literature.... But[HansMagnus]Enzens-
also remains
berger'sretort true,thatliterature
mustresistthisverdict,
inotherwords,be suchthatitsmereexistence after
Auschwitz is nota
surrendertocynicism.25
The paradoxical situationof art is that this cynicismcan be avoided

only when kept at bay by a full recognitionand remembranceof the
horrorsof the age. The purpose of art is neitherto representthe inter-
ests of the proletariator the individual,nor to grantmeaningto abstract
humanity,but to remaintrueto suffering: "The abundance of real suf-
fering toleratesno forgetting.... Yet this suffering,what Hegel called
consciousnessof adversity,also demandsthe continuedexistenceof art
while it prohibitsit; it is now virtuallyin art alone that sufferingcan
still find its own voice, consolation, without immediatelybeing
betrayedby it" ("C" 312). The impossible demand put on art more
closely resemblesthe statusof lyricpoetryin the 1957 essay - the
anguishedindividualexpressionof social contradictions - thanit does
the notion of poetryas that which preventsthe comprehensionof its
own impossibility.But, althoughlyricpoetryis mentionedby Adorno,
it does notserveas theprimaryexampleof post-Auschwitz aesthetics.
The "Commitment"essay mobilizes a different aestheticin the wake
of the catastrophefromthatdismissedin "CulturalCriticismand Soci-
ety" or partiallyrescued in "Lyric Poetryand Society" - its name is
Beckett. For Adorno, Beckett's writings(as well as Kafka's) enact
what othersonly proclaim: "Kafka and Beckettarouse the fear which
existentialismmerely talks about. By dismantlingappearance, they
explode fromwithinthe art which committedproclamationsubjugates
25. Adorno,"Commitment" 312. In German,
"Satz" is moreneutral than"saying,"
or"phrase,"
meaning"sentence" butthesenseofself-citationis stillpresent.
MichaelRothberg 63
fromwithout, and henceonlyin appearance"("C" 314-15). In these

writers- one who proleptically internalized the disaster,the other
who retrospectively maintainsitsabsentpresence- thenotionof art's
barbarity is notrefuted butenactedin orderto presentthebarbarity of
theage. Thisallows them to avoid the more chillingparadoxpresentin
"theso-calledartistic representation" of historical terror:"Whengeno-
cide becomespartof theculturalheritagein thethemesof committed
literature,it becomeseasierto continueto play alongwiththeculture
whichgave birthto murder" ("C" 312-13).Representational artcreates
the possibility forsadisticidentification in membersof the audience
becauseit containsa surplusof pleasure:"The so-calledartisticrepre-
sentation of thesheerphysicalpain of peoplebeatento thegroundby
riflebuttscontains,howeverremotely, the powerto elicitenjoyment
out of it" ("C" 312). The problemof pleasureis intrinsic to thenon-
of - in
synchronicityrepresentation retrospect, it seems, anyhistorical
situationcan be mobilizedfortheenjoyment of thespectator who con-
sumeshistory at a spatialand temporal distance.Beckett'sart,Adorno
claims,evadesthisproblemthrough itsrefusalof realistfiguration, but
one is justifiedin askingwhyit too cannotbe appropriated by the cul-
tureindustry. This is preciselywhathappens,accordingto Frederic
Jameson,duringthe transition to postmodernism. Calling Adorno's
essayan "anti-political revivaloftheideologyofmodernism," Jameson
drawsattention to the way that"whatwas once an oppositionaland
anti-socialphenomenon in the earlyyearsof the century, has today
become the dominantstyle of commodity production."26 Adorno's
defenseof highmodernism neednotbe understood uniquely,however,
as a transcendental defenseof a particular ideologyof style.Reading
Adornoin contextdemonstrates thespecificity of his intervention in a
post-Auschwitz culture,even as it inevitably illustratesthe contextual
limitations ofhispoliticalandaesthetic vision.
Adornomakesclear that"autonomous" art's apparentavoidanceof
social realismshouldnotbe confusedwithahistoricism. In "Tryingto
Understand Endgame," written with
contemporaneously "Commitment,"
he givesa morecompleteanalysisof Beckettand uses thisplayto add
to the"afterAuschwitz"chronotope alreadyunderconstruction in his
otheressays. Adornoonce again contrasts Beckettto existentialism,
26. FredricJameson,"Reflections and Politics,eds.

in Conclusion,"Aesthetics
ErnstBlochetal. (London:NewLeft,1977)209.
64 AfterAdorno
claimingthat"Frenchexistentialism had tackledthe problemof his-

In
tory. Beckett,history swallowsup existentialism"(NL 244). In its
refusalto findany figment of humanity withinthe post-catastrophic
landscape,Endgamefiguresforth "thehistoricalhorror of anonymity"
(NL 245). The subject,andthesubject'shistorical
sense,mayhaveatro-
phied,but,forAdomo,thisis itselfa historical
processforwhichBeck-
ett's play serves as a registration of the real. If existentialism
"negat[es]preciselytheparticularity,
individuationin timeand space,
thatmakesexistenceexistenceand notthemereconceptof existence,"
"Beckettposes the decisive antithesis.. . . Instead of omittingwhat is
temporal - whichcanbe existence
in existence onlyin timehe sub-
tractsfromexistencewhattime,the historical tendency, is in reality
preparing to getridof' (NL 246). Beckett'schronotope is thusone of
space and time'stendential erasure- notan abstract negationof par-
ticularity, but a concreteprocessaffecting "consciousness'powerto
conceive[history], thepowertoremember" (NL 247).
This chronotope, whilecertainlyincorporatingthetemporality of the
atomicage, amongotherfactors, has intimatetieswiththepost-Holo-
caustera. Hiroshimaand Auschwitzcombineto transform livinginto
halflife,or better, "AftertheSecondWorldWar,everything,
afterlife:
including a resurrected
culture,has beendestroyed without realizingit;
humankind continuesto vegetate,
creepingalongaftereventsthateven
the survivors cannotreallysurvive,on a rubbishheap thathas made
evenreflection on one's damagedstateuseless"(NL 244). The empha-
sis in "CulturalCriticism and Society"was on theextermination camp
as the"finalstage"of reification owingits existenceto thetriumph of
an instrumental reasonunleashedby theEnlightenment and capitalism.
This tendential readingof history- itselfa kindof inverted reflection
-
of the conceptof progress is certainly stillpresent, but Adorno's
reflections on Beckettput more emphasison what comes afterthe
"Final Solution,"on thesurvivalof theultimate barbarism intoan era
premisedon reparation[ Wiedergutmachung].
Adornowas writing in thewakeof a periodofpostwarreconstruction
during which therewas an ongoingattempt to normalize
and legitimate
West Germandemocracy and its "economicmiracle";thiscould only
workthrough a selectiveforgettingoftherecentpastand an instrumen-
talizationof thestate'sfinancialreparationsto individual
Jewsand to
Israel. Accordingto Johannes von Moltke,West Germany'sofficial
MichaelRothberg 65
"politicsof memory" vis-a-vistheHolocaustand Jewsserved(and,to

a certainextent,continueto serve)as "theFederalRepublic'sentry-
ticketinto the Westernalliance."27Adornowas dubiousabout the
breakwiththepastthatthisinstrumentalization of memory implied.He
wentso faras to suggestin 1959 thathe "consider[ed] the continued
existenceof NationalSocialismwithindemocracypotentially more
threatening thanthe continuedexistenceof fascisttendenciesagainst
democracy."28 Bearingthe messagethatall cannotbe made good
again,Beckett's playsand Adorno'sessaysintervene in theaffirmative
postwar cultural of and
politics Western, particularly German,society.
Adorno finds evidence of the underside of the postwarEuropean
"rebirth" in thefateof thecharactersNagg and Nell, whichrepresents
the hypocrisy of the "welfaresystem":"Endgamepreparesus fora
stateof affairsin whicheveryone who liftsthelid of thenearesttrash-
can can expectto findhis ownparentsin it.... The Nazis haveirrevo-
cably overthrown the taboo on old age. Beckett'strashcansare
emblemsof the culturerebuiltafterAuschwitz"(NL 266-67). The
"stateof affairs"uncovered by AdornorecallsGeorgeSteiner'scontro-
versialdenunciation of what he termedGermany's"hollowmiracle."
Steiner,who woulda fewyearslaterbringAdorno'sideas aboutAus-
chwitzto an English-language readership,arguedin 1959 thattheGer-
manlanguageitselfwas taintedby theafterlife of theShoah.29Adorno
attempts to exposethathollownessfroma strategic positionwithinthe
FederalRepublic,but his accountof the culturaldevastation extends
beyond national boundaries,as ultimatelydoes Steiner's.30
Bothof theessaysthatprivilege Beckett'sautonomous art- finding
in themthatto which"has fallentheburdenof wordlessly expressing
whatis barredto politics"- end,unsurprisingly, witha paradox."Com-
mitment" evokesPaul Klee's paintingAngelusNovus(the model for
27. Johannes vonMoltke,"Exhibiting Jewish FoundObject3 (Spring

Lifeworlds,"
1994): 15. Foran important ofthe"Jewish
consideration question"inpostwarGermany,
see AnsonRabinbach, "TheJewish QuestionintheGermanQuestion," NewGermanCri-
on thepoliticsof Wiedergutmachung,
tique44 (1988): 159-92.Foran Israeliperspective
see Tom Segev,TheSeventh Million,trans.HaimWatzman(New York:Hill andWang,
1993) 189-252.
28. Adorno,"WhatDoes Comingto TermswiththePastMean?"BitburginMoral
andPoliticalPerspective,ed. GeoffreyHartman (Bloomington:IndianaUP, 1986) 115.
29. Steiner, LanguageandSilence95-109.
30. See theotheressaysinSteiner'sLanguageandSilence,written intheearlyand
mid-1960sandclearlyinfluenced byAdorno.
66 AfterAdorno
Benjamin's Angel of History)in orderto capturethe ambiguityof the

chronotopeof "afterAuschwitz":"The machineangel's enigmaticeyes
forcethe onlookerto tryto decide whetherhe is announcingthe culmi-
nationof disasteror salvationhiddenwithinit" ("C" 318). In the End-
game essay, Adornoclaims thatin Beckett's"imageless image of death
. . the distinctionbetween absolute domination- the hell in which
time is completelyconfinedwithinspace, in which absolutelynothing
changes any more- and themessianicstatein whicheverything would
be in its rightplace, disappears"(NL 274). AlthoughAdorno's writing
often seems to find in this "last absurdity"confirmation for what he
calls in Minima Moralia his "melancholyscience," we mightalso find
in theselateressays thatscience's "standpointof redemption."31
Perhaps because of the melancholic's refusalto break with a trau-
matic event, some historicalsense is preserved,even if only in the
form of the "imageless image" or the "wordless expression." The
essay, "Tryingto UnderstandEndgame," is dedicated,afterall, "To S.
B., in memoryof Paris, Fall 1958" (NL 244; emphasisadded - MR).
The patentlyBenjaminianlanguage and themesof these passages raise
interesting questionsabout the relationbetweenAdomo and the author
of the "Theses on the Philosophyof History."32Most significantly for
this project would be the impetusthat Adorno takes fromthe Theses
for the constructionof a chronotopicconstellationbetween the Hit-
lerzeitand the postwarera whichBenjaminneverknew. Differentiating
historical materialism from historicism,Benjamin claims that the
formerunderstandshistoricity as a retrospective qualityof events: facts
"[become] historicalposthumously." The materialist
historical
whichhisownerahasformed
graspstheconstellation witha definite
ear-
lierone.Thushe establishes
a conception as the'timeof
ofthepresent
withchipsofMessianic
whichis shotthrough
thenow'[Jetztzeit] time.33
The kind of memoryAdorno produces in Beckett's texts is the effect

of a constellationconnectingEurope and the Federal Republic with its
31. Adorno,MinimaMoralia15,247.
32. Forconsideration
ofBenjamin'sinfluence
onAdorno'sNegativeDialectics,see
TheOriginsofNegative
SusanBuck-Morss, Dialectics(Hassocks:HarvesterP, 1977)and
Fredric Late Marxism:
Jameson, or,thePersistence
Adorno, oftheDialectic(Londonand
NewYork:Verso,1990)49-58.
33. WalterBenjamin,Illuminations,
trans.HarryZohn (New York: Schocken,
1969)263.
Michael Rothberg 67
recentpast.ButwhileBenjaminis primarily concernedwith"blast[ing]

open the continuum of history,"34
Adorno's ratherdifferentconcern
whichunderliesa superficially
hereis to exhibitthecontinuity discon-
tinuousGermanhistory.
In a famousstudyfromthe late 1960s,Alexanderand Margarete
Mitscherlicharguedthatthevastmajority of Germanpeoplehad never
cometo termswiththeirrelationshipto thecrimesof theNazi era,but
and unconsciously
had,instead,repetitively attemptedto breakentirely
withthepast:"Thatso fewsignsofmelancholia orevenofmourning are
to be seen amongthegreatmassesof thepopulation can be attributed
denialofthepast."35
onlyto a collective Adornoanticipated thisdiagno-
sis of Germany's to
"inability mourn" in his 1959 discussionof working
He reads what the
der Vergangenheit].
throughthe past [Aufarbeitung
Mitscherlichs term"rupture" withthe past as a surfacephenomenon
which indicatesa deeper continuity: "This collective narcissism
[whereby powerless individuals were gratifiedthrough with
identification
thewhole]was grievously damagedby the collapseof theHitler regime;
a damagewhich,however, occurred in therealmof simplefact,without
eachindividual becoming consciousofitandthereby gettingoverit."36
In his writingsfromthelate 1950sand early1960s,we see Adorno
refiningand reshaping theconception of Auschwitzfirstmentioned in
"CulturalCriticism."Herehe is concerned withtheproduction andrecep-
tion of culturein a contextwhererupture and continuity coexist-
where,in otherwords,layersof different conceptionsof spaceand time
can clusterarounda singlename,Auschwitz. He writesfromwithin a sit-
uationin whichthehistoricity of Auschwitzhas notyetsettledintoa
fact.Rather,it floatswithincertaininstitutionallydetermined parameters,
as a factin the making and thus as one of themeans and thestakesof
variouspoliticalnegotiations.His concernis obviously notwiththeindi-
vidualpsychology ofGermans butwithobjective"conditions overwhich
[themajority ofpeople]haveno control, thereby keepingthismajority in
a condition of politicalimmaturity [Unmiindigkeit]."37To combat such
immaturity he recognizes theneedto wagea battleovertheconstruction
of chronotopes, hencehis championing of formsof cultural production,
34. Benjamin262.
4.
35. CitedinSantner
36. Adorno,"WhatDoes ComingTo TermsWiththePast Mean?" 122; citedin
5.
Santner
37. Adorno,"WhatDoes ComingTo TermsWiththePastMean?" 124.
68 AfterAdorno
suchas thatofBeckett, whichrepresentcontemporary as theper-

history
sistenceofdarkforcesfromtherecent past.Adorno considers
such a his-
toricalvisionnecessary to theopeningof alternative
futuresand nota
intodefeatism.
retreat In hislatewritings,
Adomowillcontinue thisdis-
cussionintherealmofmetaphilosophical discourse,
emphasizingtheaus-
terepedagogicaland theoretical praxisnecessaryfortrulyactivating
whatBenjamin calledtheMessianicpotentialofthepresent.
WhileI havepointedto a breakor shiftin Adorno'sthinking between

the firsttwo moments of his continuing "after Auschwitz"discourse,
the historical
periodwhichencompasses thosetwo momentsdoes not
so muchwitnessa breakas markthedevelopment of Germany's post-
war reconstruction. Adorno'ssecondreiteration of "poetryafterAus-
chwitz,"on theotherhand,notonlyshifts thetenorof histhinking, but
was also publishedin a culturalcontextwherethe meaningof the
eventsofWorldWarII was in theprocessoftransforming itselfsignifi-
cantly. Because of the different emotional and historical forces
unleashedby the Eichmann trialin Israelin 1961,theAuschwitz trials
in themid-1960s, the1967Arab-Israeli War,andthe1968international
studentrevolts,the 1960s saw a rapidand unevendevelopment of
"Holocaustconsciousness."38 The belatedemergence of thishistorical
consciousnessvariedaccordingto nationalcontext,as well as more
local and psychological factors,butit remainsa social factthat,some-
wherein thatdecade,Auschwitz tookon a newsignificance. The repeti-
tionof "afterAuschwitz" by Adorno and his followers such as George
Steinerbothreflects thisemergence andhelpedtoshapeit.
Adorno'stestimony to thepersistence ofhistorical memory in unlikely
culturallocations(i.e.,thewritings ofBeckett)makesclearthatthenear-
silenceand imagelessness of artafterAuschwitz shouldnotbe confused
withactualsilenceor witha banon representation toutcourt."Noteven
silencegetsus out of the circle"of cultureand barbarism afterAus-
chwitz, Adorno writes in Negative Dialectics. "In silence we simplyuse
thestateof objectivetruth to rationalize
oursubjective incapacity,once
38. See theessayscollectedinSaul Friedltinder,

Memory,History, andtheExtermi-
nationof theJewsof Europe(Bloomington and Indianapolis:IndianaUP, 1993) for
insightsintothegrowthof Holocaustmemoryin different nationalcontexts.For the
UnitedStatescontextin particular,
see PeterNovick,"HolocaustMemoryin America,"
The Artof Memory.-
Holocaust Memorials in History,ed. JamesYoung (New York: Pres-
tel,1994) 159-65.
Michael Rothberg 69
moredegrading truthintoa lie."39Here,Adornopreempts thereading

ofhisproposition thatimpliesthatbecausethehorror oftheannihilation
of theJewscannotbe perfectly imitated or reproduced accordingto the
idealsof a naiverealism(as ifanything couldbe), all artistic
representa-
tionshouldcease. Adornodisallowsevidenceofthesubject'sincapacity
to representtotalhorror as grounds fortheabdication ofart.Sucha neg-
ativeaestheticof silence,he argues,wouldonlybe functionally moti-
vatedby thedesire"to rationalize" itsownpredestined failure.Butthis
wouldbe no refusalof theadministered societywhichmadeAuschwitz
possible,since"to instrumentalize artis to undercut theoppositionart
mountsagainstinstrumentalism."40 Art'sroleis its"afunctionality,"and
thusitssuccesslies in itsveryfailure(although notanyfailure).Hence
Adomovaluestheproximity of theartto silence.Thisproximity is not
an abdication butan articulation of suffering. Adornofindsthisquality
in thepoetryof Paul Celan,whomhe comparesto Becketton thebasis
of a common"anorganic" writing practice:"[Celan's] poetryis perme-
ated by a sense of shamestemming fromthe factthatart is unable
eitherto experience or to sublimate suffering.Celan's poemsarticulate
unspeakable horror by being silent,thus turning theirtruthcontentinto
a negativequality."4Such an assessment of Celan in Adorno'sfinal
worktakes on added significance, giventhatthe originalstatement
about poetryafterAuschwitzis consideredin popularmythology a
pointedrejoinderto the former's "Todesfuge.'42
Afterthe disavowal in postmodernism of the "greatdivide," as
AndreasHuyssencalls it,betweenhighand mass culture, Adornohas
frequently been criticizedfor his conceptionof an aestheticrealm
autonomous fromthesocial.43Yet Adorno'scomments aboutartafter
Auschwitzdemonstrate his understanding of the social contentof the
"silent"aesthetic.In NegativeDialectics,Adornoechoeshis comments
in "Commitment" and goes on to suggestlinksbetweenartand histori-
cal understanding: "Perennial suffering has as muchrightto expression
as a torturedmanhas to scream;henceit mayhavebeenwrongto say
39. Adorno, NegativeDialectics367.
40. Adomo,Aesthetic Theory,trans.C. Lenhardt(New York:RoutledgeandKee-
ganPaul,1984)442.
41. Adorno, AestheticTheory311,444.
42. Foran exampleofthiserror, see AlvinRosenfeld,A DoubleDying:Reflections
on HolocaustLiterature
(Bloomington: IndianaUP, 1980) 13.
43. AndreasHuyssen,"MappingthePostmodern," ed.
Feminism/Postmodernism,
LindaNicholson(NewYork:Routledge, 1990)249.
70 AfterAdorno
thatafterAuschwitz youcouldno longerwritepoems."He thenimme-

diately renders this recantation
ambiguous: "Butit is notwrongto raise
theless culturalquestionwhether afterAuschwitzyou can go on liv-
ing."44This lastthought bringsAdorno'sphilosophy to theedgeof the
abyss,but it is onlyin thispositionthathe findstheresourcesfora
thoroughgoing negation ofwhatis.
The guiltof livingaftertheso-calledFinalSolution, Adomosuggests
in thisemotionally chargedpassage, "is irreconcilablewithliving":"And
theguiltdoesnotcease to reproduce itself, because not foran instant can
it be made fullypresentto consciousness. This,nothingelse, is what
compelsus to philosophize. And in philosophy we experience a shock:
thedeeper,themorevigorousitspenetration, thegreatoursuspicion that
philosophy removesus fromthingsas theyare.'"45 Thispassageantici-
patespsychological aboutwhathas cometo be knownas "survi-
insights
vor's guilt,"but,moreimportantly, recognizes theimplications of those
insights forculture at and
large points us toward thesocialframework in
whichthiscondition's symptoms should be read.The surprising personal
qualityexhibitedby Adomo's writing to a social contextin
testifies
which,duringand aftertheEichmann trial,survivors werebeginning to
be recognized as a groupthathad beensilently hauntedbya articular
setofexperiences andexpectations aboutlife"after Auschwitz."4
In thislight,itis interesting
to compare thereflectionsinNegative Dia-
lecticswiththefamousEichmann testimony of Holocaustnovelist Yehiel
De-Nur(whosepen-name, Ka-Tzetnik, is derivedfromtheGermanacro-
for
nym concentration camp).Before literallycollapsingon thestand,in
"one of themostdramatic moments in thecountry's history," according
to an Israelijournalist,47De-Nurdescribed his experience of thecamps
44. Adorno,NegativeDialectics362-63. The Germanmakes it clear thatthe
refers
"could"andthe"can"ofthesesentences notto an ability,
butan ethicalprinciple:
"nachAuschwitzlieBekeinGedichtmehrsichschreiben .... ob nachAuschwitz noch
sich leben lasse, ob vollends es diirfe..." The originalverbs lassen and diirfenused here
denote"allowance"and"permission."
45. Adorno, Negative Dialectics 364; translationmodified - MR. Hereafter
referredtoparenthetically
inthetextas ND.
46. MiriamHansenhasmadea similar pointaboutAdorno'snotionofexperiencein
thecontextofherbrilliantforwordtoOskarNegtandAlexander Kluge,PublicSphereand
Experience,trans.PeterLabanyi,JamieOwenDaniel,andAssenkaOksiloff (Minneapolis:
U ofMinnesota P, 1993):"the'structure'ofAdorno'sexperiencewas notmerelya gener-
alizedperception
of 'horror';itwas theinsistence
on a fundamental
Zusammenhang [rela-
tion,connection,
context], thepersistenceof thepastin thepresentthatmaintainedthe
imperativetoengagethelegacyofmassannihilation acrossgenerational
boundaries"(xix).
47. Segev4.
Michael Rothberg 71
in wordswhichAdomo'sformulation echoes:"Timetherewas different

fromwhatis hereon earth .... And the inhabitants ofthatplanethadno
names.... Theywerenotborntherenordid anyonegive birth.Even
theirbreathing was regulated bythelawsofanother nature. Theydidnot
live,nordidtheydie, in accordance with the laws of thisworld.'48These
wordscouldcomefromAdorno'sdescription of theuniverseof a Beck-
ettplay. This publicenunciation of an "Auschwitz" chronotope, from
someonewho,unlikeAdomo,had beenat its center, contributed to the
climatein whichan "afterAuschwitz" chronotope couldalso be spoken.
Onlybeginning in the 1960s could survivors and others who comeafter
to
begin bring their respective and
experiences expectations to bearon
in
each other thepublicsphere.Such delayed a "event" (or the doubling
oftheeventinitsworking through) also necessitates reflectionon thepre-
existing modesofreflection; Adorno'slateworkattempts to bringtheory
intolinewiththecultural confrontation withtraumaand theattempts at
theworkofmourning happening all around him.
The passagefromNegativeDialecticsin whichAdomoassessesthe
"guilt"of thepost-Holocaust world,also marksthelimitsof philosophy
as SigridWeigelhas recently
itself, argued.Whatcompelsphilosophy is
not only guilt,but the non-synchronicity of guiltand consciousness,
thosemoments thatconsciousness cannotfullygraspand whichthere-
forereturn ceaselessly.But if consciousness of "theotherof conscious-
ness," i.e., genocide and its aftermath, groundsphilosophyafter
Auschwitz, it also stripsawayitsground, sinceitproducesthetraumatic
"shock"thatthesenon-integratable moments of guiltcannotbe recon-
ciled withanyalreadyexistingphilosophy of history.49 Thinking mod-
em history under the sign of trauma does not,however, Adornoto
lead
abandonhisengagement withmodernity, rather
but toreformulate it.
The "afterAuschwitz"contextforcesa recognition thatphilosophy
itselfhas beentransformed bythematerial forcesofhistory whichled to
theShoah;in fact,it forcesthatverymaterialism ofhistory "uponmeta-
physics." Such a process makes for some rather ironicphilosophical
actors:"a new categorical imperative has beenimposedby Hitlerupon
unfreemankind: to arrange theirthoughts and actionsso thatAuschwitz
will notrepeatitself"(ND 365). This mutation of philosophy, however,
shouldnotbe seensimplistically as thesymptom ofa complete historical
48. CitedinSegev3.
49. Weigel129f.
72 Adorno
After
breakwhichwould installa radicallynew stage in Westernculture,

although muchoftherhetoric of"after Auschwitz" wouldseemto imply
this. As Adomo makes clear in a radio broadcast from thesameyearas
NegativeDialectics,thecategorical imperative notto repeatAuschwitz
- hereconsidered as theprimary goal of education - is necessary pre-
cisely because such a break has not taken place.In "Erziehung nach Aus-
chwitz"["EducationafterAuschwitz"], Adomoencourages theattempt
to buildconsciousness of the linksbetweencivilization and barbarism
forthe veryreasonthat"thefundamental structure of societyand its
members, which it
brought on, are today the same." Adomolocatesthe
roots of genocidein the development of modem nationalismand
inscribes itspotentialin a "societaltendency" whichcannotbe separated
fromthe"greattendencies ofprogress, ofEnlightenment."50
While in "CulturalCriticism and Society,"Adomo seemedto sub-
scribeto a notionof history as theinverseof progress - a theoretical
positionwhichappearedto leave no roomforthepossibleredirection
of social tendencies - in his laterworkhe mobilizesa morecomplex
view of history, butone whichat firstglanceseemsevengloomier.In
NegativeDialecticshe at once negatesand affirms different notionsof
the kindof universalhistory implicitin thenotionof Auschwitzas a
stagein a processof reification: "No universalhistory leads fromsav-
agery to humanitarianism, but there is one leading from theslingshot to
themegatonbomb."The domination of natureand humanity - epito-
mizedin theNazi genocideandthethreat ofnuclearannihilation - "is
the unity that cements the discontinuous, chaoticallysplintered
momentsand phasesof history. .... History is the unityof continuity
and discontinuity" (ND 320). In orderto provokea liberating disconti-
nuitywhichwouldnotbe irrational chaos,itwillnotdo to locatea par-
allel or parasiticprogressalongsideor withintheuniversalhistoryof
barbarism. For Adomo,thought's resistance to universality comesnot
froma celebration of difference (what he would call the non-identical)
as in muchpoststructuralism, butrather froma refusalto rationalize or
grantmeaning to that which already exists. Thus, while thedesirability
of universality is denied,its stranglehold on historyis not. Adomo
replacestheaffirmation of difference in thepresent withan appealto a
versionof"thetheological banon images"[Bilderverbot] thatdefersthe
50. Adorno,"Erziehungnach Auschwitz,"Gesammelte 10.2:675.My

Schriften
translation- MR.
MichaelRothberg 73
emergence of differenceto a post-totalitarian

worldwhichhas notyet
arrived.51Echoinghis assessment of Celan and Beckett,Adornoholds
that"[m]aterialismbrought thatban intosecularformby notpermitting
Utopia to be positively thisis thesubstanceof itsnegativity"
pictured;
(ND 207). Here the aestheticand thepoliticalare shownto possess a
similarcriticalengagement withthe present.There are clear links
betweentheban on articulating utopiaand on Celan's imagelessimage
andBeckett'swordlessexpression. The latteraretheartisticand discur-
of utopiain a theory
sive correlates thatdoubleshistoricaltime,assert-
ing the coexistenceof a linearregression and a discontinuous hope
whichcanonlybe voicedthrough determined anddeterminate negation.
Adornodoes notproposethistheory as "universal butas the
history,"
product, onceagain,ofhistory. Philosophy becomes materialist
because
"afterAuschwitz thereis no wordtingedfromon high,notevena theo-
logicalone,thathas anyrightto existunlessitunderwent a transforma-
tion"(ND 367). The philosophy of historyresponds to materialforces,
as well.If Adornoascribestheoverarching linesof forceto thetenden-
tialhistory he reserves
ofcapitalism, a particular
placeforAuschwitz:
[T]hecapitalist
system'sincreasingly
integrative thefactthatits
trend,
elementsentwineintoa moreandmoretotalcontextoffunctions, is
what
precisely makes the old about
question thecause- as opposed
- moreandmoreprecarious.
totheconstellation Weneednoepiste-
mologicalcritique thesearchfor
to makeus pursueconstellations;
them uponusbytherealcourse
is forced ofhistory.
(ND 166)
Drawingattention to the chronotopicdimensions of the Benjaminian
constellation in this passage,FredricJameson observes "the way in
whichAdornohereuses thespatiality of thefigureof theconstellation
to argueexplicitly against'linearcausality,'butin thenameof history
itself."52The paradoxis thatthisspatializationof historical
understand-
ing is, in someway,theproductof themovements of a moreprogres-
sive, linearhistory:the "increasinglyintegrative trend"of capitalism
and Enlightenment. The Nazis were,Adornosometimesimplies,the
agentsof thequalitative transformation
whereby history reacheda new
51. For a critiqueof the versionof the Bilderverbotimplicitin Adorno's

approachto Auschwitz,see Klaus Laermann,"'Nach Auschwitzein Gedichtzu
istbarbarisch':
schreiben, Uberlegungen KunstundLiteratur
zu einemDarstellungsverbot,"
nachAuschwitz11-15.
52. Jameson, LateMarxism59.
74 AfterAdorno
spatialized stage. The exemplaryspace of this stage is the concentra-

tion,or more accurately,extermination camp: "Genocide is the absolute
integration. It is on its way wherever men are leveled off- 'polished
off,'as the German militarycalled it - untilone exterminates themlit-
erally, as deviations from the concept of their total Auschwitz
nullity.
confirmedthe philosophemeof pure identityas death" (ND 362). In
Adorno,the language of "identity,"of "levelling,"is directlyconnected
with the dominationof exchange value which capitalismsets in place.
Thus Auschwitzis at once an effectof reificationand the ultimateful-
fillmentof its tendencyto eliminateparticularity, in thiscase the partic-
ularityof those human beings not integrated intothe Aryan"race."
The name thatAdomo gives in NegativeDialectics forthis relation-
ship that Auschwitz has with the social totalityis the "model." The
thirdpart of that work is divided into three sections,which Adorno
names "models of negative dialectics," and the last, "Meditationson
Metaphysics," includes his most extensive reflectionson Auschwitz.
Adorno's explanation of what he means by "models" is crucial to
understanding how theHolocaustintersects withhis thought:
Theyare notexamples;theydo notsimplyelucidategeneralreflec-

tions.Guidingintothesubstantive realm,theyseeksimultaneouslyto
do justiceto thetopicalintentionof whathas initially,
of necessity,
been generally treated- as opposedto theuse of exampleswhich
Plato introduced and philosophyrepeatedeversince:as mattersof
indifferencein themselves.Themodelsareto makeplainwhatnega-
inlinewithits
tivedialecticsis andtobringitintotherealmofreality,
ownconcept.(ND xx)
The prominencegiven to Auschwitz in Adorno's critiqueof meta-

physicsmakes it almosta model amongmodels. In The Differend,Jean-
FrangoisLyotardchooses the "afterAuschwitz"model as his designa-
tion for "an 'experience' of language thatbringsspeculativediscourse
to a halt." Such a view of the stakes of Adorno's textderives froman
understandingof the model as "the name for a kind of experience
where dialectics would encountera non-negatablenegative,and would
abide in the impossibilityof redoublingthatnegativeinto a
'result."''53
Lyotard quite correctlyreads Adorno's meditationsas a critique of
Hegelian dialectics in which the negationof the negationproduces an
affirmative result.When this experienceor encounterwith that which
53. 88.
Lyotard
MichaelRothberg 75
cannotbe raisedup intoa positivetermtakesthe formof the Aus-

chwitzevent,it resultsin a shiftin the horizonof expectation. The
Holocaustleavesa permanent woundin theself-conception of human-
itythatcannotbe overcome, butcan at bestbe prevented fromrecur-
ring.54HenceLyotardinsiststhatwhatresultsfromthiseventis a lack
of result,and Adomoemphasizes themeaninglessness of theevent,and
thusseekstoshelter itfrom "committed" orsentimental worksofart.
Despite its lack of affirmative resultor meaning,the formof the
"model" event must henceforth be factored intophilosophicaldiscourse
as the becoming-temporal of thought. In openinghis "Meditations on
Metaphysics," Adomodeclared, "We cannotsayanymorethattheimmu-
tableis truth,and thatthemobile,transitory is appearance.The mutual
indifference of temporalityand eternalideas is no longertenable"(ND
361).AfterAuschwitz, culture- theavowedrealmof"eternal ideas"-
is foldedbackintobarbarism andthecorrosive passage of time.The pro-
ductionofthemodelis an attempt to thinkfroma placeno longerdeter-
minedby anti-materialist idealism.As theultimate instanceof modem
culture'sdefinitivesubordinationtobarbarism, as therationalizedproduc-
tionof death,Auschwitz notonlymodelsthemodel,itcastsa retroactive
judgment on theideologyof Enlightenment withitstrustin reasonand
thesanctity of culture.
Thisrejection ofan optimistic accountofprogres-
sive reasondoes notentailthatAdomoabandonreasonforthedelirium
oftheirrational sincehe doesnotplacehishopesintheprogressive narra-
tive.Here,AdomodivergesfromLyotard, whosepostmodern disavowal
ofthe"grandnarratives" ofEnlightenment reasonis muchmorethorough-
going.55Lyotardrejectsenlightened modernity evenas he remains, like
Adorno,faithful to aestheticmodernism.56 Adomo,on the otherhand,
attempts- through a reworking ofphilosophical formin thelightofthe
catastrophe- to wrench reason freefrom itsinstrumental
determinations.
54. In a famouspassagefromone of his historian's inter-
debate[Historikerstreit]
ventions,Habermaswrote:"There[in Auschwitz] somethinghappened,thatup to now
nobodyconsidered as evenpossible.Thereone touchedon something whichrepresents
thedeep layerof solidarity amongall thatwearsa humanface;notwithstanding all the
usualactsof beastliness of humanhistory, theintegrity
of thiscommonlayerhad been
takenforgranted.... Auschwitz haschangedthebasisforthecontinuityoftheconditions
of lifewithinhistory." Citedin Saul Friedlander, ProbingtheLimitsof
"Introduction,"
Nazismandthe"FinalSolution"(Cambridge:
Representation: HarvardUP, 1992)3.
55. See, especially,Jean-Frangois Lyotard,ThePostmodern Condition:A Report
on Knowledge, trans.GeoffBennington andBrianMassumi(Minneapolis:U ofMinne-
sotaP, 1984).
56. Huyssen, "MappingthePostmodern" 266.
76 AfterAdorno
Thus,theconceptofthemodelnecessitates
a newformofphilosophi-
Adornoborrowstheconceptof themodel,Jameson
cal representation.
suggests,frommusic,and specifically
fromSchoinberg's
serialism.In
twelve-tone the modelis "theraw materialof a specific
composition
composition. . . the particularorder and configuration
of the twelve
notesof thescale which,chosenand arranged in advance,becomesthe
composition,in so faras thislast is 'nothingmore'thanan elaborate
. . . of thatstartingpoint."57The
series of variationsand permutations
significance of Jameson'sunderstanding of themodel,and thatwhich
opposes it to the tenorof Lyotard'spost-Marxist argument, is thatin
this musicalreadingthe model is revealedas that fragment which
alreadycontainsthetotality withinit. Jameson'swording, however,is
somewhat ambiguous, and seemsto implythattherelationship between
themodeland thetotality (thecomposition) is one of whatAlthusser
termed"expressivecausality."58 The relationship betweenpart and
wholein Jameson'smusicalmetaphor seemstoo simple,a combinato-
riallogicwherethepartimmediately generates thewhole.
Jameson'sHegelianreadingdoes not properly accountforthe pro-
cess of "structural causality,"which Adorno's account of the model
seems to suggest.In thiscase, we do not simplyderiveAuschwitz
froma history whichmovesexternally to it (as we wouldin a mecha-
nisticdeduction);we graspthathistory through thenecessarymedia-
tionof Auschwitz.But theprocessis notmereinduction either,since
Auschwitzdoes not generateor reflectthe totality of the historyof
modernity. Yet had it not "takenplace," the historyto be grasped
wouldclearlynotbe thesame.AfterAuschwitz, modernity and Shoah
need to be read in lightof each other;our understanding of each is
mediatedby theother.59 The modelis nota matter of indifference,as
is theexamplein speculative thought,noris it simplyan elementin a
57. Jameson, LateMarxism 61.

58. Jameson's wordinghereis ironicgiventhathe popularized Althusser'scritique
of "expressive and championing
causality," of "structuralcausality."See Jameson,The
PoliticalUnconscious(Ithaca:CornellUP, 1981)23-58.ForAlthusser's development of
"Contradiction
theseideas,see Althusser, andOverdetermination," For Marx,trans.Ben
Brewster (New York:Pantheon, 1969)87-128;andAlthusser andEtienneBalibar,Read-
ingCapital,trans.BenBrewster (London:Verso,1979).
59. Thisaccountof theHolocaustas a possibility withinmodernity whichforever
modifiesournotionof thelatteris close to Zygmunt Bauman's:"Fromthefactthatthe
Holocaustis modem,itdoesnotfollowthatmodernity is a Holocaust."See Zygmunt Bau-
man,Modernity andtheHolocaust(Ithaca:CornellUP, 1989)93.
Michael Rothberg 77
permutational series.The mannerin whichthought can arriveat some

understanding of that which the model models is less direct.As
Adomo wrotein "The Essay as Form,""the essay has to cause the
to be illuminated
totality in a partial feature,whetherthe featurebe
chosenor merelyhappenedupon,without thepresenceof the
asserting
(emphasis
totality" added - MR). From his account of theessay,we
can presumethatAdorno'suse of themodelis not an attempt to be
"systematic,"as Jameson'smetaphor suggests,butratherhas the"char-
of an intention
acteristic gropingits way" (NL 16). The non-assertive,
almost blind illumination of essayisticthoughtis once again the
"imagelessimage," and itsmodel is autonomous art.Withtheselection
of "poetryafterAuschwitz" as thepartialfeaturethrough whichto illu-
minate the Holocaust and itsrelationto modernity,Adornopreservesa
tensionbetweenpartand wholethatmaintains boththepowerof the
modemtotality andthetruth contentofitsvariouslocalexpressions.
We can now graspsomething of thetemporality and locationof
"afterAuschwitz"as Adornoemploysit in his lateworks.In fact,the
famousopeningline of NegativeDialectics - "Philosophy,which once
seemedobsolete,liveson becausethemoment to realizeitwas missed"
(ND 3) - expresses the defuncttemporality lifelesssurvivalwhich
of
the"experience" of Auschwitz according
inaugurates, to thetext'sfinal
"Meditationson Metaphysics." Andtheplace ofthisthought is revealed
as thatconstricted zone of nearlyannihilated expectation, the death
camp:"Becketthas givenus theonlyfitting reactionto thesituation of
theconcentration camps- a situation he nevercalls by name,as if it
weresubjectto an imageban.Whatis, he says,is likea concentration
camp.At one timehe speaksof a lifelongdeathpenalty"(ND 380-81).
If, in Beckett,the concentration camp is the"unnamable," in Adorno
the camp (Auschwitz)is therepetitively invokedname forsomething
elsewhichmustbe graspedina situation ofindirect illumination.
That something enough,the yearningforutopia,
else is, strangely
thatwhichhas no-place.Facedwiththe"lifelongdeathpenalty," Beck-
ett'swriting
seemsstoicalbutis fullofinaudible
criesthatthings shouldbediffer-
ent.Suchnihilism the
implies contrary of identificationwithnothing-
ness.To Beckett, thecreated
as totheGnostics, world isradically
evil,
anditsnegation isthechance ofanotherworld thatis notyet.As long
as theworldis as itis,allpictures
ofreconciliation,peace,andquiet
resemblethepicture ofdeath.(ND381)
78 AfterAdorno
The significance of positing"anotherworldthatis notyet"derives

not fromany positivequalitiesof thatworld(whichfall underthe
imageban), but fromthecoexistenceof an alternative chronotope
theconceptof anotherspace and time- in a fieldwherethereplace-
mentof experience withintegrated, administered consciousness obliter-
and
ates expectation hope.Elsewhere, Adorno formulates thisconcept
in termsof the indexicality of thought: "utopiais essentiallyin the
determined negation. . . of thatwhichmerelyis, and by concretizing
itselfas something false,it alwayspointsat the same timeto what
shouldbe."60In Bakhtin'sformulation, the indexicalfunction of the
chronotope points backwards toward the event- thusunderlining rep-
resentation's belatednessin relationto thatevent.In Adornotheneces-
sity of comingafterthe catastrophe coexistswith an anticipatory
temporality. The construction of thechronotope blockstheeventitself
butin so doingcastsa shadowwhoseoutlineregisters utopia.For even
if we alwayscome aftertheeventin Adorno'sthought (bothhistori-
cally and epistemologically), we are also alwaystoo earlyto graspit.
We live in a worldwherereconciliation has notyettakenplace and
thushas notyetprovidedthestandpoint fromwhichto view theevent
fromoutsidetheflowof "damagedlife."The repeatedcitationof Aus-
chwitzis an attempt to makeone's waythrough thatflux,to providea
temporary map of thehistorical presentas themeansto a future that
wouldinstalla breakwiththeconditions whichnurtured fascism.
In a sensewe return to Adorno'sinitialphrasing of "afterAuschwitz"
wherehe castigatedpoetryforblockingknowledgeof the "radically
Now, however,we see thatsome poeticpractices
evil" social totality.
(thatis, Celan's, Beckett's)and Adorno'swritingson poetryseek,
through theirdirector indirect invocationofAuschwitz, to blocka posi-
of
tivecomprehension what, after Auschwitz, only knownnega-
can be
tively. Only by avoiding "faded positivities"can writingavoid
"conspiring withall extantmalice,and eventually withthedestructive
principleitself'(ND 381). The repeatedperformance of theterrifying
chronotope, "afterAuschwitz," holdsa placefora timenotyetemergent.
IV. Conclusion: AfterAdorno

If thespace and time"afterAuschwitz"occupiessome middlezone
60. Adornoinconversation withErnstBlochinBloch,TheUtopianFunctionofArt
and Literature:SelectedEssays,trans.JackZipes and FrankMecklenburg
(Cambridge:
MIT, 1988) 12.
MichaelRothberg 79
betweenpast and futureeventsthatdefyrepresentation, its own sub-

stance remainsconceptual,which is not to say imaginary.After
Adornoone cannotconceiveof genocidein quitethe same fashion.
But when or whatis "afterAdorno"?IrvingHowe remarked, quite
correctly,thatit is difficult"to thinkof anotherarea of literary dis-
coursein whicha singlewriterhas exertedso strong,if diffused, an
influenceas TheodorAdornohas on discussionsof literature and the
Holocaust."61 Yet Howe also realized,as did Adorno,thatthe"specu-
lationthathumanconsciousness couldno longerbe whatit had previ-
ously been" after Auschwitz was unfortunately not true.62We can
certainlyexplain this latter fact in Marxist terms,arguingthat a
change of consciousness could only follow a changein the material
organization -
of society thisis preciselyAdorno'scritiqueof post-
war Europeanculture.But the former remarkon Adorno'sinfluence
reassertsthe questionof consciousnessand intellectual intervention,
while it suggeststhatthatintervention shouldlie elsewherethanin
"speculations"on consciousness.
If Adomo is correctin NegativeDialectics,speculationmustgive
way to a new formof dialecticalmaterialist analysisin the wake of
Auschwitz.One consequenceof thisproposition wouldbe theneed to
takeintoaccountthematerial effectsofphilosophizing. Insteadof seek-
ing in Adornothereflection of a historical breakcalled "Auschwitz,"
we mightunderstand himas producing a seriesof concepts(in theform
of chronotopes) whichretroactively pose thepossibility of a. break,at
the same timethattheyilluminate the eternalreturnof the same in
thoseplaceswhichhavenotyetworkedthrough theAuschwitzmodel.
Thought "alone" cannot alter history but, citingand resignifying
in a
discursivechain(suchas thatconnecting Auschwitz to "Auschwitz"), it
can keep thepastpresentand thefuture open.The production of con-
ceptsalso helpsstructure thefieldoutof whichtheagencyto alterthe
spatio-temporalparameters ofthepresent mustemerge.
As Howe implies,themajorinfluence of Adorno'sAuschwitz chrono-
tope has takenplace in aestheticrealms. This must be taken for itsnega-
tive as well as its positiveimplications. Adornoprovidescomplex,
contradictory,and frequently misunderstood conceptsfor evaluating
"Holocaustart."Despitethosediscouraging adjectives,variousinterpreta-
61. Howe 178.

62. Howe 198.
80 AfterAdorno
tionsof Adornocontinue to structurecritical responseto suchartin the

present, and even when Adorno's name is not mentioned (or even
known). One potentiallypositive effectof myreading Adomowould
of
be to shift thisterrainfromwhatremains a primarily moralizing discourse
to a materialist andethicalcritique. Insteadofevaluating a work's"deco-
rum"according toprinciples assumedtoadhereintheeventitself, we can
recognizeour ambiguousdistancefromtheevent,and inquireintothe
relationship a workestablishes betweenthepastitmobilizesand itscon-
temporary context. Reading Adorno's worksas interventions in concrete
situations meantto produceeffects deprives them of theiroracular qual-
ity,butalsoincreases their relevance andtheir usefulnessinthepresent.
It is equallytrue,however, thattheparticular wayin whichAdomo's
thought structures thefieldof possibilities limitsthekindsof interven-
tionsthathe wouldpromote.Adorno'saesthetics remain,as Jameson
pointsout,strictly modernist.63 Sincemodernism no longerrepresents a
to
challenge quiescent ideologies, a more properly postmodemist critique
wouldoffera crucialreconsideration of mass culture.64 In particular,a
full-blown consumer society demands an acknowledgment of the status
of theHolocaustcommodity. In themidstof postmodemism's prolifera-
tion of aesthetictechniquesnew kinds of historicalart are taking
shape.65Some postmodern works,such as Art Spiegelman'sMaus,
challengetheassumptions aboutthenecessary"autonomy" of artafter
Auschwitzwhichhave emergedfromAdorno's(albeitcritical)recep-
tion,evenas theyrecognize therisksofcommodification.66
Equallylimiting to the projectof confronting thehistoricallegacyof
genocide is the way in which Adorno focuses on
primarily aesthetic
63. Jameson, "Reflections inConclusion." See also Zuidervaart's

extensivecritique
ofAdorno'saesthetics fora usefuldiscussionofitsstrengths andweaknesses. Zuidervaart
is also quitecriticalof Jameson's theory of postmodernism, althoughthissectionof his
bookis lessconvincing tome.
64. For a defenseof thepossibilities of massculturalrepresentation of theNazi
genocidethatpaysparticular attentionto one important masscultural text,thetelevision
mini-series,Holocaust,see AndreasHuyssen, "The Politicsof Identification,"
New Ger-
man Critique 19 (1981): 117-36.
65. Forthearticulation ofa "popularmodernist"
positionon therepresentability
of
theHolocaustthatseeksto eludetheoutmoded antinomiesofmodernistart,see Miriam
Hansen,"Schindler
's ListIs NotShoah:TheSecondCommandment, PopularModernism,
andPublicMemory," CriticalInquiry22 (Winter1996):292-312.
66. ArtSpiegelman, Maus,vols. 1 and 2 (New York:Pantheon, 1986, 1991).On
see MichaelRothberg,
Spiegelman, "'We WereTalkingJewish':ArtSpiegelman'sMaus
as 'Holocaust' Production,"Contemporary
Literature35.4 (1994): 661-87.
MichaelRothberg 81
objects,even as he refersthembackto theconditions of theirproduc-

tion.Thisis ofcourseironicsincehisinitialstatement oftheproblematic
seems deliberately anti-aesthetic.
Adorno'ssubsequentreformulations,
and mostof his writings, refinethe statusof the aesthetic,granting
authentic or autonomous arta roleof absoluteimportance in articulat-
a of
ing critique capitalistsociety. But the wholesale substitution of
reflective and aestheticpractice for other forms of praxishardly seems
justifiableonpoliticalortheoretical grounds.
This is notall thereis, however,in lateAdorno.If theethico-politi-
cal call to armsafterAuschwitz derivesfromthenecessityof prevent-
ing its recurrence, then the pedagogicalmomentthat sometimes
surfacesin Adorno'swritings and,especially,speechesand radiotalks
ought to be kept in mind. In those moreobviouslyconjunctural inter-
ventions, Adorno stressesthe concept of education to maturity [Erzie-
hungzur Miindigkeit]. In sketching this notionof "democratic"or
"maturepoliticalpedagogy,"Adomonotonlyleavestheautonomy of
the aestheticrealmbut suggestsa projectof "publicenlightenment"
whoseformulation and actualizationremaintodayas criticalas theydo
unfinished.67 Ultimately,thisrelocation of theconfrontation withAus-
chwitzin thepublicsphereof democratic educationmaybe as greata
contribution to the processof comingto termswiththe past as the
morefamousreflections on representation. In fact,the livelydebates
surrounding manyrecentfilms,literary and historical texts,memorials,
and museumsseem to indicatea renewedinterest in historicalunder-
standing thathas been spurredpreciselyby controversies aboutrepre-
sentation.Viewed retrospectively fromthe vantagepoint of such
debates,Adorno'scontribution is all themoreimpressive; he brought
the
together questions of Holocaust representation and education at a
moment whentheyhadnotyetbeenfullyarticulated.
67. Adorno,"WhatDoes ComingTo TermsWiththePastMean?"124-29.

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After Adorno: Culture in the Wake of Catastrophe

Author(s): Michael Rothberg

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framing thenarration of theeventsby thepointof view of thevictors.

2. Formisquotations, see note4. Amongthemanycitations, see, forexample,in

by writersworkingin a varietyof contextsand disciplines, including

3. As testimony tothecontinued inAdornoandAuschwitz

withwhichthe concepthas circulated.5 In thiscase, it is the repeti-

history."6 As HaydenWhiteremarks, the"sociallystructured domain"

wordsas a jumpingoffpointforevengrander claims.Bothstrategies

reflecta readingespeciallyofAdorno'sNotesTo Literature, whichcon-

Enlightenment'sreadingof The Odyssey,Adorno has demonstrated

9. See Steiner,Languageand Silence41-46.WithIn Bluebeard'sCastle(New

breakswiththepast.13Fromhis DialecticofEnlightenment, co-written

13. The spatio-temporal ofmodernity

moment was alreadycontained in the"utopian"visionof thefirst.15 As

15. Robert-Jan VanPelt,"A SiteinSearchofa Mission,"Anatomy oftheAuschwitz

"[i]n 1947, the Polish parliamentdeclared that the [remains] of the

To acceptcultureas a wholeis todepriveitoftheferment whichis its

The dialecticalmethod,forAdorno,entailsa double movementback and

a source of humane values. Against these tendencies,Adorno respec-

The moretotalsocietybecomes,thegreater thereification

As the movementof thispassage (and the essay fromwhich it is taken)

but the significanceof barbarismemergesfromits place in whathe sees

If thecitizensof theworlddo notrecognize Auschwitz as thereflection

21. ForsomeofAdorno'sreflections on hisU.S. exile,see Adorno,"On theQues-

demonstrates the spatio-temporalsituatednessof the productionof chro-

The tenuous,if not imaginary, qualityof the individualand of non-rei-

23. Adomo,NotestoLiterature vol. 1,trans.Shierry

the culturalcriticismessay,becauseit showspoetryas registering an

his committedtheatre,by the same tokenit proves untrue"("C" 309).

I have no wishto softenthesaying[Satz]thatto writelyricpoetry

The paradoxical situationof art is that this cynicismcan be avoided

fromwithout, and henceonlyin appearance"("C" 314-15). In these

26. FredricJameson,"Reflections and Politics,eds.

claimingthat"Frenchexistentialism had tackledthe problemof his-

"politicsof memory" vis-a-vistheHolocaustand Jewsserved(and,to

27. Johannes vonMoltke,"Exhibiting Jewish FoundObject3 (Spring

Benjamin's Angel of History)in orderto capturethe ambiguityof the

The kind of memoryAdorno produces in Beckett's texts is the effect

recentpast.ButwhileBenjaminis primarily concernedwith"blast[ing]

suchas thatofBeckett, whichrepresentcontemporary as theper-

WhileI havepointedto a breakor shiftin Adorno'sthinking between

38. See theessayscollectedinSaul Friedltinder,

moredegrading truthintoa lie."39Here,Adornopreempts thereading

thatafterAuschwitz youcouldno longerwritepoems."He thenimme-

in wordswhichAdomo'sformulation echoes:"Timetherewas different

breakwhichwould installa radicallynew stage in Westernculture,

50. Adorno,"Erziehungnach Auschwitz,"Gesammelte 10.2:675.My

emergence of differenceto a post-totalitarian

51. For a critiqueof the versionof the Bilderverbotimplicitin Adorno's

spatialized stage. The exemplaryspace of this stage is the concentra-

Theyare notexamples;theydo notsimplyelucidategeneralreflec-

The prominencegiven to Auschwitz in Adorno's critiqueof meta-

cannotbe raisedup intoa positivetermtakesthe formof the Aus-

57. Jameson, LateMarxism 61.

permutational series.The mannerin whichthought can arriveat some

The significance of positing"anotherworldthatis notyet"derives

IV. Conclusion: AfterAdorno

betweenpast and futureeventsthatdefyrepresentation, its own sub-

61. Howe 178.

tionsof Adornocontinue to structurecritical responseto suchartin the

63. Jameson, "Reflections inConclusion." See also Zuidervaart's

objects,even as he refersthembackto theconditions of theirproduc-