Adorno Reader

Brian O'Connor is Lecturer in Philosophy at University College Dublin. He was previously a college lecturer at Oxford University.

"Philosopher, social theorist, musicologist and critic, Adorno is now accepted as one of our century's most brilliant radical thinkers. The great virtue of Brian O'Connor's lucidly presented selection is to make clear the depth and consistency, as well as the extraordinary range, of Adorno's work. The book will be of value to newcomers and scholars alike." Michael Rosen, Lincoln College, University of Oxford "Invaluable. Brian O'Connor has put together the ideal Adorno reader, containing not only Adorno's finest essays, but precisely the pieces that are necessary for teaching Adorno. Because of its range, this volume will suit students of literature and social theory as well as philosophy." Jay M. Bernstein, Vanderbilt University "This collection of Adorno's most significant essays, along with the excerpts from his major philosophical texts, provides a much needed single resource for guiding students through the critical force of Adorno's thinking. O'Connor's introduction gives a compact overview of the history of Adorno's writings as well as a lucid...exposition of Adorno's concept of experience." Colin Hearfield, University of New England

• Acknowledgements. A Note on Selections.Introduction.Part I: The Task of Philosophy: .1. The Actuality of Philosophy.2. Why Philosophy?.3. Negative Dialectics and The Possibility of Philosophy.4. The Melancholy Science.5. Meditations on Metaphysics: After Auschwitz.Part II: The Concepts of Philosophy: .6. The Essay as Form.7. Metacritique of Epistemology.8. Subject and Object.Part III: Sociology: .9. The Concept of Enlightenment.10. Sociology and Empirical Research.Part IV: Art, Culture and Society:.11. Cultural Criticism and Society.12. Lyric Poetry and Society.13. Culture Industry Reconsidered.14. The Autonomy of Art.Part V: Criticism: .15. The Perennial Fashion - Jazz.16. Arnold Schoenberg, 1874-1951.17. Alienated Masterpiece: The Missa Solemnis.18. Trying to Understand Endgame.Select Bibliography.Index.