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After Adorno: Culture in the Wake of Catastrophe

Author(s): Michael RothbergSource: New German Critique, No. 72 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 45-81Published by: New German Critique

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After dorno:CulturentheWake f Catastrophe*

MichaelRothberg

L Introduction:hePolitics fCommemorationIn January995 a controversyruptedn connection ith hefiftieth

anniversaryommemorationfthe iberationftheAuschwitz oncen-trationamp.Upset hat hePolishgovernmenteemed obe slightingthe pecificallyewishlementsftheNazi exterminationtAuschwitz,

Jewish eaders ndspokespeople,ncludinglie Wiesel, hreatenedoboycotthe ceremonies.n theend,manyJewish roups ttended,utthey lsoorganizednalternativeeremonyhat ookplacewhilePolishPresidentechWalesawasopeninghe fficial overnmentommemo-rationwith speech hatmadeno specificmentionfJewishictims.1Thiscontroversyonstitutesne more pisode n a half-centuryistoryofstrugglever hemeaningndmemoryf AuschwitzandtheNazigenocide orwhich t has come ostand). rom ebates ver henumberof victimswho diedthere,o thebarely eiled nti-SemitismfHolo-

caustdenierswhoclaim thatno genocide ookplace,to the conflictsover henational,eligious,r moral ownership"fthe ite,Auschwitzhasbeen contestedroundince hefirst oviet oldiers rrived t theendofJanuary945.The recentnternationalocus n the o-calledib-eration as revived hememory ars,which an serve s tools feduca-tion,butsuch a focus lso limits n understandingfAuschwitz y

* I am gratefulo Andreas uyssenndAnsonRabinbach or heir omments.Thanks lso toStuartiebman,or llofhishelp, oNancy . Miller,s ever,o RussCas-

tronovo,ethDrenning,effreyscoffier,erhardoseph,ndNeilLevifor eadingarlierversionsf hisssay,nd oYasemin ildiz, orhowing e he owerfAdorno'shinking.1. This ontroversyasreportedntheNewYork imes 7Jan. 995:A3.

45

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46 After dorno

framinghenarrationf the vents ythepoint fviewofthevictors.

When he Soviets nteredhecamp, hey ound ,000prisoners allwhoremainedfthe lmost ne and a halfmillion90% ofwhomwereJewish) hohadpassed hroughheAuschwitzomplex.Many f thosesurvivorsiedafteriberation.everaldaysbefore heSoviets rrived,theNazishad taken hemajorityf the urviving5,000prisonersnadeathmarchna perversefforto maintainontrol nd hide the evi-denceofatrocitys thewarslipped way.Placing hese vents nderthe ignof iberationays ess about he vents f theHolocausthantdoes about hedesire fcontemporaryultureso masternelusive astwhose choes till esonatenthe resent.

While ecent vents ighlighthe thnic ndnationalolitics fmem-ory ndidentity,uschwitz as also longbeena locus for ntellectualdebate boutwhatGerman-JewishhilosopherheodorAdomocalledin 1959, "comingto termswiththepast" [Vergangenheitsbewdltigung].Adomo s verymuch esponsibleor hecentralityhatAuschwitz ashad n academic ndpopular iscourses. ispropositionhat [t]owritepoetryfter uschwitzs barbaric"mounts alongwithWalter en-

jamin's related nsighthat"[t]heres no documentf civilizationwhich s not tthe ametime documentf barbarism" to themostfamousndprobably ost requentlyited tatementboutmodem ul-turen the wentiethentury.domo'sphrasenot ven full entenceintheoriginal erman) as beenquoted,nd ustas oftenmisquoted,2

2. Formisquotations,ee note . Among hemany itations,ee,for xample,nphilosophy:ean-Frangoisyotard,heDifferend,rans. eorge an Den AbbeeleMin-neapolis:U of Minnesota, 1988);DetlevClaussen, NachAuschwitz,"ivilisations-bruch:DenkennachAuschwitz,d. Dan Diner Frankfurt/Main:ischer, 988). In

theology,eeRichard ubenstein,fteruschwitz:adicalTheologyndContemporaryJudaismNewYork:Bobbs-Merrill,966);JohannaptistMetz, SufferingntoGod,"Criticalnquiry0.4 1994):611-22; milFackenheim,oMend heWorld: oundationsofPost-Holocaustewish houghtNewYork: chocken,982). naesthetics,eeLam-bert uidervaart,dornos Aestheticheory: heRedemptionf llusion Cambridge:MIT, 1991);Terryagleton,hedeology f heAestheticCambridge:lackwell, 990).In literarynd culturalriticism,ee Lawrence anger, heHolocaust nd theLiteraryImaginationNewHaven:Yale UP, 1975); rving owe, Writingnd theHolocaust,"WritingndtheHolocaust,d. Berel ang NewYork:Holmes ndMeier, 988);GeorgeSteiner,anguage nd Silence:Essays nLanguage, iterature,ndthe nhumanNewYork:Atheneum,967);Eric antner,trandedbjects:Mourning,emory,ndFilm n

PostwarGermanyIthaca:Cornell P,1990).See also Maurice lanchot's eflectionsnApresCoup Paris:Minuit, 983).Lastly, harlotteelbo'smemoirs,ntitleduschwitzet Apres,wererecentlyranslated.ee Charlotteelbo,Auschwitznd After,rans.Rosette amontNewHaven:YaleUP,1995).









MichaelRothberg 47

bywriters orkingn a varietyf contextsnddisciplines,ncluding

philosophy,heology,esthetics,nd literaryriticism.3esides theconsciousrewritingsf Adorno'sthought hichextend t to fieldsnevermentionedy Adorno nd theunconscious istortionsf hiswords "No poetry fterAuschwitz,"AfterAuschwitz,t is nolonger ossible owrite oems"4 thephrase as also circulated itheven greater ase in thereduced, ver-malleableorm: afterAus-chwitz."As a two-wordoundbite, after uschwitz" as become heintellectualquivalentf he oliticalosterlogan NeverAgain "Without

doubt,dornowouldbe horrifiedo seehisownwords n

theNazi genocide urnednto n academic ruism; e wouldprobablyalso be unsurprised,indingn the commodificationfHolocaust is-course nemore rooffthepower fthe ate apitalistotalityorepro-duce itself nd to colonize ven theseemingly ostresistantreasofsocial ife.Yet,Adorno's elf-citationsndhisuse ofthe ound-biteer-sion nachAuschwitz" which,ranslatednto heEnglish after us-chwitz," as an ironicallyoetic ffect havefacilitatedhefrequency

3.As

testimonyothe ontinuednterestn

AdornondAuschwitzntheGerman

context,wovolumes averecentlyppeared. anuelK6ppen's dited olume unst ndLiteraturachAuschwitzBerlin: rich chmidt,993) san nterdisciplinaryet f nter-ventionsrowingutof a recentonference.eclamhas ust ssued nimportantourcebookentitledyrik achAuschwitz?d.PetraKiedaisch,Stuttgart:eclam, 995)thatcollectsxcerptsrom dorno'sworkn which he tatus fAuschwitzs inquestionndresponsesy poets ndcritics o his dictum. he editor'sntroductions theonly ssaythat know ther han hepresentneandthe nebyClaussen ited bovewhich rawsattentionothevarietyfAdorno's rticulationsnd to thefrequentartial rmis-cita-tions fAdorno's ritics. owever, hileKiedaisch ndClaussen reatpains oempha-size the ontinuityfAdorno'shought,argue ere or iscontinuitiesnhis rticulationsofAuschwitz.n this ense amcloser oSigridWeigel,who,whilenotprovidingsys-tematiceadingfAdorno's euvre, oesemphasizehe ifferencesetweenhewritingsofthe1940sandthose fthe 1960s.See Weigel, 'Kein philosophischestaunen''SchreibenmStaunen': umVerhiltnisonPhilosophiendLiteraturach1945:Ben-jamin,Adorno, achmann."eutscheVierteljahresschrift0.1 1996): 120-37.

4. The firsthraseorparaphrase)s fromteiner,anguage ndSilence 3;here-aftereferredoparentheticallyithinhe ext s LS. The second ase sslightlytranger.Shoshana elmanubtly,ut ignificantly,isquotesdorno's egative ialectics "itmayhavebeenwrongosaythatfter uschwitzoucouldnolongerwrite oems"thus etractingrom he entativenessfAdorno's entence,ndadding he uestionf"possibility,"hich,swe will ee, sa complex ne.Nevertheless,n the ackcover fTestimony,hequotations the tandard,orrectnefrom dorno's riginaltatement,

nowhereited yFelman r Steiner.There, owever, dorno sreferredo as an "Aus-trianmusicologist" )ee Shoshana elman ndDoriLaub,Testimony:rises fWitness-ingin Literature,sychoanalysisndHistoryNew York:Routledge, 992) 33. Cf.Adorno'sNegative ialectics,rans.. B. AshtonNewYork:Continuum,973)362.









48 After dorno

withwhich heconcept as circulated.5n thiscase, it is therepeti-

tions,ndnot heoriginal, hich ave ttractedhemost ttention.hemostfrequentllusions o the "afterAuschwitz" roposition hichactuallyiteAdomorefero worksnwhichAdomowas commentingonhis earlier tatement.iven his attern,s well as the nfamous if-ficultyf Adorno's hought,tis not urprisinghatmost ommentaryon this themehas de- and re-contextualizedhewords, ften akingthem ar rom dorno's ntended eaning.

TheinterdisciplinaryaturefAdorno'swritingas,somewhatroni-cally, eft fragmentaryntellectualegacy, eachingiverse roups freaders,othhostile ndfriendly,nisolatednstitutionalocations. ewof Adomo's commentatorsho have picked up on his Auschwitzhypothesisave been nterestednhissystemfthinkings a whole;rather,heyhave beenconcerned ith he mplicationsf theproposi-tion or he tudyfsome spect fculturenthe ightftheNazigeno-cide. Inversely,hosewho have been concerned ithAdomo'sphilo-sophical ystem ave tended otto assign central osition o Aus-chwitz,elatingt, tmost,o the argerssues fhissociologicalheory,

his relation o othermembersf the Frankfurtchool,hisunorthodoxMarxism,r his particularersion f dialectics. his split n criticalapproaches akes more ifocal eadingfthe ignificanceftheHolo-caustnAdorno'shoughtll themorettractive,fno essdaunting.After rieflyrackinghewayAdomo'spropositionas entered he

writingsf twovery ifferentriticsGeorge teinernd EricSantner),I willoffer closereadingfAdomo'sAuschwitzexts nd of relatedworks. nepurpose fsuch n exercise s tobringo viewtheproduc-tion of an importantulturalategory,ne whichhas migratedrom

theheightsfphilosophynto hecurrentsfpopularntellectualul-ture.Morecrucially,want odemonstrate,hroughn analysis asedon Bakhtin'sategoryf the hronotope,owcritical ndphilosophicalapproaches o the Shoah,even ones whichdeclare ts uniqueness,alwaysproject theoryfhistory. ccordingoBakhtin,he chrono-topecaptureshesimultaneityf spatial ndtemporalrticulationsnculturalractices:n theproductionfchronotopes,[t]ime,s itwere,thickens,akeson flesh, ecomes rtisticallyisible; ikewise, pacebecomes

hargednd

responsiveo themovementsf

time, lot,nd

5. GaryWeissmanointedut omethe ossible oetic eductivenessfthenearassonancen"after uschwitz."









MichaelRothberg 49

history."6s HaydenWhite emarks,he socially tructuredomain"

of the chronotopedefines he horizon f possibleevents, ctions,agents, gencies,ocialroles, nd so forthfall imaginativeictionsandall realstories oo."7WhileAdorno imself oes notuse theterm"chronotope,"isaccount f cultureafter uschwitz" oth onstructsa complex hilosophicalhronotopendserves s a stunningxampleof hekind f nalysisnvisionedyBakhtin.AfterAuschwitz,Adornoimplies,philosophical ategoriesmust

themselvesecome hronotopes time-placeshat erve s imperfectembodimentsfhistoricalventsnd tendencies. dorno'smeditations

on Auschwitz ltimatelyransformisownthinkingromwithin ndlead himto reformulatehephilosophyfhistoryhathadbuttressedhis writingsf the1940s.One of the aterAdomo'smost mportantinsightss that he Holocaust orces confrontationetween houghtand theeventfromwhichneitherhilosophyorhistoryan emergeunscathed.n place of thenegative eleologyf modernityound nAdomo's earlierworks,Negative ialecticsrepresents odemhistoryas a traumatichock, shockwhich eads toa criticaleformulationf

enlightenment.ut Adorno'sfocuson Auschwitzs not ust turnedtowardhepast;rather,tcreates constellationetweenhepast ndaseriesofpostwar evelopmentsnGermanyndto a lesserextentnthe United tates nd the SovietUnion.Thesedevelopmentsncludethepersistenceftheverymodesofthinkingnd socialorganizationthatmade the Holocaust ossible.Thebecoming-historicalf thoughtinAdornohus orrespondsoan ethical ndpoliticalmperativeopre-vent herecurrencef"Auschwitz,"n imperativehich ntails criti-cal program f public pedagogy nd an ongoing ngagement ith

modernitynddemocracy.8

II. RewritingdornoAmongtherewritingsf Adomo,two strategiesf interpretation

haveemerged,ne which eadshim la lettrendone which akeshis

6. M. M. Bakhtin,heDialogic magination,rans. . Emerson ndM. Holquist(Austin: ofTexasP, 1981)84.

7. HaydenWhite,Historicalmplotmentnd he roblemfTruth,"robingheLimits fRepresentation:azism ndthe"FinalSolution,ed. SaulFriedlanderCam-bridge: arvard P,1992)34 n.

8. For n extendediscussionfAdorno'snterventionsndemocraticedagogicalpracticendtheory,ee PeterUweHohendahl,Education fter heHolocaust," ris-matic hought:heodorW.AdornoLincoln: ofNebraska, 1995)45-72.









50 After dorno

words s a jumping ffpoint or vengranderlaims.Bothstrategies

haveproducedonflictingvaluationsfthose nterpretations,lthoughthegreatmajorityfthe iteralistritics averejected dorno's laim.Afterll,theproductionfpoetryontinuespacewith oimmediatelyobvious arbaricide effects.dorno as foundmore ympatheticead-ers in thosewho choose to stretchis insights eyond he restrictedrealmofpoetry,s he himself ltimatelyid.Many,of course,havereadAdomo nbothways, ombining particularttentionopoetryrlanguagewithconsiderationsf other reasof culturewhichreadilycometomind s vulnerableo the

atastrophefgenocide.

have cho-sento discuss woparticulardaptationsere, otbecause heyre nec-essarily ypical f either endency,utbecause,even in misreadingAdorno,hey roduceignificantariantsfhisAuschwitzhronotope.

Careful ttentiono the iteral ealm fAdorno'sproposal that s,poetry) oesnotnecessarilyesultnanAdorniannalysis,s thecaseof GeorgeSteiner emonstrates.dorno'sclaim has produced us-tained eflectionySteinern the tatus fpoetryndlanguage fterAuschwitz.teiner, hois probablyesponsibleor he nitialmpact

ofthephrase n an English-speakingudience,s one of thefewwhohave taken eriouslyheeffect f Nazi brutalityn thewritingfpoetry.n 1959, nd without entioningdorno, ediagnosedheGer-man anguage s notyetfree f thecontaminationroduced yyearsof service o the ThirdReich. Steinermpugns ot ust thehumanagents fNazism, ut heirnstrumentss well: "theGermananguagewas not innocent f the horrors f Nazism. . . . Nazism found n the

language recisely hat tneeded ogivevoiceto itssavagery."Whatitneeded, teinermplies, aspreciselyheopposite fthe anguage'srichpoetic radition: itler sensednGerman nothermusic han hatofGoethe,Heine, ndMann; raspingadence, alfnebulousargon,halfobscenity"LS 99). Even fifteenears fter hefallof theReich,Germany's econstructionas,as theessay'stitlemaintains, "Hol-lowMiracle," ecausethe nation's languages no longerived,"butpropagatesa profoundeadness f pirit"LS 96).

Despite ome reconsiderationsbout he tatus fcontemporaryer-man iterature,teiner eprintedhealready ontroversialssay n his1967

collection, anguageand Silence.

Althoughpossessingan

extremelyiderange f reference,hiswork n "language,iterature,and the nhuman"s premisedntheAdornianropositionnd seems o









MichaelRothberg 51

reflectreadingspeciallyfAdorno'sNotesToLiterature,hich on-

tainshis second,better nown ronouncementn Auschwitz.n thepreface,teiner eclares,We come after.We knownow that mancan read Goethe r Rilke n theevening,hathe can playBach andSchubert,ndgo tohisday'swork t Auschwitzn themorning"LSix). Thisparadoxical elationfpoetrynd cultureobarbarismtimu-latessomeof the book's fine nsightsntothespatial nd temporalframeworksn which enocide akes laceand nwhichwewho comeafterpproacht.In an essay aptly itled,Postscript,"teiner efineshis

projects an

attempttodiscoverherelationsetween hosedone

todeath ndthose livethen,nd therelationsfboth ous; to locate,as exactlys recordnd maginationreable,themeasure f unknow-ing, ndifference,omplicity,ommission hich elates hecontempo-rary rsurvivorothe lain" LS 157). Steiner raws imprecisely)nAdorno'schronotopen a macabre llustrationf sucha relationshipbetween astandpresent:'No poetryfter uschwitz,'aidAdorno,andSylviaPlath nacted heunderlyingeaningfhis statementn amanneroth istrionicndprofoundlyincere"LS 53).

As theseformulationsndicate,teineronsidersanguage ot ustatransparent,nstrumentaledium althoughThe Hollow Miracle"demonstratesow it canbe instrumentalized butpartof the historicalmetabolismf the ocial.YetSteiner's iewofhistorysprofoundlyif-ferentrom dorno's. teiner'sonceptionf "after"mportsn ideol-ogy foreigno Adorno, or,unlikeAdorno, teiner resupposesheexistence fwhathe calls"humaneiteracy":We comeafter,nd thatis thenerve f ourcondition. fterheunprecedenteduin fhumanevaluesandhopesbythepolitical estialityf ourage" (LS 4). Such a

storyf declines far rom dorno's ialecticalvaluationf the egacyoftheEnlightenment,s I will rguenthenext ection.nsteadfmark-ing he ntimateonnectionetweenourgeoisulturendmodem error- explicitnBenjaminnd nAdorno's ppropriationf him Steinerlamentshe atter'smergencetthe xpense ftheformer:Thepossi-bilityhat hepoliticalnhumanityf thetwentiethenturyndcertainelements fthetechnological,asssocietywhichhas followed n theerosion fEuropean ourgeois alueshave done njuryo languagesthe

underlyinghemef this ook"

LS 49).Such n idealist nderstand-

ingof historicalhange,which lacesvaluesbeforematerialndpoliti-cal determinants,nverts dorno's hinking.ince at leastDialecticof









52 After dorno

Enlightenment'seadingof TheOdyssey,Adornohas demonstratedhe

brutalitynherentn the tendentialegemonyf "bourgeois alues."Themessage f"after uschwitz"s not ne ofnostalgiaor gloriousculture hereanguagepproximatedight rmusic, utof theneces-sity f newrelationshipothe uture.9

If Steiner's ccount tands rfallson itsconceptionf what omesbeforeAuschwitzwhich ne couldcontrast,or xample,oAdomo'sdiscussion f lyric oetry),ther pproaches aveattemptedo moveAdomo nto newera after uschwitz.n a fascinatingtudy fpost-warGermanilmndculture,ricSantnerrovides strongndexpan-sive misreadingf thepoetry roposition.antner rames is study,whichdealsprimarilyith hemourningndworkinghroughftherecentGerman ast,byproposingo investigatehesymmetriesndasymmetriesf the "postwar," post-Holocaust,"nd "postmodem"periods.He criticallylignshimselfwithpostmodemheory,rguingthat t "represent[s] kind of translationnto moreglobalterms fAdorno's amous ictum hat hereouldbe nopoetryfter uschwitz.After uschwitz after his raumaoEuropeanmodernity critical

theory ecomes n largepart n ongoing laborationf a seeminglyendlessseriesof 'no longer ossibles."'Santner onsidersesthetic,political,ognitive,nd socialpracticess part fthat terativehain fwhathasbecomesmpossible:aninabilityotolerateifference,eter-ogeneity, onmastery."10e thusunderstandshephrase afterAus-chwitz" s signifyingfundamentalransformationn culturewhichdisplaces he onditionsf, nd eadingpto,Auschwitz.

Santner ollowsAliceJardinengivingn affirmativeeadingf the"no longer ossibles." ardine rites,I havepreferredo speakof our

epoch s one of mpossibility,nd to call for n ethics f mpossibility:

9. See Steiner, anguage ndSilence41-46.Withn Bluebeard'sCastle NewYork:Atheneum,971), teinerppearsobemakingsomewhatifferent,erhapsmoreAdornian,rgument.erehe wants o read he nhumanvents f the wentiethentury,nowreferredoas the Thirtyear's War" f1915-1945,s anticipatedythe ennui"'fnineteenth-centuryulture.owever,vennnegatinghe astoraliew f he ast enturyandthemore eneral ostalgiaor ast GoldenAges,"hiswritingtill reserveshe en-timentfdecline.mplicitnsuchphrasess "undermininguropean tability,"thedis-solutionfcivilized orms,"nd"the reakdownftheEuropeanrder"22, 25,29) isthe ame nvestmentnthe

reatnessfEuropean

ulture oundnLanguage

ndSilenceeven t the ametime hat hat ulture'smpotenceefore arbarisms exposed. o getout f his ind, teineronstructs"religious"heoryf ulture,hich sparticularlyn-Adorniann ts nachronisticdealism.

10. Santner-9.









MichaelRothberg 53

im-possi-bility,heantithesisfposse/potis/patis,heantithesisf that

whichrelieson power,potency,ossessors, espots, usbands,mas-ters."11antner'sand Jardine's) isionof thepost-Holocaustutureappears s a kind fmirrorf Steiner's ostalgic umanism.fthepost-modernistsmphasize ifferences opposed o somemythicalommonculture,heyneverthelessothposit positive ision fan alternativethat asexisted r doesexist.nthis hey reequally arfrom dorno,whodespite heambiguous ormulationsfhistexts, llows no directformulationfculturefter uschwitzndproposes o such absolutebreaknmodernitywhetherrnot thas nfact aken lace).

WhileSantneristances imselfrom omepostmodernendenciesoerasehistoricalpecificity,isappropriationf Adomo eaves t unclearwhetherhe"no longer ossibles"whichhe andJardinenumerateresketchesfan ethicalmperativer the ctuallyxistingonditionf ourepoch. antner'sranslationfAdorno'spoetryfter uschwitz"ictuminto hepostmodemthical emand to tolerateifference,eterogeneity,nonmastery"lidesthematerialistndradically egative imensionsfAdomo'sthoughtndreplaces hemwith liberal luralistiscourse.

Adomo's commentsrenot o much call for ppositionopower, sareJardine's,ut a questioningf thepossibilityfsuchresistance.nbringinghesewovery ifferentiscoursesogether,antnerisks evers-ingthe ignificancefAdorno's houghtithoutemarkingnit.At theleast, uch translationouldneed ospecifyherelation etweendeo-logical/theoreticalormulationsfdifferencend thematerialonditionsin which heyakeplace. f this roblememains nresolvednSantner'stext, antnereverthelessoses he mportantuestionf howto"[undo]a certainepetitionompulsionfmodem uropean istory"hat found

itsultimatetagingn Auschwitz."l12n turningoAdomo'soeuvre hequestion ecomes:nwhatwaysdoesAdorno's hilosophicalestagingofAuschwitzntailornot ntail) breakwith he onditionfmoder-

nity hichonstituteshematrixf heNazigenocide?

III. Adorno nAuschwitzAdorno'sphilosophizingakesplace in a complicatedensionwith

themodernisthronotopefprogress thebeliefna constant ove-ment forward

hrough homogenouspace/timehatcontinuously

11. Cited nSantner 65n. ee AliceJardine,Copyright000,"Copyright(Fall1987):6.

12. Santner.









54 After dorno

breakswith hepast.13romhis DialecticofEnlightenment,o-written

withMaxHorkheimern1944butnotpublishedntil 947, o hisNeg-ativeDialectics,Adorno imultaneouslyeveals he acunae nthepro-gressive ision of historynd holdsout formoreenlightenment,sopposed to an impossiblereturn o the pre-modem.14iewingAdorno'swork hroughheveryparticularensofAuschwitz annotgivethecomplete icturefhis, nanycase,incrediblyiversework.But,given he tatus f theHolocaustwithin ebates boutmodernity,theviewopened p bya close, ontextualeadingfthepertinentextsis not nsignificant.domo'sAuschwitzhronotopes, in fact, con-stellation fconceptswhich econfigurestself verthecourse f twodecades. t combineslementsf aesthetics"To write oetry"),empo-rality"after"),ndplace ("Auschwitz") ith morallyr politicallyevaluative redicate"is barbaric").My readingfAdomowillmobi-lize all of those ategoriesnanattempto reconstructndexamine issuccessive onceptualonstellations.espitethesimplisticymmetryimplied ythe opula "is"),neitherhephrase s a wholenor ts ndi-vidual articlesstransparent,nd heyll demandnterpretation.

A brief onsiderationfthestatus f"Auschwitz"erves o unsettlewhateveriteralistuspicions nderliene's reading fthephrase.Asarchitecturalistorianobert-JananPelthasdemonstrated,uschwitzwas initiallyobe thesiteofa National ocialist design orutopia":"Himmlernsistedhat ll Polesand Jewswouldbe removed romhearea, ndthatAuschwitztself ouldbecome 'paradigmfthe ettle-ment ntheEast."'Onlyover hecourse ftime,ndrelativelyate nthecamp'sexistence,id Auschwitzecome he"dystopia" hichweknow t as today althoughertainly,wouldargue, hissecond

13. Thespatio-temporalrticulationfmodernitys consistingf a constantreakbetween he spaceof xperience"nd he horizonfexpectation"an be foundnRein-hartKoselleck, Futures Past: On theSemanticsofHistorical Time,trans.Keith Tribe(Cambridge: IT,1985).

14. In"Cultural riticismndSociety," domowrites:The ulturalritics barredfromhe nsighthat hereificationf ife esults otfrom oo much nlightenmentutfromoo ittle." eeAdorno,risms,rans. amuel ndShierry eberCambridge: IT,1981)24. Hereaftereferredoparentheticallys P in thetext.Consideringdorno'sideas nthe ightfdebates vermodernityndpostmodemity,lbrecht ellmerrguesfor notion fpostmodernitys a "second" r"postmetaphysicalodernity":a moder-

nitywithouthedream fultimateeconcilliations,ut which]would tillpreserveherational,ubversive,ndexperimentalpiritfmodem emocracy, odem rt,modemscience ndmodem ndividualism."ee Albrecht ellmer,he ersistencefModernity.Essays onAesthetics. thics, nd PostmodernismCambridge:MIT, 1991 viii.









MichaelRothberg 55

moment as alreadyontainednthe utopian"ision fthefirst.15s

a Germanizationy the occupying owerof the Polish town ofOswiecim,henameAuschwitzlreadyeveals olonial iolence. ut tis almostmmediatelylear hatAuschwitz,placename,s intendedorefer ot o much o a placeas to an event r events. ow else couldsomethingome ftert?Weknow odayhat he vent o whichtrefersis the laughteryNaziGermanyf an estimated.6 million eople ofwhom 0 percent ereJewish) uringhecourse f fouryears 1940-1944).The exterminationhich reated uschwitz'snfamy as,for hemost

part,arried utat AuschwitzI, known s Birkenau,tself he

sight f a razedPolishvillage,Brzezinka.16 t thetime hatAdornowrote, owever,naccurateccount f eventst Auschwitz as notyetavailable, orwas Auschwitzven he ampbestknowno theEuropeanandAmericanublics,whichweremore amiliar ith hecamps iber-atedby Britainnd theUnited tates, uchas Belsen,Dachau,andBuchenwald.n disseminatingucha formula,t seemsunlikely,hen,that domomeantorefernly o the ffectsf the vents tAuschwitz,since hat articularampwaspart f a mucharger ystemreatednd

runbytheNazis. Auschwitzakes n bothmetonymicndsynecdochicsignificancen Adorno's hrase: heplace-nameefers othto eventsproximateo t nd o totalityf ventsfwhicht s onepart.17

PierreNora'swork n "sites fmemory"nd James oung'scrucialconsiderationfHolocaustmemorialss suchsites n The TexturefMemoryemindsthatmemorys not ndigenousoa (rhetoricalr it-eral) place,butmustbe created hroughheongoingnterventionfhuman gents.18n the ase ofAuschwitz,heprocess f memorializa-tion had already egunby the timeofAdorno'sfirstmention f it:

15. Robert-JananPelt, ASite nSearch f Mission," natomyf heAuschwitzDeathCamp, ds.YisraelGutmannd MichaelBerenbaumBloomington:ndianaUP,1994)94,106.

16. James oung,TheTexturefMemoryNewHaven:YaleUP,1993)128.17. Whilewe intheUnited tates ave, ince he1960s, onventionallyalled hat

totalityf events heHolocaust,t sunlikelyhat dorno,t east nhisearliest ritings,had he ame bjectnmindwhen e referredo Auschwitz. ore ikely, ewasreferringto the otalityfNazibarbarism,ndnotnecessarilyts pecificallyewishomponent.tis importantokeep nmind hat hegeneral ignificancef Auschwitzhanged longwithAdorno's onceptualizationf t although dorno's ropheticeferenceo what

wouldbecome hebestknow fthe amps lso makes learhow nfluentialisthoughtwas nthis ery istory.18. Pierre ora, BetweenMemoryndHistory:esLieux eMImoire," epresen-

tations6 (Spring 989):7-25.









56 After dorno

"[i]n 1947, the Polish parliament eclared thatthe [remains]of the

campwouldbe 'foreverreserveds a memorialo themartyrdomfthePolish nationand otherpeoples'." This incipient ationalization f

memorycontrastedwith anothertendency, hat of the InternationalCommittee f Auschwitz,founded n 1952, to put a socialist spin onthe memorypreservedthere.19Unlike the efforts f the Polish andSoviet states, he nternationalommittee, thergroupsof survivors,r

variously nterested arties,Adornodoes notseek to alterthephysicaltopography fAuschwitz.Nevertheless,hrough ismobilization f the

propernameAuschwitz,he has intervenedn Holocaustmemorywork

and has powerfully ontributed o thenegotiated ignificance f Aus-chwitz s a literal ndrhetoricaliteofremembrance.

Much ofAdorno'swriting uringhis exile fromNazi Germanyn the1940s concernsthe linksbetweenmodernity,ascism, apitalism, ndculture.This is true forthegrandtheorizingfDialectic of Enlighten-ment s forthefragmentary,orepersonal nsights f MinimaMoralia

(written 944-47; published1951).2oThese worksset the stage fortheAuschwitz omments, hich ppearfirstntheessay"CulturalCriticism

and Society" written 949; published1951). This essaydoes notprima-rilyconcern he effects f WorldWarII or the mplicationsf genocide.Adomo dedicates hemajorityftheessayto a kindof sublation f cul-tural criticism.n good HegelianMarxistfashion, e first emonstratesthe implication f such criticism n "sinister,ntegratedociety" P 34)and in the culturewhich"sharestheguiltof society" P 26); he then

argues hat ultural riticisman be surpassed ythedialectical ritic:

To accept ulturesa whole s todeprivetof he ermenthich sits

very ruth negation.he oyousappropriationf culture armo-nizeswith climatefmilitary usic ndpaintingsf battle-scenes.What istinguishesialectical romulturalriticismsthattheight-ensculturalriticismntil henotion fcultures itself egated,ul-filled,nd urmountednone.(P28)

The dialecticalmethod, orAdorno, ntails doublemovement ack andforth etween theknowledge f society s a totality"nd "thespecificcontent f theobject" P 33). Cultural riticism,n theotherhand,eitherreducestheobjectto a simplified otion f thesocial or exalts culture s

19. Young130.20. Adorno, inimaMoralia, rans. . F.N.JephcottNewYork:Verso, 974).









MichaelRothberg 57

a source of humanevalues. Againstthese tendencies,Adornorespec-

tively astigatesvulgarclass analysis nd insists hat, onlyinsofar s itwithdraws romMan,canculture e faithfulo man" P 20,23).

If Adorno's statedgoal as dialecticalcritic s "to shed lighton an

object in itselfhermetic y castinga glance at society and] to presentsocietywith thebill whichtheobject does not redeem" P 33), whatcan we make of the intrusion f Auschwitz n the essay's finalpara-graph?This last passage exemplifiesAdorno's characteristic bsolut-ism and putsthe Auschwitzphrase n a contextnotusuallyconsidered

bycultural

ritiquesfAdorno:

The more otal ocietyecomes,hegreaterhe eificationf themindand hemore aradoxicalts ffortoescape eificationn ts wn. venthemost xtremeonsciousnessfdoom hreatensodegeneratentodlechatter.ulturalriticismindstselfacedwith he inaltage f he ia-lectic fculturendbarbarism.o write oetryfter uschwitzs bar-baric.And this orrodesven theknowledgefwhy thasbecomeimpossibleowrite oetryoday.Absoluteeification,hich resup-posed ntellectualrogresss oneof tselements,s nowpreparingoabsorbhemindntirely.riticalntelligenceannot eequal o his hal-

lenge slong s it onfinestselfo elf-satisfiedontemplation.P 34)

As the movement f thispassage (and theessayfromwhich t is taken)demonstrates, uschwitzdoes not standalone, but is partof a histori-cal process. Adorno assigns Auschwitza criticalpositionin thishis-

tory, ut less as an autonomous ntityhan as a moment:Auschwitz s"the final stage of the dialecticof culture nd barbarism."This doesnotnecessarily ntail a positionon theuniquenessof the event,but itdoes demonstratewhat is missingfrom riticsof Adorno who ignoretheplace ofgenocide n"society s a totality."

The complicatedand ambiguousstructuref Adorno's German aswell as thetendency o decontextualizehe Auschwitzphrase a ten-

dency facilitated y its English translationnto a separate sentence)revealsthe source ofthe mistakennterpretationhatAdorno s declaringAuschwitz hesource ofpoetry's mpossibility.he context evealsthattheagentofthe mpossibilitys "absolutereification,"heprocesswhich

"absorb[s]themindentirely."n thisessayat least,Adornoplaces Aus-

chwitzwithinhis larger ritique f capitalistmodernitynd theEnlight-enment,which stand behind the movementof reification.Adorno

assignsAuschwitza particular ositionas theapotheosisof barbarism,









58 After dorno

butthesignificancef barbarismmergesfrom tsplace inwhat he sees

as its Enlightenmentialecticwithculture.The specificityf Nazi bar-barismdoes notrupture,utcontinues,hestrange lend of instrumen-

tally rational means and irrational nds that the Frankfurt choolunderstandss theprimaryegacyofmodernity.

The barbarism or irrationalityf poetryafterAuschwitz is that,againstits implicit ntentions,t cannotproduceknowledgeof its own

impossiblesocial status.This impossibilitys neither echnicalnoreven

moral,forAdornoclearlydoes notsee barbarism s theresult f indi-vidual abilities, ctions,or attitudes;tresults nsteadfrom n objectiveand objectifyingocial processwhich tends toward the liquidationofthe individual.As a form f ostensibly ree ndividual xpression, he

writingof poetrywould contribute o that "semblance of freedom

[which] makes reflection pon one's own unfreedom ncomparablymore difficult"P 21). That semblance is false since the tendential

expansionof capitalist ociety ntegratesheindividual s well as rela-

tivelyautonomous pheres uch as culture, nd unifies hemaccordingto the dentificatoryogic ofexchange. n Adorno'sreading ven Marx-

isttheorymust hangetokeep up with he ogicof capitalsince the at-ter "no longer tolerates even those relatively ndependent, istinctmoments o which the theory f causal dependenceof superstructureon base once referred.n theopen-air risonwhichtheworld s becom-

ing,it is no longer o importanto know whatdependson what,suchis the extent owhicheverythings one" (P 34). The darkvision ofthis

passage is self-evident,ut it also leaves open possibilitiesfora lessabsolutistposition.The emphasison "becoming" s a crucialqualifierto Adorno's totalizing ritique, mplying hat dominationhas not yet

eliminatedall possible resistance.Secondly, the change in relationbetween base and superstructureignals an increased role for cultural

politics since the culturalrealmappears no longerderivative f eco-nomics. Yet, however other critics or a laterAdorno mightexploittheseopenings,n "CulturalCriticism" o suchoptimisms to be found.

In thisessay, experience nd expectation ollapse intoeach other, sthe mind s absorbed, reating surface n whichdomination laysitselfout withdeadeningly epetitive lows. Time is reduced to a series of

stageswhose differences one of

degreebutnot kind.Meanwhile

spacesuffers similar terative emise as the concentrationamp replicatesitself n theplacesofpublic ife: heworldbecomesan "open-air rison."









MichaelRothberg 59

If thecitizens ftheworld o notrecognize uschwitzs thereflection

oftheirives, hat s only, ccordingoAdorno,ecause errorunctionsmore bstractlyutsidefthe amps hroughhe ogic f dentityhat aidthegroundworkor enocidendwhich asnotdisappeared.hetriumphofexchangealue, notherame ordentitynAdorno'swork, reparedthewayformassmurderyrenderingumanife ndifferentndthere-fore xpendable.hetwowords f thephraseafter uschwitz"re thusequivocal: heymarkhe imitsf an era,butonewhichwas alreadynitswayandwhich emainsoday; ndtheyocate crisis, utonly norderoextendts ffectsell

beyondts

riginalpacef xperience.

The formhatAdorno's eflectionsakehere eems s much prod-uctofAdorno's ongexileintheUnited tatesduringhe 1930sand1940s as it does of the situationn Europe.Adorno's xperiencefwhathe called"latecapitalism"n the United tatesdidnot nitiallyleavehimwithmuch eliefnthe xistencefalternativesothe ogicof fascism.21o thecontrary,orkheimernd Adorno's nalysis nDialectic ofEnlightenment with ts adjacentchapters n the culture

industrynd anti-Semitism suggests parallelbetweenAmerican-

stylemonopolyapitalismndHitlerian ational ocialism.Passagesin the Culturendustry"hapter ake hose imilaritiesxplicit:

"No onemustohungryr hirsty;f nyoneoes, e'sforhe on-centrationamp " hisokefrom itler's ermanyighthine orthas a maxim rombove ll the ortalsfthe ulturendustry..Underiberalismhe oorwerehoughtobe azy; ow heyre uto-maticallybjectsf uspicion.nybodyho s not rovidedor ut-side houlde n concentrationcamp,r t ny aten he ell f hemost egradingorknd he lums.2

Whatevertstruth-valueandwho can deny tsgrain f truthn aneraofhomeless shelters"nd welfarereform"),dorno's rgument

21. For ome fAdorno's eflectionsn hisU.S. exile, eeAdorno,OntheQues-tion:What s German?'"NewGerman ritique 6 (Fall 1985): 121-31; ndAdorno,"Scientificxperiencesfa European cholarnAmerica," he ntellectual igration:Europe ndAmerica,930-1960,ds. DonaldFlemingndBernard ailyn Cambridge:Harvard P, 1969)338-70.The latterccount,nparticular,epresentsmorepositivetake n hisexperiencesnAmericahan hewartimend mmediateostwar ritingso.

In Prismatic hought,ohendahlrgues onvincinglyhathis pro-Americaneorienta-tion"was"motivatedy he onfrontationith ostwar ermany"43).

22. MaxHorkheimerndTheodor dorno, ialectic fEnlightenment,rans. ohnCummingNewYork:Continuum,972)149-50.









60 After dorno

demonstrateshespatio-temporalituatednessf theproduction f chro-

notopes the latter re alwaysproducedfromwithin ther hronotopes).First,Adorno'swriting ears obvious traces fhisAmerican ocation, shis laterwritingswill intervenen a morestrictly erman ontext. ec-

ondly, thinkt is arguablethat uch a "comic" comparison ould onlytakeplace at a moment efore hecampshad been sacralizedas sitesofultimate nd unspeakable error beforeAuschwitzwas "Auschwitz."This is notto say that herewas notalready onsciousness f thecampswhichAdomo cites n creatinghisphrase,for ndeedtherewerealreadymemoirs, ilms, nd other ccounts.But it is to suggest hat hetemporalbreakwhich we retroactivelynfer n thephrase"afterAuschwitz"hadnotyettakenplace in the 1940s' publicconsciousness.The response o,and the formof, some of the texts of the late 1940s (includingAdomo's) confirm hat heafterlifef an event needs to be periodizedas carefully s the event tself.An event alone does notalways rupturehistory; ather,heconstellation hich hat ventformswith ater ventscreates he onditionsnwhich pochaldiscontinuityan be thought.

The tenuous,fnot maginary,uality f the ndividual ndof non-rei-fied productionn "administeredociety" s certainly ne of Adomo's

great hemes, ne whichhe expressedmostemphaticallyn the "Culture

Industry" hapterof Dialectic of Enlightenment.ut poetry, o whichAdornorefersn thiscontext, resents particularesthetic ase whichshould not be immediatelyubsumedunder hegeneralview of cultureunder late capitalism. In reflecting n the specificity f poetryinAdomo's systemwe observe the emergence f inconsistencies.n his1957 essay "On Lyric Poetry nd Society,"Adorno shows the imitsof

lyricpoetry "the mostfragile hing hat xists" in theattempttoattainuniversalityhrough nrestrainedndividuation."23he processofindividuation ails,and the lyriccannotremain loof from he "bustleand commotion" f society, ecause "the demand hat he yricworldbe

virginal,s itself ocial innature. t implies protest gainst social situ-ation that very ndividual xperiencess hostile, lien, cold,oppressive"(NL 37, 39). Poetry annot ctualize ts own ideal and standoutsidetheforcesof the rationalized ocial totality.However,the essay on lyric

poetrydoes not

entirelyndorse he

pessimismboutculture vident n

23. Adomo,Notes oLiteratureol.1,trans.hierry eberNicholsenNewYork:Columbia P,1991)37,38. Hereaftereferredoparentheticallynthe extsNL.









MichaelRothberg 61

the cultural riticismssay,because t showspoetrys registeringn

element f protest. oetrys not simply n ideological ttempttofalsely resentomeparticularaluesas general nes,"Adornowarnsin 1957.The essence fpoems, ndother orks fart, consistsngiv-ingform o thecrucial ontradictionsn realexistence":ndirect on-tradictionothe deasofideology ritique,thegreatnessf works fart .. consistsolely nthefact hat hey ivevoice to what deologyhides" NL 39). ForAdornonthe ate1950s,poetry as an importantmimeticunction,nethat onsists ot nreproducinghe harmoniousnarrativef traditionalealist orms,ut rathern expressinghe rifts

that ealistmimesis epresses. he distinctionetweenhisrevelatorynotion f artas expressionndthe earlier dea that oetryfterAus-chwitzmystifiesnowledgef the socialpoints o theexistence f adualtheoryfpoetrynAdorno.When,n a later iscussion, dornoswitches rom poetryfterAuschwitz"o "lyricpoetry fterAus-chwitz," ealso shifts isconceptionf the estheticromhat n"Cul-tural riticismndSociety"othatn"OnLyric oetrynSociety."

Thirteenears fter irstmeasuringhepossibilityfpost-Auschwitz

culturend aftermuch nterveningublicdebate,Adorno eturnedothetheme n his essay"Commitment."hiswork, etter nown han"Cultural riticism nd Society," riticizes artre's henfashionablenotion fengagediterature.heAuschwitzection,ntitlednone ofits English ranslationss "The Problem f Suffering,"ervesas ahingebetween critique f Sartre's nd,especially, recht'spoliti-cized aesthetic nd a defense f the"autonomous"rtof Kafka andBeckett.Adornodevastatinglyevealsthe contradictionsf Sartre'sconceptionfart, emonstratinghathisplaysare "bad models f his

own existentialism":they isplayn their espect or ruthhe wholeadministeredniversewhichhis philosophygnores; he lessonwelearnfrom hems one ofunfreedom."24dorno imilarlyxposes helack of fitbetween orm nd contentn Brecht's atire f fascism.Brecht rivializesascism,makingtappear merehazard,ikean acci-dentor crime,"so that ts "truehorror . . is conjuredaway" ("C"308). Adorno s not immune o Brecht'spoliticalclaims,but heremains nimpressedy thepolitical evel of thework: If we takeBrecht t his word ndmakepolitics hecriterionywhich o udge

24. Adorno, "Commitment," he EssentialFrankfurtchool Reader, eds. AndrewArato ndEikeGebhardtNewYork:Continuum,982)304. Hereafterrimarilyeferredtoparentheticallynthe exts "C."









62 After dorno

his committedheatre, y the same token t provesuntrue" "C" 309).

Thus farthen,Adorno seems to confirm he aestheticpessimismwesaw in theearlier ssay,now extendingtbeyondbourgeois ndividual-istproductionnto heengaged rt fthepeople.

The exampleof Auschwitz evealsa third ossibility eyondtheanti-

nomyofpolitical/apoliticalrt.Adornobegins by self-consciouslyeit-

eratinghis earlierclaim,now specifiedas a citational saying" about

lyricpoetry,ndthengoes ontocomplicate ifnotcontradict)t:

I have nowishto soften he ayingSatz]that owriteyric oetry

after uschwitzsbarbaric;texpressesnnegativeorm he mpulsewhichnspiresommittediterature... But HansMagnus] nzens-berger'setortlso remainsrue,hatiteratureust esist his erdict,inother ords, esuch hattsmerexistencefter uschwitzs notsurrenderocynicism.25

The paradoxical situation f art is that this cynicismcan be avoided

only whenkeptat bay by a fullrecognitionnd remembrance f thehorrors f theage. The purposeof art s neither o representhe inter-ests of theproletariatr the ndividual, or to grantmeaning o abstract

humanity, utto remain rueto suffering:The abundanceof real suf-fering oleratesno forgetting... Yet thissuffering,hatHegel calledconsciousnessof adversity,lso demands he continued xistenceof artwhile it prohibitst; it is now virtuallyn art alone thatsufferinganstill find its own voice, consolation, without immediately beingbetrayedby it" ("C" 312). The impossibledemandput on art more

closely resemblesthe status of lyricpoetry n the 1957 essay - the

anguished ndividual xpression f social contradictions than t does

the notionof poetry s thatwhichprevents he comprehension f itsown impossibility. ut, althoughyricpoetry s mentioned y Adorno,it does not serveas theprimaryxampleofpost-Auschwitzesthetics.

The "Commitment"ssay mobilizesa differentesthetic n the wakeof thecatastrophe rom hatdismissed n "CulturalCriticism nd Soci-

ety" or partially escuedin "LyricPoetry nd Society"- its name isBeckett. For Adorno, Beckett's writings as well as Kafka's) enactwhat othersonlyproclaim:"Kafka and Beckettarouse the fearwhichexistentialismmerelytalks about. By dismantling ppearance, they

explode fromwithin he art whichcommitted roclamation ubjugates

25. Adorno,Commitment"12. nGerman,Satz" smore eutralhan saying,"meaningsentence"r"phrase,"ut he ense f elf-citations still resent.









MichaelRothberg 63

fromwithout,nd henceonly n appearance""C" 314-15). n these

writers one who prolepticallynternalizedhedisaster,he otherwhoretrospectivelyaintainstsabsent resence thenotion f art'sbarbaritys notrefutedutenactednorder opresenthebarbarityfthe ge.This allowsthemoavoidthemore hillingaradox resentn"the o-called rtisticepresentation"fhistoricalerror:Whengeno-cidebecomespart f thecultural eritagenthethemes f committedliterature,t becomes asier o continueoplayalongwith heculturewhich avebirtho murder""C" 312-13).Representationalrt reatesthe

possibilityor sadistic dentificationn membersf theaudience

because tcontains surplus fpleasure:Theso-called rtisticepre-sentationfthesheer hysical ainofpeoplebeaten o theground yrifle utts ontains, owever emotely,hepower o elicit njoymentoutof it" "C" 312). Theproblemfpleasures intrinsico thenon-

synchronicityfrepresentationinretrospect,tseems, nyhistoricalsituationan be mobilized or he njoymentf the pectatorhocon-sumeshistoryta spatial ndtemporalistance. eckett'srt,Adornoclaims, vades hisproblemhroughtsrefusal frealist iguration,ut

one is ustifiednaskingwhy ttoocannot e appropriatedythe ul-ture ndustry.his is preciselywhathappens,ccordingo FredericJameson, uring he transitiono postmodernism.allingAdorno'sessay n"anti-politicalevival fthe deology fmodernism,"amesondraws ttentiono thewaythat whatwas once an oppositionalndanti-social henomenonn theearlyyearsof thecentury,as todaybecomethe dominanttyleof commodityroduction."26dorno'sdefense fhighmodernismeednotbe understoodniquely,owever,as a transcendentalefense f a particulardeology f style.ReadingAdornon context emonstrateshe pecificityf his interventionn apost-Auschwitzulture,venas it inevitablyllustrateshe contextuallimitationsfhispoliticalnd estheticision.Adornomakesclear that autonomous"rt'sapparentvoidance f

socialrealism houldnotbe confused ith historicism.n "TryingoUnderstandndgame," rittenontemporaneouslyith Commitment,"hegives more ompletenalysis fBeckettnd usesthisplaytoaddto the"after uschwitz"hronotopelready nder onstructionn his

other ssays.Adornoonce againcontrastseckett o existentialism,26. Fredric ameson,Reflectionsn Conclusion," estheticsnd Politics, ds.

Ernst lochet l. London:NewLeft, 977)209.









64 After dorno

claiming hat French xistentialismadtackled heproblem f his-

tory.n Beckett, istorywallows p existentialism"NL 244). In itsrefusal o find nyfigmentf humanityithin hepost-catastrophiclandscape,ndgame iguresorththehistorical orror fanonymity"(NL245).Thesubject,ndthe ubject's istoricalense,mayhaveatro-phied, ut, orAdomo, his s itself historicalrocess orwhich eck-ett's play serves as a registrationf the real. If existentialism"negat[es] reciselyheparticularity,ndividuationn time nd space,thatmakes xistencexistencend not hemere oncept fexistence,""Beckettposes thedecisive antithesis. . . Instead of omittingwhat is

temporalnexistence which an be existencenlyntime hesub-tracts rom xistencewhattime, hehistoricalendency,s in realitypreparingogetridof' (NL 246). Beckett'shronotopes thus ne ofspaceandtime's endentialrasure not n abstractegationfpar-ticularity,uta concrete rocess ffectingconsciousness' owertoconceivehistory],he oweroremember"NL247).Thischronotope,hile ertainlyncorporatinghetemporalityfthe

atomic ge, among ther actors,as intimateieswith hepost-Holo-

caustera. HiroshimandAuschwitz ombine o transformivingntohalflife,rbetter,fterlife:AfterheSecondWorldWar, verything,including resurrectedulture,asbeendestroyed ithoutealizingt;humankindontinuesovegetate,reepinglong ftervents hat venthesurvivorsannot eally urvive,n a rubbish eapthathas madeevenreflectionnone's damaged tate seless" NL 244). Theempha-sis in "Cultural riticismndSociety"was on the xterminationampas the final tage" freificationwing ts existence o the riumphfan instrumentaleason nleashedytheEnlightenmentndcapitalism.This tendentialeadingfhistory itself kind f nvertedeflectionof theconcept fprogress is certainlytillpresent,utAdorno'sreflectionsn Beckett utmoreemphasis n what comes after he"FinalSolution,"n the urvivalf theultimatearbarismnto n erapremised nreparationWiedergutmachung].

Adornowaswritingnthewakeof a period fpostwareconstructionduring hich herewas anongoing ttemptonormalizend egitimateWest German emocracyndits "economicmiracle";hiscouldonlywork

hroughselective

orgettingftherecent

astnd an instrumen-

talization fthe state'sfinancialeparationso individual ews nd toIsrael.Accordingo Johanneson Moltke,WestGermany's fficial









MichaelRothberg 65

"politics fmemory"is-a-vis heHolocaust ndJews ervedand,to

a certain xtent,ontinueo serve)as "the FederalRepublic's ntry-ticket nto theWestern lliance."27Adornowas dubiousaboutthebreakwith hepast hat his nstrumentalizationfmemorymplied. ewent o far s to suggestn 1959thathe "consider[ed]he continuedexistence f National Socialism within emocracy otentially orethreateninghan he continuedxistence f fascist endenciesgainstdemocracy."28earingthe messagethat all cannotbe made goodagain,Beckett's lays ndAdorno's ssays ntervenenthe ffirmative

postwarultural

oliticsfWestern,ndparticularlyerman,ociety.

Adornofinds evidenceof the underside f the postwarEuropean"rebirth"nthefate f thecharactersaggandNell,which epresentsthehypocrisyf the"welfareystem": Endgame repares s forastate f affairsnwhich veryone ho iftshe id of thenearestrash-can canexpect ofind isownparentsn t.... TheNazishave rrevo-cably overthrownhe taboo on old age. Beckett'strashcans reemblems f the culture ebuilt fterAuschwitz"NL 266-67). The"state faffairs"ncoveredyAdorno ecallsGeorge teiner'sontro-

versialdenunciationfwhathe termed ermany'shollowmiracle."Steiner, howould fewyears ater ringAdorno's deasaboutAus-chwitz o anEnglish-languageeadership,rguedn 1959 that heGer-man anguagetselfwas taintedythe fterlifeftheShoah.29 dornoattemptso expose hathollownessrom strategicositionwithin heFederalRepublic, uthis account f the cultural evastationxtendsbeyond ationaloundaries,sultimatelyoesSteiner's.30

Bothof the ssays hat rivilegeeckett'sutonomousrt findingin them hat owhich has fallen heburden fwordlesslyxpressing

whatsbarredopolitics" end, nsurprisingly,ith paradox.Com-mitment"vokes Paul Klee's painting ngelusNovus themodelfor

27. JohannesonMoltke,Exhibitingewishifeworlds,"oundObject (Spring1994):15.Foranimportantonsiderationf the Jewishuestion"npostwar ermany,see AnsonRabinbach,TheJewishuestionntheGerman uestion," ewGerman ri-tique 4 (1988): 159-92. or n Israeli erspectiven thepoliticsfWiedergutmachung,see TomSegev,The eventh illion,rans. aimWatzmanNewYork:HillandWang,1993)189-252.

28. Adorno,What oesComingoTermswithhePastMean?"Bitburgn Moral

andPolitical erspective,d.GeoffreyartmanBloomington:ndiana P, 1986)115.29. Steiner,anguage ndSilence 5-109.30. See the therssaysnSteiner'sanguage ndSilence,writtennthe arlynd

mid-1960sndclearlynfluencedyAdorno.









66 After dorno

Benjamin's Angel of History) n order o capture heambiguity f the

chronotope f "afterAuschwitz": The machine ngel's enigmatic yesforce heonlooker o try o decidewhether e is announcingheculmi-nationof disaster r salvationhiddenwithin t" ("C" 318). In the End-

game essay,Adorno claims that n Beckett's"imageless mageof death. . the distinction etweenabsolute domination thehell in whichtimeis completely onfinedwithin pace, in whichabsolutelynothingchanges anymore and themessianic tate n whicheverything ouldbe in its right lace, disappears" NL 274). AlthoughAdorno'swritingoftenseems to find n this "last absurdity" onfirmation or what hecalls in MinimaMoralia his "melancholy cience,"we might lso findinthese ater ssaysthat cience's"standpointfredemption."31

Perhapsbecause of the melancholic'srefusal to breakwith a trau-matic event,some historical ense is preserved, ven if only in theformof the "imageless image" or the "wordless expression." The

essay, "Trying o Understand ndgame," s dedicated, fter ll, "To S.

B., in memory f Paris,Fall 1958" (NL 244; emphasisadded - MR).The patently enjaminian anguageand themesof thesepassages raise

interestinguestionsabout the relation etweenAdomo and theauthorof the"Theses on thePhilosophy f History."32Most significantlyorthisprojectwould be the impetus hatAdornotakes from he Thesesfor the constructionf a chronotopic onstellation etween the Hit-lerzeit nd thepostwar ra whichBenjaminneverknew.Differentiatinghistorical materialismfrom historicism,Benjamin claims that theformer nderstands istoricitys a retrospectiveualityof events: facts

"[become]historical osthumously."he historicalmaterialist

graspshe onstellationhich is wn rahasformedith definitear-lier ne.Thusheestablishesconceptionfthe resents thetime fthe ow' Jetztzeit]hichs shothroughithhips fMessianicime.33

The kindof memoryAdornoproduces n Beckett'stexts s the effectof a constellation onnecting uropeand the FederalRepublicwith ts

31. Adorno, inimaMoralia15, 47.32. For onsiderationfBenjamin'snfluencenAdorno's egativeialectics,ee

SusanBuck-Morss,heOrigins fNegativeialecticsHassocks:Harvester, 1977) nd

Fredric ameson,ateMarxism:dorno,r, he ersistencef heDialecticLondon ndNewYork:Verso, 990)49-58.33. WalterBenjamin,lluminations,rans.Harry ohn (New York:Schocken,

1969)263.









MichaelRothberg 67

recent ast.ButwhileBenjamins primarilyoncerned ith blast[ing]

open the continuumf history,"34dorno'srather ifferentoncernhere s to exhibithecontinuityhich nderlies superficiallyiscon-tinuous erman istory.

In a famous tudy rom he late 1960s,Alexandernd MargareteMitscherlichrgued hat hevastmajorityfGermaneoplehadnevercometo termswith heir elationshipo thecrimes ftheNazi era,buthad, nstead,epetitivelyndunconsciouslyttemptedo break ntirelywith hepast: That o few igns fmelancholiar evenofmourningretobe seenamong hegreatmassesof thepopulationanbe attributed

only o a collective enial f thepast."35dornonticipatedhis iagno-sisofGermany'sinabilityomourn"n his1959discussionfworkingthrough hepast [Aufarbeitunger Vergangenheit].e reads whattheMitscherlichserm rupture" ith hepastas a surface henomenonwhich indicatesa deeper continuity:This collectivenarcissism[wherebyowerlessndividualseregratifiedhroughdentificationiththewhole]wasgrievouslyamaged ythe ollapse ftheHitler egime;a damagewhich, owever,ccurredn therealm fsimple act,without

each ndividualecomingonsciousf t nd herebyettingvert."36In hiswritingsrom he ate 1950s andearly1960s,we see Adornorefiningndreshapingheconceptionf Auschwitzirstmentionedn"Culturalriticism."erehe sconcernedith heproductionndrecep-tionof culturen a contextwhere upturend continuityoexistwhere,notherwords,ayers f differentonceptionsfspaceandtimecan clusterround single ame,Auschwitz.e writesrom ithin sit-uationnwhich hehistoricityf Auschwitz asnotyetsettledntofact.Rather,tfloatswithinertainnstitutionallyeterminedarameters,

as a fact nthemakingnd thus s one of themeans nd the takes fvarious olitical egotiations.isconcerns obviouslyotwith he ndi-vidual sychologyf Germans utwith bjectiveconditionsverwhich[themajorityfpeople]havenocontrol,herebyeepinghismajorityna conditionfpoliticalmmaturityUnmiindigkeit]."37o combat uch

immaturityerecognizesheneed owagea battle ver he onstructionofchronotopes,encehischampioningfformsf culturalroduction,

34. Benjamin62.

35. CitednSantner.36. Adorno,WhatDoes Coming o TermsWith hePast Mean?" 122;cited n

Santner.37. Adorno,What oesComing oTermsWith he astMean?" 124.









68 After dorno

such s that fBeckett, hich epresentontemporaryistorys theper-

sistencefdark orcesromhe ecentast.Adornoonsidersuch his-torical isionnecessaryo theopening falternativeuturesndnot aretreatnto efeatism.n his atewritings,domowillcontinuehis is-cussionnthe ealm fmetaphilosophicaliscourse,mphasizinghe us-terepedagogical nd theoreticalraxisnecessary ortruly ctivatingwhat enjaminalled heMessianic otentialf he resent.

While havepointedo a break rshiftnAdorno's hinkingetweenthefirst wo momentsfhis

continuingafterAuschwitz"

iscourse,thehistoricaleriodwhich ncompasseshose womomentsoesnotso muchwitness break s mark hedevelopmentfGermany'sost-warreconstruction.dorno's econdreiterationf "poetryfterAus-chwitz,"n theother and, ot nly hiftshe enor fhisthinking,utwas also publishedn a cultural ontextwhere hemeaning f theevents f WorldWar I was intheprocess ftransformingtselfignifi-cantly.Because of the differentmotional nd historical orcesunleashed ytheEichmannrial n Israel n 1961, heAuschwitzrials

in themid-1960s,he1967Arab-Israeli ar, nd the 1968 nternationalstudentevolts, he 1960s saw a rapidand unevendevelopmentf"Holocaust onsciousness."38hebelated mergencef thishistoricalconsciousness aried ccordingo national ontext,s well as morelocal andpsychologicalactors,ut tremains social fact hat,ome-wherenthat ecade,Auschwitzook n a newsignificance.herepeti-tionof "after uschwitz"yAdornond his followersuch s GeorgeSteiner oth eflectshis mergencendhelpedoshape t.Adorno's estimonyothepersistencefhistorical emorynunlikely

culturalocationsi.e.,thewritingsfBeckett)makes lear hat henear-silence nd magelessnessf art fter uschwitzhould otbe confusedwith ctual ilence rwith banonrepresentationout ourt. Notevensilencegetsus outofthe circle" f culture nd barbarismfterAus-chwitz, dornowritesnNegative ialectics. In silencewe simply sethe tate fobjectiverutho rationalizeursubjectivencapacity,nce

38. See the ssays ollectednSaulFriedltinder,emory,istory,nd the xtermi-nation ftheJewsofEurope Bloomingtonnd Indianapolis:ndianaUP, 1993) for

insightsnto hegrowthf Holocaustmemoryndifferentational ontexts.or theUnited tates ontextnparticular,ee PeterNovick,HolocaustMemorynAmerica,"The ArtofMemory.- olocaust Memorials nHistory, d. JamesYoung (New York: Pres-tel,1994)159-65.









MichaelRothberg 69

moredegradingruthnto lie."39Here,Adorno reemptshereading

ofhispropositionhatmplieshat ecause hehorrorf the nnihilationoftheJews annot e perfectlymitatedrreproducedccordingotheidealsofa naive ealismas ifanythingouldbe),all artisticepresenta-tion hould ease.Adorno isallows vidence fthe ubject'sncapacitytorepresentotal orrors groundsor he bdicationf art. ucha neg-ative esthetic f silence, e argues,wouldonlybe functionallyoti-vatedbythedesire torationalize"tsownpredestinedailure. utthiswouldbe norefusalfthe dministeredocietywhichmadeAuschwitzpossible, ince"to instrumentalizert s toundercutheoppositionrt

mountsgainstnstrumentalism."40rt's ole s its afunctionality,"ndthus ts success ies n itsvery ailurealthoughot nyfailure). enceAdomovalues he roximityfthe rt o silence. hisproximitys notan abdicationut n articulationfsuffering.dorno inds his ualityin thepoetryfPaulCelan,whomhecompareso Beckett n thebasisofa commonanorganic" ritingractice:[Celan's]poetrys perme-atedby a sense of shame temmingrom hefact hat rt s unableeithero experiencer to sublimateuffering.elan'spoems rticulate

unspeakable orrorbybeing ilent,hus urningheir ruthontentntoa negative uality."4Suchan assessmentf Celan inAdorno'sfinalworktakes on added significance,iventhat heoriginal tatementaboutpoetry fterAuschwitz s consideredn popularmythologypointedejoinderothe ormer'sTodesfuge.'42

After he disavowal n postmodernismf the "greatdivide,"asAndreasHuyssen alls it,between igh nd massculture, dorno asfrequentlyeen criticized or his conceptionf an aesthetic ealmautonomousromhe ocial.43 etAdorno's ommentsbout rt fter

Auschwitz emonstrateisunderstandingf the social contentf the"silent" esthetic.nNegative ialectics,Adorno choeshis commentsin"Commitment"ndgoeson tosuggestinks etweenrt nd histori-cal understanding:Perennialufferingasas much ightoexpressionas a torturedanhastoscream; ence tmayhave beenwrong o say

39. Adorno, egative ialectics 67.40. Adomo,Aestheticheory,rans. . LenhardtNewYork:Routledgend Kee-

ganPaul,1984)442.41. Adorno, estheticheory11,444.

42. For nexample fthis rror,eeAlvinRosenfeld,DoubleDying:ReflectionsonHolocaust iteratureBloomington:ndiana P, 1980)13.

43. AndreasHuyssen,Mapping hePostmodern,"eminism/Postmodernism,d.LindaNicholsonNewYork:Routledge,990)249.









70 After dorno

that fter uschwitzoucouldno longerwrite oems."He thenmme-

diatelyendershis ecantationmbiguous:But t s notwrongoraisethe ess culturaluestionwhetherfter uschwitz oucan go on liv-ing."44 his ast houghtrings dorno's hilosophyo the dgeof theabyss,but t is only n thispositionhathe finds he resources orthoroughgoingegationfwhat s.Theguilt fliving fterhe o-called inalSolution, domo uggests

inthis motionallyhargedassage, is irreconcilableithiving":Andtheguilt oesnot easetoreproducetself,ecausenotfor n instantanit be madefully resento consciousness.his,nothinglse,is what

compels s tophilosophize.nd nphilosophye experience shock:thedeeper,hemore igoroustspenetration,hegreat ur uspicionhatphilosophyemoves s fromhingss they re.'"45hispassage ntici-patespsychologicalnsightsboutwhat as come obeknowns "survi-vor'sguilt," ut,moremportantly,ecognizeshe mplicationsfthoseinsightsor ulturet arge ndpoints s towardhe ocialframeworknwhichhis ondition'symptomshould e read.Thesurprisingersonalquality xhibitedy Adomo'swritingestifieso a social contextn

which, uringnd after heEichmann

rial,urvivors ere

beginningo

be recognizeds a group hat ad beensilentlyauntedya articularset f xperiencesnd xpectationsboutife afterAuschwitz."4Inthisight,t s interestingocomparehe eflectionsnNegativeia-

lecticswithhefamous ichmannestimonyfHolocaust ovelist ehielDe-Nurwhosepen-name,a-Tzetnik,s derivedromheGermancro-nym or oncentrationamp).Beforeiterallyollapsingn the tand,n"oneof themost ramatic omentsnthe ountry'sistory,"ccordingto an Israeliournalist,47e-Nur escribedisexperiencef thecamps

44. Adorno,Negative ialectics362-63.The Germanmakes t clear that he"could" ndthe can" ofthese entencesefersot oanability,ut n ethical rinciple:"nachAuschwitzieBekeinGedichtmehr ich chreiben... ob nachAuschwitz ochsich leben lasse, ob vollends es diirfe..." The originalverbs assen and diirfen sed heredenoteallowance"nd permission."

45. Adorno, Negative Dialectics 364; translationmodified - MR. Hereafterreferredoparentheticallyn he exts ND.

46. Miriam ansen asmade similarointboutAdorno's otion fexperiencenthe ontextfher rilliantorwordoOskarNegt ndAlexanderluge, ublic pherendExperience,rans.eter abanyi, amie wenDaniel, ndAssenka ksiloffMinneapolis:U ofMinnesota

, 1993):thestructure'fAdorno's

xperienceas not

merelygener-alizedperceptionf horror';twasthensistencena fundamentalusammenhangrela-tion, onnection,ontext],hepersistencef thepast nthepresenthatmaintainedheimperativeoengagehe egacy fmass nnihilationcross enerationaloundaries"xix).

47. Segev4.









MichaelRothberg 71

in wordswhichAdomo'sformulationchoes: Time herewas different

from hats here n earth.... Andthe nhabitantsfthat lanet ad nonames. .. Theywerenotborn here ordidanyone ivebirth. ventheirreathingasregulatedythe awsofanother ature.heydidnotlive,nordidthey ie, n accordance ith he awsofthisworld.'48 hesewords ould omefrom dorno's escriptionftheuniversef a Beck-ettplay.Thispublic nunciationf an "Auschwitz"hronotope,romsomeonewho,unlikeAdomo,had been at itscenter,ontributedotheclimaten which n "after uschwitz"hronotopeould lsobe spoken.

Onlybeginningnthe 1960scould urvivorsnd others ho come after

begin obring heir espectivexperiencesndexpectationso bearoneachothernthepublic phere.uch delayed event"orthedoublingofthe ventn tsworkinghrough)lso necessitateseflectionnthe re-existing odes freflection;dorno'satework ttemptsobring heoryinto inewith heculturalonfrontationith raumand the ttemptstthework fmourningappeningll aroundim.

Thepassagefrom egative ialectics n whichAdomoassessesthe

"guilt" f thepost-Holocaustorld,lso markshe imits fphilosophy

itself,s SigridWeigelhasrecentlyrgued.What ompels hilosophysnotonly guilt, ut thenon-synchronicityf guilt nd consciousness,thosemomentshat onsciousnessannot ully rasp nd which here-fore eturneaselessly. ut f consciousnessf"theother f conscious-ness," i.e., genocideand its aftermath,roundsphilosophy fterAuschwitz,t alsostripsway tsground,ince tproduceshe raumatic"shock" hat hesenon-integratableomentsfguilt annot e recon-ciled with ny already xistinghilosophyfhistory.49hinking od-emhistorynder he ignof trauma oesnot,however,eadAdorno o

abandon is ngagementithmodernity,ut atheroreformulatet.The "afterAuschwitz"ontext orces recognitionhatphilosophy

itself asbeen ransformedythematerialorcesfhistoryhich edtotheShoah; nfact,t forces hat erymaterialismfhistoryuponmeta-physics." uch a processmakesfor ome ratherronicphilosophicalactors: a newcategoricalmperativeas been mposed yHitler ponunfreemankind:oarrangeheirhoughtsndactions o thatAuschwitzwill notrepeattself"ND 365).This mutationfphilosophy,owever,

should otbe seen implisticallys the ymptomf a completeistorical

48. Cited nSegev3.49. Weigel129f.









72 Afterdorno

breakwhichwould nstall radically ew stage n Westernulture,

although uch fthe hetoricf"after uschwitz" ould eem o mplythis.As Adomomakes lear na radiobroadcastromhe ameyear sNegative ialectics, hecategoricalmperativeottorepeatAuschwitz- here onsidereds theprimaryoalof education isnecessaryre-cisely ecause uch break as not aken lace. n"ErziehungachAus-chwitz""Educationfter uschwitz"],domoencouragesheattemptto buildconsciousnessfthe inks etween ivilizationnd barbarismfor heveryreason hat the fundamentaltructuref society nd its

members,hich

roughtton,

aretoday

he ame."Adomo

ocates heroots of genocide n the developmentf modem nationalismndinscribestspotentialna "societalendency"hich annot e separatedfromhe greatendenciesfprogress,fEnlightenment."50

While n "Cultural riticismnd Society,"Adomoseemed o sub-scribe oa notion fhistorys the nversefprogress a theoreticalpositionwhich ppeared o leave no roomfor hepossible edirectionof social tendencies inhis aterworkhemobilizes more omplexviewofhistory,utone which t firstlance eems vengloomier.n

Negative ialecticshe at oncenegatesndaffirmsifferentotions fthekindofuniversal istorymplicitnthenotion fAuschwitz s astage n a process freification:No universal istoryeadsfromav-agery ohumanitarianism,ut heres one eading romhe lingshotothemegaton omb."Thedominationfnature ndhumanity epito-mized ntheNazigenocidendthe hreatfnuclearnnihilation "isthe unitythat cementsthe discontinuous,haotically plinteredmomentsndphasesofhistory.... Historys theunity fcontinuityanddiscontinuity"ND 320). In order oprovoke liberatingisconti-

nuity hichwouldnotbe irrationalhaos, t willnotdo tolocate par-allel orparasitic rogresslongside r within heuniversal istoryfbarbarism. orAdomo, hought'sesistanceo universalityomesnotfrom celebrationfdifferencewhathewouldcallthenon-identical)as in much oststructuralism,utratherrom refusalo rationalizergrantmeaningo thatwhich lreadyxists. hus,while hedesirabilityof universalitys denied, ts strangleholdn historys not.Adomoreplaces he ffirmationf differencenthepresent ith n appealto a

version f "the heologicalanonimages" Bilderverbot]hat efershe50. Adorno, Erziehung achAuschwitz," esammeltechriften0.2:675.My

translation MR.









MichaelRothberg 73

emergencefdifferenceo a post-totalitarianorldwhichhas notyet

arrived.51choinghis assessmentf CelanandBeckett, dornoholdsthat [m]aterialismroughthat an nto ecular ormynotpermittingUtopia o be positivelyictured;his s the ubstancef itsnegativity"(ND 207). Here the aestheticndthepolitical reshown opossessasimilar ritical ngagement ith the present. hereare clear linksbetweenheban on articulatingtopia ndonCelan's mageless mageand Beckett'swordlessxpression.he atterre the rtisticnd discur-sivecorrelatesfutopia n a theoryhat oubleshistoricalime, ssert-ingthecoexistencef a linearregressionnd a discontinuousopewhich anonly e voiced hrougheterminednddeterminateegation.Adorno oesnotproposehis heorys "universalistory,"ut s the

product,nceagain, fhistory.hilosophyecomesmaterialistecause"after uschwitzheresnoword inged rom nhigh, ot ven theo-

logical ne, hat asanyrightoexist nless tunderwenttransforma-tion" ND 367). Thephilosophyfhistoryespondso materialorces,as well. f Adorno scribes heoverarchingines f force othe enden-tialhistoryfcapitalism,e reservesparticularlaceforAuschwitz:

[T]he apitalistystem'sncreasinglyntegrativerend,he act hattselementsntwinento more ndmore otal ontextffunctions,spreciselyhatmakeshe ldquestionbouthe ause asopposedto he onstellationmore ndmorerecarious.eneed oepiste-mologicalritiqueo make spursueonstellations;he earchorthems forcedpon sby he eal oursefhistory.ND 166)

Drawing ttentiono thechronotopicimensions f theBenjaminianconstellationn thispassage,FredricJameson bserves theway in

whichAdorno ereuses the patialityfthefiguref theconstellationtoargue xplicitlygainstlinear ausality,'ut nthenameofhistoryitself."52heparadoxs that his patializationf historicalnderstand-ing s, insomeway, heproductf themovementsfa moreprogres-sive, linearhistory:he"increasinglyntegrativerend" f capitalismand Enlightenment.he Nazis were,Adorno ometimesmplies, heagents f thequalitativeransformationherebyistoryeached new

51. For a critique f the versionof theBilderverbotmplicit n Adorno's

approach o Auschwitz,ee Klaus Laermann, 'Nach Auschwitz in Gedicht uschreiben,st arbarisch':berlegungenueinem arstellungsverbot,"unst nd iteraturnachAuschwitz 1-15.

52. Jameson,ateMarxism9.









74 After dorno

spatializedstage. The exemplary pace of this stage is the concentra-

tion,or moreaccurately,xterminationamp: "Genocide is the absoluteintegration.t is on itsway wherevermen are leveled off 'polishedoff,'as the Germanmilitaryalled it- until ne exterminateshem it-

erally, s deviationsfrom he conceptof their otalnullity.Auschwitzconfirmed he philosopheme f pure identity s death" (ND 362). In

Adorno,thelanguageof "identity,"f "levelling," s directly onnectedwith the domination f exchangevalue whichcapitalism ets in place.Thus Auschwitz s at once an effect f reification nd the ultimate ul-fillmentf itstendencyo eliminate articularity,n thiscase thepartic-ularity fthosehuman eingsnot ntegratednto heAryan race."

The name thatAdomo gives inNegativeDialectics forthis relation-

ship that Auschwitzhas with the social totality s the "model." Thethirdpartof thatwork is divided into threesections,which Adornonames "models of negativedialectics,"and the last, "Meditationson

Metaphysics," ncludes his most extensive reflections n Auschwitz.Adorno's explanationof what he means by "models" is crucial to

understandingowtheHolocaust ntersects ithhisthought:

They re not xamples;hey o not implylucidate eneral eflec-tions.Guidingnto he ubstantiveealm,heyeek imultaneouslyodo ustice o the opicalntentionfwhathasinitially,fnecessity,beengenerallyreated as opposed o theuse ofexampleswhichPlato ntroducedndphilosophyepeatedver ince:as mattersfindifferencen themselves.hemodels retomake lainwhat ega-tive ialecticss and obringt nto he ealmfreality,n inewithtsown oncept.NDxx)

The prominencegivento

Auschwitzn Adorno's

critiqueof meta-

physicsmakesitalmost modelamongmodels. n TheDifferend, ean-

FrangoisLyotardchooses the "afterAuschwitz"model as his designa-tionfor"an 'experience' of languagethatbrings peculativediscourseto a halt." Such a view of the stakesof Adorno's textderivesfrom n

understandingf the model as "the name for a kind of experiencewheredialectics would encounter non-negatable egative, nd wouldabide in the impossibilityf redoubling hatnegative ntoa

'result."''53Lyotardquite correctly eads Adorno's meditations s a critiqueof

Hegelian dialectics n whichthenegationof thenegationproducesanaffirmativeesult.When thisexperienceor encounterwith that which

53. Lyotard8.









MichaelRothberg 75

cannot e raisedup into positive erm akestheform f the Aus-

chwitz vent,t results n a shiftn thehorizon f expectation.heHolocaust eaves a permanentound n the elf-conceptionf human-ity hat annot e overcome,ut can at bestbe preventedrom ecur-ring.54 enceLyotardnsists hatwhat esults rom his vent s a lackofresult,ndAdomo mphasizeshemeaninglessnessf the vent,ndthus eeks o sheltertfromcommitted"r entimentalorks f rt.

Despite ts lack of affirmativeesult r meaning,he form f the"model" ventmusthenceforthe factoredntophilosophicaliscourseas thebecoming-temporalf thought.n opening is "Meditationsn

Metaphysics,"domo eclared,Wecannotay nymore hat he mmu-table s truth,ndthat hemobile, ransitorys appearance.he mutualindifferenceftemporalityndeternaldeas s no longerenable"ND361).After uschwitz,ulture the vowed ealm f"eternaldeas"is folded ack nto arbarismndthe orrosiveassage ftime. hepro-ductionf themodel s anattempto think rom placeno longer eter-mined y anti-materialistdealism. s theultimatenstancefmodemculture'sefinitiveubordinationobarbarism,s the ationalizedroduc-

tion fdeath, uschwitz ot nlymodels hemodel,t casts retroactivejudgmentn the deologyfEnlightenmentith ts trustnreason ndthe anctityfculture.hisrejectionf anoptimisticccount fprogres-sivereason oes not ntail hatAdomo bandon eason or hedeliriumofthe rrationalincehe doesnot lacehishopesn the rogressivearra-tive.Here,Adomodivergesrom yotard,hosepostmodernisavowalofthe grand arratives"fEnlightenmenteason smuchmore horough-going.55 yotard ejects nlightened odernityven as he remains,ikeAdorno, aithfulo aestheticmodernism.56domo,on the other and,

attempts through reworkingfphilosophicalormnthe ight f thecatastrophetowrencheason ree romts nstrumentaleterminations.

54. In a famous assagefrom ne of hishistorian'sebateHistorikerstreit]nter-ventions,abermaswrote: There in Auschwitz]omethingappened,hat ptonownobody onsidereds evenpossible. here netouchedn somethinghich epresentsthedeep ayer fsolidaritymong ll thatwears human ace;notwithstandingll theusual actsofbeastlinessf human istory,he ntegrityf this ommonayer adbeentaken or ranted... Auschwitzaschangedhe asisfor he ontinuityf he onditionsof ifewithin istory."ited n Saul Friedlander,Introduction,"robing heLimits fRepresentation:azismnd the Final olution"Cambridge:arvard P, 1992)3.

55. See, especially, ean-Frangoisyotard,hePostmodernondition: ReportonKnowledge,rans. eoff enningtonnd BrianMassumiMinneapolis: ofMinne-sotaP, 1984).

56. Huyssen,Mappinghe ostmodern"66.









76 After dorno

Thus, he onceptfthemodelnecessitatesnewform fphilosophi-

cal representation.dorno orrows heconcept f themodel,Jamesonsuggests,rommusic, nd specificallyrom choinberg'serialism.ntwelve-toneompositionhe model s "theraw materialf a specificcomposition . . the particular rderand configurationf the twelvenotes f the calewhich,hosen ndarrangednadvance, ecomes hecomposition,n so far s this ast s 'nothingmore'than n elaborateseriesof variations nd permutations . . of that tarting oint."57The

significancef Jameson'snderstandingf themodel, ndthatwhich

opposest to thetenor f

Lyotard's ost-Marxistrgument,s that n

thismusicalreading he model s revealed s thatfragmenthichalready ontainshetotality ithint. Jameson's ording,owever,ssomewhatmbiguous,nd seems oimplyhat herelationshipetweenthe model ndthetotalitythecomposition)s one ofwhatAlthussertermed expressive ausality."58he relationshipetweenpartandwhole nJameson'smusicalmetaphoreems oosimple, combinato-rial ogicwherehe artmmediatelyenerateshewhole.

Jameson's egelianreading oes notproperlyccount or hepro-

cess of "structuralausality," hichAdorno's ccount f the modelseemsto suggest.n thiscase,we do notsimply eriveAuschwitzfrom history hichmoves xternallyo it as we would n a mecha-nisticdeduction); e grasp hathistoryhroughhenecessarymedia-tionof Auschwitz. ut theprocess s notmere nductionither,inceAuschwitz oes notgenerater reflect hetotalityf thehistoryfmodernity.et had it not "takenplace,"thehistoryo be graspedwouldclearly otbe the ame.After uschwitz, odernitynd Shoahneed to be read n light f eachother; urunderstandingf each is

mediated ytheother.59he model s nota matterfindifference,sis theexamplenspeculativehought,or s itsimplyn elementna

57. Jameson,ate Marxism1.58. Jameson's ordingere s ironic iven hat epopularizedlthusser'sritique

of"expressiveausality,"ndchampioningf "structuralausality."ee Jameson,hePoliticalUnconsciousIthaca:Cornell P, 1981)23-58.ForAlthusser'sevelopmentfthesedeas, eeAlthusser,ContradictionndOverdetermination,"orMarx, rans. enBrewsterNewYork:Pantheon,969)87-128; ndAlthusserndEtienne alibar, ead-ingCapital, rans. en BrewsterLondon: erso, 979).

59. This account ftheHolocaust s a possibilityithinmodernityhich orevermodifiesurnotion f the atters close toZygmuntauman's: From hefact hat heHolocaustsmodem,tdoesnot ollow hatmodernitys a Holocaust."eeZygmuntau-man,Modernitynd theHolocaustIthaca: ornell P, 1989)93.









MichaelRothberg 77

permutationaleries.Themannernwhich houghtan arrive t some

understandingf thatwhichthe modelmodels is less direct.AsAdomowrote n "The Essay as Form," theessayhas to cause thetotalityo be illuminatedn a partialfeature, hetherhefeature echosen rmerely appenedpon,withoutssertinghepresencefthetotality"emphasis dded MR). Fromhisaccount f theessay,wecan presume hatAdorno's se ofthemodel s not an attempto be"systematic,"s Jameson'smetaphoruggests,utrather asthe char-acteristicfan intentionropingtsway" NL 16). Thenon-assertive,almostblind illuminationf essayistic houghts once again the

"imagelessmage," nd tsmodel s autonomousrt.With he electionof"poetryfter uschwitz"s thepartial eaturehroughhich o illu-minateheHolocaust nd tsrelationomodernity,dorno reservestension etween art ndwholethatmaintainsoth hepowerof themodemotalitynd he ruthontentf tsvariousocalexpressions.

We can nowgrasp omethingf thetemporalitynd location f"after uschwitz"s Adorno mployst in his late works.n fact, hefamousopening ineofNegativeDialectics - "Philosophy,whichonce

seemed bsolete,iveson because hemomentorealize twas missed"(ND 3) - expresseshedefunctemporalityf lifeless urvivalwhichthe experience"f Auschwitznaugurates,ccordingothe ext's inal"MeditationsnMetaphysics."ndtheplaceofthis houghts revealedas thatconstrictedone of nearly nnihilatedxpectation,hedeathcamp: Beckett asgiven s theonlyfittingeactiono the ituationftheconcentrationamps a situatione never allsbyname, s if twere ubject o an imageban. What s,he says, s like a concentrationcamp.At one timehespeaks f a lifelongeath enalty"ND 380-81).

If, n Beckett,he concentrationamp s the"unnamable,"nAdornothecamp Auschwitz)s therepetitivelynvoked amefor omethingelsewhichmust egraspedna situationf ndirectllumination.

Thatsomethinglse is, strangelynough, heyearningorutopia,thatwhichhasno-place. acedwith he lifelongeath enalty,"eck-ett'swriting

seemstoicalutsfull f naudiblerieshathingshoulde differ-ent. uch ihilismmplieshe ontraryf dentificationith othing-

ness. oBeckett,s to heGnostics,he reatedorldsradicallyvil,andtsnegationsthe hancef notherorldhats not et. s ongastheworlds as it s, llpicturesfreconciliation,eace,nd uietresemblehe icturefdeath.ND381)









78 After dorno

The significancefpositinganother orld hat s notyet"derives

notfrom nypositive ualities f thatworld whichfall under heimageban),butfrom he coexistencefan alternativehronotopetheconcept f anotherpaceand time in a fieldwhere hereplace-ment fexperience ithntegrated,dministeredonsciousnessbliter-atesexpectationndhope.Elsewhere, dorno ormulateshis onceptin terms f the ndexicalityf thought:utopia s essentiallyn thedeterminedegation . . of thatwhichmerelys, andbyconcretizingitself s somethingalse, t alwayspoints t thesame timeto whatshouldbe."60 n Bakhtin's ormulation,he ndexical unctionf thechronotopeoints ackwardsoward he vent thus nderliningep-resentation'selatednessnrelationo that vent.nAdorno heneces-sityof comingafter he catastropheoexistswithan anticipatorytemporality.he constructionfthechronotopelocks heevent tselfbut n so doing asts shadowwhose utline egisterstopia. or evenif we alwayscomeafter heevent nAdorno's houghtbothhistori-callyandepistemologically),e are also always ooearly ograsp t.We live in a worldwhere econciliationas notyettaken lace and

thushas notyetprovidedhe tandpointromwhich oview the ventfrom utside heflow f"damagedife."Therepeateditationf Aus-chwitzs an attemptomakeone'swaythroughhat lux, oprovidetemporaryapof the historicalresents themeans o a futurehatwould nstall breakwith he onditionshich urturedascism.

Ina sensewereturno Adorno'snitial hrasingf "after uschwitz"wherehe castigatedoetry orblocking nowledgef the"radicallyevil" socialtotality.ow,however, e see that omepoeticpractices(that s, Celan's, Beckett's) nd Adorno'swritingsn poetry eek,

throughheir irectr ndirectnvocationfAuschwitz,o block posi-tive omprehensionfwhat,fter uschwitz,anonlybe known ega-tively.Only by avoiding"faded positivities" an writing void"conspiring ith ll extantmalice, ndeventuallyith hedestructiveprincipletself' ND 381). Therepeatederformancef theterrifyingchronotope,after uschwitz,"olds placefor time otyet mergent.

IV. Conclusion:AfterAdornoIf the

paceand time after uschwitz"

ccupiesomemiddle one

60. Adornonconversationith rnst loch nBloch,TheUtopian unctionfArtand Literature:elected ssays, rans. ack ipesandFrankMecklenburgCambridge:MIT,1988)12.









MichaelRothberg 79

between astand futurevents hat efy epresentation,tsown sub-

stanceremains onceptual,which is not to say imaginary. fterAdornoone cannot onceiveofgenocide n quitethe samefashion.Butwhenor what s "afterAdorno"? rvingHowe remarked,uitecorrectly,hat t is difficultto think f anotherrea of literaryis-course n which singlewriter as exerted o strong,fdiffused,ninfluences TheodorAdornohas on discussions f literaturendtheHolocaust."61 et Howe also realized,s didAdorno,hat he specu-lation hat uman onsciousnessouldno longer e what thadprevi-

ouslybeen" afterAuschwitzwas unfortunatelyot true.62We can

certainlyxplainthis latter actin Marxist erms, rguing hat achangeof consciousness ouldonlyfollow change n thematerialorganizationfsociety this s precisely dorno's ritique fpost-warEuropean ulture. uttheformeremark n Adorno's nfluencereassertshequestion f consciousnessnd intellectualntervention,while t suggests hat hat nterventionhould ie elsewhere han n

"speculations"n consciousness.If Adomois correctn Negative ialectics, peculationmustgive

wayto a new form fdialecticalmaterialistnalysis n thewake ofAuschwitz. ne consequencef thispropositionouldbe theneed totake nto ccounthematerialffectsfphilosophizing.nstead f seek-ing nAdorno hereflectionf a historicalreak alled"Auschwitz,"wemightnderstandim s producingseries fconceptsintheformofchronotopes)hich etroactivelyose thepossibilityf a.break, tthe sametimethat hey lluminatehe eternal eturn f the same inthoseplaceswhichhavenotyetworkedhroughheAuschwitzmodel.Thoughtalone" cannot lterhistoryut, n citing ndresignifying

discursivehain such s that onnectinguschwitzo"Auschwitz"),tcankeepthepastpresentnd thefuturepen.Theproductionfcon-cepts lso helps tructurehefield utofwhich he gency o alter hespatio-temporalarametersfthe resent ustmerge.

As Howeimplies,hemajornfluencefAdorno'sAuschwitzhrono-topehastaken lace n aestheticealms. hismust e taken or tsnega-tive as well as its positive mplications.dornoprovides omplex,contradictory,nd frequently isunderstoodonceptsfor evaluating"Holocaustrt."

espitehose

iscouragingdjectives,arious

nterpreta-61. Howe178.62. Howe198.









80 After dorno

tions f Adorno ontinueo structureriticalesponseo such rt nthe

present,nd evenwhenAdorno'snameis notmentionedor evenknown). nepotentiallyositiveffectfmyreadingfAdomowouldbe toshifthis errainrom hat emainsprimarily oralizingiscoursetoa materialistndethicalritique.nstead fevaluatingwork's deco-rum" ccordingoprinciplesssumed oadherenthe venttself, e canrecognizeurambiguousistancerom heevent,ndinquirento herelationshipwork stablishesetweenhepast t mobilizesnd tscon-temporaryontext.eadingAdorno'sworks s interventionsnconcretesituations eant o

produceffects

epriveshem ftheirracular

ual-ity, ut lso ncreasesheirelevancend heirsefulnessn he resent.It is equally rue, owever,hat heparticular ay nwhichAdomo's

thoughttructureshefield fpossibilitiesimits hekinds f interven-tions hathe wouldpromote. dorno's estheticsemain,s Jamesonpoints ut, trictlyodernist.63incemodernismo longer epresentschallengeoquiescentdeologies, more roperlyostmodemistritiquewouldoffer crucial econsiderationfmass culture.64nparticular,full-blownonsumerociety emands n acknowledgmentfthestatus

of theHolocaust ommodity.nthemidst fpostmodemism'srolifera-tion of aesthetic echniques ew kinds of historical rt are takingshape.65 ome postmodern orks, uchas ArtSpiegelman'sMaus,challengehe ssumptionsbout henecessaryautonomy"f art fterAuschwitz hichhaveemerged romAdorno's albeit ritical) ecep-tion, ven s they ecognizehe isks fcommodification.66

Equally imitingotheproject fconfrontinghehistoricalegacy fgenocide s theway in whichAdorno ocuses rimarilyn aesthetic

63. Jameson,ReflectionsnConclusion."eealso Zuidervaart'sxtensiveritiqueofAdorno'sestheticsor useful iscussionf ts trengthsndweaknesses.uidervaartis also quite ritical fJameson'sheoryfpostmodernism,lthoughhis ection f hisbook s lessconvincingo me.

64. Fora defense f thepossibilitiesfmassculturalepresentationftheNazigenocide hat aysparticularttentiono one mportantass ulturalext,he elevisionmini-series,olocaust, ee Andreas uyssen,ThePolitics f dentification,"ewGer-manCritique19 (1981): 117-36.

65. Forthe rticulationf a "popularmodernist"ositionn the epresentabilityftheHolocaust hat eeks o elude he utmodedntinomiesfmodernistrt, eeMiriamHansen,SchindlersList s Not hoah:TheSecondCommandment,opularModernism,

andPublicMemory,"riticalnquiry2 (Winter996):292-312.66. Art piegelman, aus,vols.1 and2 (NewYork:Pantheon, 986,1991).OnSpiegelman,ee MichaelRothberg,'We WereTalking ewish': rt piegelman's ausas 'Holocaust' Production," ontemporaryiterature 5.4 (1994): 661-87.









MichaelRothberg 81

objects, ven as he refershem ack to theconditionsftheir roduc-

tion. his s of course ronic incehis nitial tatementftheproblematicseemsdeliberatelynti-aesthetic.Adorno's ubsequenteformulations,and mostof his writings,efine hestatus f theaesthetic,rantingauthenticr autonomousrt role of absolutemportancen articulat-inga critique f capitalist ociety. ut the wholesale ubstitutionfreflectivend aestheticracticeor ther ormsfpraxishardlyeemsjustifiablenpoliticalrtheoreticalrounds.

This s not ll theres, however,n lateAdorno.ftheethico-politi-cal call to arms fter uschwitz erives rom henecessityfprevent-ing its recurrence,hen the pedagogicalmoment hat sometimessurfacesnAdorno'swritingsnd,especially,peeches nd radio alksought o be kept n mind. n thosemore bviously onjuncturalnter-ventions, dorno tressesheconcept feducation omaturityErzie-hungzur Miindigkeit].n sketchinghis notion f "democratic" r"matureolitical edagogy," domonotonly eavestheautonomyftheaesthetic ealmbutsuggests project f "publicenlightenment"whoseformulationndactualizationemainoday s critical s they o

unfinished.67ltimately,hisrelocationf theconfrontationithAus-chwitzn thepublic phere f democraticducationmaybe as greatcontributiono theprocessof coming o termswith hepastas themorefamous eflectionsn representation.n fact, he ivelydebatessurroundingany ecent ilms,iteraryndhistoricalexts,memorials,andmuseumseem to indicate renewed nterestnhistoricalnder-standinghathas beenspurred recisely ycontroversiesboutrepre-sentation. iewed retrospectivelyrom he vantage pointof suchdebates,Adorno's ontributions all themore mpressive;e brought

togetherhequestions f Holocaust epresentationnd educationt amoment hen hey adnotyet eenfullyrticulated.

67. Adorno,What oesComing o TermsWithhe astMean?"124-29.

8.3 rothberg after adorno

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