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1 (2000): 81 formulations play on play formulations hoo Aaos raet ucs i bo o fiue i wih he which in failure, on book a is success greatest Adamo's Theodor ehp ls aiir i etil n ls la. However, clear. less no certainly is familiar, less perhaps one." wrong the in life right is no "there that decreed mously
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o toe drsig rbes fltrr o mscl xrsincn be expression-can musical or literary of problems addressing those nor he Moreover, sentimentality. anachronistic Adamo's of defense in said notori Adamo's unmasked since long have professionals lucid of majority utie a al fter ot i eoi dsr ae eee, bcue even "because severed, are desire erotic in roots their if all at sustained that heterosexual male a of view of point the assumes unabashedly so Albrecht accordingly. them banned and speculations romanticizing ously lgn acrig owih te rvt i h pltcl" a hrl legiti hardly can political," is the private "the which to according slogan, Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Feminist 98 ilcis fte oe' mvmn, h ptal o h s-ald sexual so-called the of pitfalls the movement, women's the of dialectics romantic ubiquitous rather Adamo's in indulgence prolonged mize eouin ad te ptnily eemn faue o i togt on thoughts his of features redeeming potentially other and revolution, n go vd mcm aog h etis of entries the among mecum, vade good any proposition such as "You are being loved only where you may show may you where only loved being are "You as such proposition eln ato i ohr mr gapbe hn nhssnietl ie on lines sentimental his in than graspable more is nowhere author selling balance right the just ( strikes 192) strength" provoking without self weak exposure; of level the increases also experience individual with cern between banality and profundity that is required of such tokens of love. of tokens such of required is that profundity and banality between ridicule. and critique to vulnerable more is he else where ann t at n ashtc xeine rt hsoy n sca relations, social and history to or experience aesthetic and art to taining the love, in acutely are who readers few those to contradistinction In al rc, n priual ebrasn, source. embarrassing, particularly and rich, larly
huh' rmts ojciiain ae orse b te rvs (122). drives" the by nourished are objectifications remotest thought's the into insights poignant once his even cloud to tends perspective this ednis srmat o uiu telgss ht uh t b surrend be to ought that theologisms dubious of remnants as tendencies many that likely is it therefore) even perhaps, (and, Nevertheless ings. o h hget ince f i sii" iue aog dm' deepest Adamo's among figured spirit" his of pinnacle highest the to writings. other his of most in missing is that worldliness a afford oe n atclr n gne rltos n general. in relations gender and particular in love ered. from line a titled "Constanze," which portrays the loving couple as a dormant a as couple loving the portrays which "Constanze," titled "somatic" underpinnings of Adamo's thought runs the risk of castrating of risk the runs thought Adamo's of underpinnings "somatic" republic's young the of success of secret the "Perhaps cell: lutionary h etr our. o nn o Aaos hoesnihr those theorems-neither Adamo's of none For oeuvre. entire the oe . 1t cnuy hog ad through." and through century 19th ... love
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no "No Happiness Without Fetishism" 99 convictions (122). In particular, his scant, strained references to utopia tend to be modeled on sexual fulfillment: "Only he who could situate utopia in blind somatic pleasure, which, satisfying the ultimate intention, is intentionless, has a stable and valid idea of truth" ( 61). The very idea of happiness, Adorno suggests, is "sexual union" as "blissful tension" (217). Similarly, his most succinct formula for the specific quality of aes thetic experience unequivocally recalls the peculiarities of "la petite mort": "If anywhere, then in this respect, aesthetic experience resembles sexual experience, in particular its culmination. As the beloved image transforms itself, as petrification is united with the most vivacious, it is as if culmination were the incarnation of the original idea of aesthetic experience." 7 The succession of mutually canceling terms in this sen tence-"as if" (gleichsam)but "incarnate" (leibhaft), yet inaccessible and unverifiable as a platonic idea (Urbild) at the same time-underwrite Adamo's determined refusal to let anyone decide whether this "culmina tion" should be understood literally or figuratively. In fact, the momen tary equilibrium of opposites is precisely at issue here. Adamo's description of the successful artwork as a fleeting instance of Einstand, or "balance," between utmost tension and complete relaxation also borrows its evidence from the same phenomenon. (But it is worth pointing out that on Adamo's view, an orgasm is not privy to the pleasure he likens to aesthetic experience. It belongs to the onlooker, who observes the rare coincidence of tension with its opposite. Even ecstasy requires distance: "Contemplation without violence, the source of all the joy of truth, pre supposes that he who contemplates does not absorb the object into him self: a distanced nearness" [89-90].) The point of these and countless other examples is not that Adamo's theoretical constructions are, in the final instance, reducible to sexual desire or sexual fulfillment, respectively. 8 Equally crude would be an inter pretation that casts sexual pleasure as the last bastion of resistance within the "totally administered world." Yet dismissing Adamo's persistent allu sions as mere flourishes on hard-core theory obviously sells short what is overrated in the other scenario. And mapping Adamo's obstinate refer ences onto a grand theory of desire (Lacanian, for example) clearly misses the point as well. The problem is that the sphere of sexuality has been so greatly expanded as to become an enveloping presence; it has become so diffuse as to saturate virtually everything. Sexuality's impotent omnipo tence in Minima Moralia is intriguing enough to tempt one to experiment with a more systematic reconstruction of its theoretical significance. rm scooia itrrtto. hr Fed oes hsttn, on hesitating, hovers, Freud Where interpretation. psychological from hs nevrfr dro isl de te ie ht eaae hs work his separates that line the drew himself Adorno endeavor-for this Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Feminist 100 e eet te n, eoe rmmaig pervious meaning, from remote end, the rejects he rnil, nt eas Fed nertd ainlt, u "ahr because "rather but rationality, underrated Freud because not principle," h bre, dro lns himself plants Adorno border, the ol poe h mas rao, o e esnbe pesr [ut" (61). [Lust]" pleasure reasonable: be to reason, means, the prove could
ic ocsoa rfrne t Nezce ant dqaey xli the explain adequately cannot Nietzsche to references occasional Since em huitcly on t asm ta i mtes f oe n sex and love of matters in that assume to sound heuristically seems dm' ossin wt cmaal dtriain Rte than Rather determination. comparable with obsessions Adamo's privilege idiosyncratic dro et i on way. own his went Adorno asiey aaoig l eeecs o eult-n wo st saywhat to is who sexuality-and to references all cataloging haustively
n bs proceeds best One qualifies in this respect?-one should understand that eclecticism is key. is eclecticism that understand should respect?-one this in qualifies osbe o esr te aiir gis te naiir Oe ut isolate must One unfamiliar. the against familiar the measure to possible f oe Aant h bcdo o ta hpteia peie t becomes it premise hypothetical that of backdrop the Against love. of od rn paant o vn ls wt te cutmd theoretical accustomed the with clash even or against, up run yond, hs isacs n hc Aaos lis n atr o oe extend love of matters in claims Adamo's which in instances those im o i togt Nitsha, ruin Marxian. Freudian, N ietzschean, thought: his of digms
osat n l i rfetos ad aoe l, ie fget ambivalence. great of site a all, above and, reflections, his all in constant surpris Not ( 191). dissimilar" the in similarity see to power the is "Love h tonet hoes n i ashtc hoy a quasi-anthropological a theory, aesthetic his in theorems thorniest the nl, oe n dro ed t apa i te otx o iei, n of one mimesis, of context the in appear to tends Adorno in love ingly,
tr o iei i od n the in is told mimesis of experiencestory of level archaic an to belongs mimesis hand, one the on For, ht esn n asrcin ae og vroea lat hs shw the is how this least overcome-at long have abstraction and reason that iei impulses. mimetic oe, rrmis frete hsoia o tutrl esn, inaccessible, reasons, structural or historical either for remains, or doned, xrs reitbe trcin vr dm' itleta iaiain This imagination. intellectual Adamo's over attraction irresistible exerts of tendencies regressive the thwarts images on taboo the of imposition atr set ep t acut o h fc ta apsae in passage a that fact the for account to helps aspect latter ua i idsoul lne wt iiain a ua big only being human a imitation: with linked indissolubly is human alia
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be- "No Happiness Without Fetishism" 101 comes human at all by imitating other human beings. In such behaviour, the primal form of love, the priests of authenticity scent traces of utopia which could shake the structure of domination" ( 154). Adorno is ostensi bly concerned here with the fate of the concept of authenticity; the chas tised "priests of authenticity" include Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, and anyone else smacking of the existentialism Adorno ab horred, and which he treated in the Jargonof Authenticity. In the preced ing passage, mimesis functions as antithetical corrective to claiming authenticity for one's self and one's identity. Mimetic remainders remind those who speak in the name of the self that no relationship to the self can ever be authentic. Even childhood, Adorno suggests, already teaches us about the inauthenticity of all attempts at self-relation: "They always contain an element of imitation, play, wanting to be different" (153 ). As a relationship between at least two, love supposedly articulates the dialectical truth of the one: an individual or subject is not itself but other than itself, and it is not available to itself except through the other whom it imitates. Any self always owes itself to an other. But only in love is this truth acknowledged. While strictly dialectical, this logic is by no means Hegelian in any straightforward sense. 12 On account of the subject's dependency on the beloved other, love attains the status of a model. For the experience of the self in love has some bearing on the relationship between society and individual. Vis-a. vis society, individuals conceive of themselves in ways analogous to those in which the existentialist conceptions of the self are formulated. They also imagine themselves as originary biological units opposed to and sepa rated from the social totality-Adorno argues, however, that society is in fact prior, and "not only is the self entwined with society, it owes [ver dankt] it its existence in the most literal sense. All its content comes from society, or at any rate from its relation to the object. It grows richer the more freely it develops and reflects this relation, while it is limited, impoverished and reduced by separation and hardening that it lays claim to as an origin" (154 ). As the imitation of an other, love can serve as a model for what the relationship between self and society should be in Adamo's eyes. Rather than claiming distance from the other, love revels in imitation. The individual thus no longer claims a self but gains itself as another by mimetically laying claim to the other, by claiming the other in the act of imitation. If individuals could achieve that same affirmative relation with society, if they could mimetically emulate the mimesis oper ative in love, then-so runs the quasi-platonic logic of Adamo's argu- ol b aodd n te rsmd naoim ewe sl n society and self between antagonism presumed the and avoided be could dm' sdcie ugsin o ti pit ol yed h conclusion the yield would point this on suggestions seductive Adamo's one on hinges argument His affair. love a like something into turn would ette oiia ad oa ptal o te icus o authenticity of discourse the of pitfalls moral and political ment-the n i ee rdes h bne patc o mimesis. of practice banned the redeems even it and
eouinr potential. revolutionary ht oe eainhp ae oe oe frhw niiul sol relate should individuals how for model role a are relationships love that self, as well as other the redeems somehow imitation premise: essential
relation here to appear mimesis society up make that many the one-because is society but need in still itself is love in work at presumably mimesis the that Given harbor couples loving models, role as that concession ridiculed justly and fbig ieial euae, infcn dfeecs eaae loving separate differences significant emulated, mimetically being of te pro fo lvn scey T ei wt, oesae a lat two, least) (at are lovers with, begin To society. loving from person other o h sca woead hs n un ol eti te ahr absurd rather the entail would turn in this whole-and social the to reo i ydfnto lcig n h rltosi bten efad the and self between relationship the in lacking definition by is freedom Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Feminist 102 oil wee h idvda i nilnl ad nnwnl mirroring unknowingly and unwillingly is individual the where social, practice. mimetic of subject the become can alone sis easily nor human neither is totality a and society; of totality the as only nsa psto t reyasr, vn ee n iei bnig bt such but bonding, mimetic in, revel even assert, freely to position unusual oe opiae ee wee tpas h rltvl uabgos oe of role unambiguous relatively the plays it where even complicated more of type the imitating by substituted be to have would It mimesis. of type iei bhvo peual fmla t lvr. t srn humanistic strong Its lovers. to familiar presumably behavior mimetic vroe ntihtnig Aaos ocp o mmss rvs o be to proves mimesis of concept Adamo's notwithstanding, second overtones this in humane particularly nothing is There whole. social the the imitating of question a be only can it Therefore, imitated.
orcie o h dsore fatetct. h uiy fte ocp of concept the of unity The authenticity. of discourse the to corrective a iei i eprie b h fc ta iiaig n te i o te same the is not other an imitating that fact the by is jeopardized mimesis h rin f miaec oe te ocp o mmss aiet itself manifests mimesis of concept the over ambivalence of reign The siiaig eainhp o imitation. to relationship a imitating as
retlexivity-"they always contain an element of imitation, play, wanting play, imitation, of element an contain always retlexivity-"they
n te rset. dm' also t cidod xeiet in experiments childhood to allusion Adamo's respects. other in o e ifrn" 5 -ugss n dait rjcoy n h taiin of tradition the in trajectory idealist an ( 153 )-suggests different" be to
e t speiey p o iei t mdae n mtgt sc claims. such mitigate and mediate to mimesis to up precisely is it Yet
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Schiller's dictum that man is human only where he plays. However, at other points in Minima Moralia the purportedly humane features of mime sis reveal rather violent underpinnings. Those passages suggest that the loving mimetic impulse is already a secondary formation, responding to the structurally and historically earlier experience of the encounter with a "recalcitrant object" (109). At this juncture, the positively accentuated concept of mimesis borders on Adorno's understanding of narcissism that other highly problematic and fundamentally ambivalent theorem, which frequently figures as both a parallel and a competing model to mimesis. 15 As such, it emerges in, among other places, section 72, titled "Second Harvest," in which Adorno denies the psychoanalytic idea of sublimated sexual drives and argues instead for the primacy of another affect: "Talent is perhaps nothing other than successfully sublimated rage, the capacity to convert energies once intensified beyond measure to de stroy recalcitrant objects into the concentration of patient observation, so keeping as tight a hold on the secret of things, as one had earlier when finding no peace until the quavering voice had been wrenched from the mutilated toy" ( 109). For those unfamiliar with this scenario from their own childhood, Gottfried Keller has described it emblematically in the opening pages of one of his novellas, where he depicts two children muti lating a doll. In this kind of "primal scene," the relationship to the object is not yet mimetic but is ruled by destructive curiosity. Before mimesis can even enter as a human and humane, civilized and civilizing practice that foregoes destruction in favor of imitation, "aggression" ( 109) reigns supreme. Adorno's quasi-Nietzschean question at the end of that passage leaves no doubt about the origins of mimesis in destruction: "Might not everything conciliatory been bullied out of that which destroys?" ( 109). Anger and aggression are thus prior; and mimetic behavior already con stitutes a step toward liberation, because it is a freer, "sublimated" rela tionship to the object, just as contemplation is the concentrated sublimation of the archaic cult of the fetish (see 224 ). In the final in stance, which is to say in the beginning, it is "violence, on which civiliza tion is based" (163 ). If Adorno knows a primary desire, it is not love or sex but rage. Whatever one might think of Adorno's quasi-anthropological theori zations, the latent fiction of a quasi-Hobbesian state of unrestrained de structive impulses in Minima Moralia serves a very specific purpose: it allows for the historicization of seemingly primary affects, in particular the affect of pleasure (Lust). Along with mimesis, pleasure is "a late ac- usto, crey le ta cncoses Osrig o compul how Observing consciousness. than older scarcely quisition,
ilne (0. Pleasure, (90). violence"
o (eae fa hv ter qa sae n rmril ilne Fa of Fear violence. primordial in share equal their have fear (female) nor eig codn t wih e rp ter rclirn ojcs ad to and objects" "recalcitrant their rape men which to according dering that saying the recognizes one couple, animals spell-bound, if as sively, hc vciie wmn ufr rm acac rgdt, h female the frigidity, "archaic from suffer women victimized which 'bliss' s ead te eae, h udro oe n nreo, s bet of objects as unfreedom, in love undergo who females, the regards as etil seetpcl bt t h vr lat nihr ml) aggression (male) neither least, very the at but stereotypical, certainly ec, ut smmss smdae ad elce destruction. deflected and mediated is mimesis as just lence, ewe dsrcin n dsr ms rmi osue eas they because obscure remain must desire and destruction between a' fa o cplto, hc big hr ohn bt an (0, is (90), pain" but nothing her brings which copulation, of fear mal's other than social deformation, sometimes apostrophized as "pathological as apostrophized sometimes deformation, social than other t" 12. vn h mr preto o a ojc i ue b impulses by ruled is object an of perception mere the Even (122). it?" narcissism." to amounting experience to openness unrestricted the same, ht ey h dsicin ewe fa ad eie js a h distinction the as just desire, and fear between distinction the defy that omn i wih h vnuse rdsoes isl" ( 200) himself" rediscovers vanquished the which in donment his readers that in this world nobody is actually capable of losing of capable actually is nobody world this in that readers his not "[i]s object: the destroy to impulse the to corresponds object the esl. Te erig no nomd o, no h po o salamanders of pool the into joy, unformed into yearning "The herself. that oneself gain to oneself losing of dialectic same very the in originate perceived?" thing the of fear by shaped perception simplest the indeed Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Feminist 104 soeaie n iei: Te aaiy o er n frhpies r the are happiness for and fear for capacity "The mimesis: in operative is o laue i sdlyd wthl, n pspnd ni sm impossible some until postponed and withheld, delayed,is it pleasure; for xeine fpesr peupss lmtes edns t trw oneself throw to readiness limitless a presupposes pleasure of experience tpa sae "laue n hs ol i oe (15. But ( 175). none" is world this in "Pleasure state: utopian iiain ih h pwr o pesr. lot trl, dro reminds Adorno sternly, Almost pleasure. of powers the with tification ia's
anty factcs, tet ta ecp i the in except that attests asceticism, of mainstay for desire by "or adds, Adorno difference, the to impervious And, (122). n sok" 18 rmis ut ht dsr wtot aifcin "[t]he satisfaction: without desire that, just remains (178) storks" and
wy wih s s uh eod oe i ter er s e i their in men as fear their in women beyond much as is which away, roac. o mrl te betv psiiiy u as te subjective the also but possibility objective the merely Not arrogance. Urgeschichte aaiy o apns, a ol b ahee i fedm (1. o much So (91). freedom" in achieved be only can happiness, for capacity h lvrs ogte lf hns ot fo te ne o h blvd there beloved, the of knees the from forth shines life forgotten lover's the
n actcs aen atraie ihr "h tasec o laue the pleasure, of transience "The either. alternative no are asceticism and
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or "No Happiness Without Fetishism" 105 is, as yet, no pleasure at all" (176). The sentence significantly modifies the categorical impossibility of pleasure. From the "mainstay of asceti cism" Adorno wrests a notion that allows him to reinstate the very pre rogative of pleasure he had just negated. What saves pleasure is ultimately not that it is not ( yet) "pleasure," but that Lust does not last.
Love and Death
Why (and how) could pleasure's transience underwrite its antiascetic af firmation? Initially, a pseudotheological logic seems at work. It suggests that pleasure's fleetingness holds out the promise of a type of pleasure that would never end. If that were so, the transient experience of love would function as the placeholder for infinity or, as Adorno would have it, transience would allegorically prefigure "reconciliation" or utopia. By the same token, but in stark contrast to the tradition of ennobling carnal love by imbuing it with transcendental significance, one could also argue that pleasure's transience alone sustains the life of pleasure. Pleasure's transience would then not stand in for something else but would signify an emphasis on finitude pure and simple. Since there is insufficient evi dence to rule out one interpretive possibility in favor of the other, the question needs to be left open at this point. But this indicates a good juncture at which to introduce two additional systemic features of Adamo's thoughts on love and desire that might help to further contextualize the issue. One of those dimensions-the power of fantasy-is well known beyond the limits of the present topic and recognized as a significant theorem in Adorno in general. 18 The other, much less acknowledged, trait of his intellectual universe is an obsession with death and mortality, whose intensity rivl:llsthat of sexual experience in the widest sense. 19 If "love is the ability to perceive similarities in the dissimilar," then in the extreme, love would be the ability to perceive similarities where there are none whatsoever. (A case in point is the ability of the lover to recog nize his forgotten life in the reflection of a pair of knees.) Indeed, the very absence of any defining traits and marks of individuality can incite love, according to Adorno. Where there is nothing to imitate, fantasy steps in and makes plenty out of nothing. In a passage strongly indebted to the Romantic phantasma of heartless female beauty, Adorno writes: eae edr feunl irttn ad cainly naig proposi enraging occasionally and irritating frequently reader, female
hi atato ses rm hi lc o wrns o hmevs indeed themselves, of awareness of lack their from stems attraction Their f ef t l: sa Wle ond h nm ueimtc pixs for Sphinxes unenigmatic name the coined Wilde Oscar all: at self a of just that: the unreflected reproduction of a ofstereotype. reproduction unreflected the that: just
ecpin fwmn de n utc t ter ed eprcl existence" empirical needy their to justice no "does women of perception in aot oe, hs eak eits o ite rm h well-known the from little so deviates remark this women, about tions .... imagination precisely, lack, who women by inflamed is "Imagination stereotypes of female beauty that one might be inclined to write it off as off it write to inclined be might one that beauty female of stereotypes
ngai, h rmiig ie sget ht dro ek t critically to seeks Adorno that suggest lines remaining the enigmatic, While (169). them" xoe ht e em te cce fbugos ogn for longing bourgeois of "cycle the terms he what expose onlooker" the for only charm has shabbiness For poverty. to offence aarp rtrs ul ice o h bgnig "oeflsfrte soulless the for falls "Love beginning: the to circle full returns paragraph the from girl Bavarian poor the with infatuation boy's Friesian young the in ed pvry t wih t os ilne te apns i pursues it happiness the violence: does it which to poverty, needs tion rvln paes s gie nt ny y e rltv eoiim bt also, but exoticism, relative her by only not ignited is players traveling n aoe l, y e pvry Aon cmet: Iaiain gives "Imagination comments: Adorno poverty. her by all, above and such that adding by maneuver self-corrective a into launches immediately on love only in its absence. So the expression called human is precisely is human called expression the So absence. its in only love on point initial his pursues doggedly Adorno critique, and enlightenment bu te rtc acnto wt bat ta lcs su. h closing The soul. a lacks that beauty with fascination erotic the about oi ognzn te utrl acnto wt eoi peoea uh as such phenomena exotic with fascination cultural the organizing logic o ob, o Aon, oe ted t ad ed twr nt ut the just not toward tends and to attends love Adorno, for doubt, No the of longing the is itself soul last, the At self. the of reflection the from as a cipher of living spirit, because the living are the theatre of its desper its of theatre the are living the because spirit, living of cipher a as investment bourgeoisie's the or South the about stereotypes North's the oles o rdmto" 10. oes trcin o h suls reveals soulless the to attraction Love's (170). redemption" for soulless somewhat is this While ( 170). suffering" of features the in inscribed is 0 Fmns Itrrttos fTedr Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Feminist 106 oe usmn te e apa o h da udr h Platonic-Christian the under dead the of appeal sex the subsuming fore eainhp o h da ojcs fhs ere fsiain I bt, the both, In fascination. learned his of objects dead the to relationship om ta lv ees ie o t sdbos hte aaeig h dead the awakening whether is dubious it For life. begets love that dogma remote ones, creaturely the animal, the of those to close eyes the of that oles n lfls avne o cpe o smtig te ta itself. than other something of cipher a to advance lifeless and soulless imagina yet "And conversely: asserts, he breath same the in But ( 170). which in Storm Theodor by novella a of way by comes proof His (169).
rauey u, vnuly as h nniig Ad n sol pause should one And nonliving. the also eventually, but, creaturely well-meaning this of were, it as cover, the under But cultures. nomadic in the lover as akin to Walter Benjamin's allegorist, who entertains a similar a entertains who allegorist, Benjamin's Walter to akin as lover the dawns soul lost: the on only itself exercise can which save, to desire ate
iia Moralia Minima
otis ay euir n, o a for and, peculiar many contains
20
oee, Adorno However,
nai:vete,"
the
be "No Happiness Without Fetishism" 107
to life is the point of Adamo's remark. His disdain for the cult of life is as deep-seated as his fascination with death. Like Benjamin (in his 1921 essay "Critique of Violence"), Adorno voiced strong suspicions about the dogma of the sanctity of life. In a passage criticizing in no uncertain terms the vitalist tradition of philoso phy, Adorno calls upon beauty to halt the course of life. Beauty "arrests life and therefore its decay" (77). The impression that beauty thus ren ders the transitoriness permanent is misleading: life needs to be arrested not because of its transience but because of its destructive furor. Life is violence: "[t]o hate destructiveness one must hate life as well" (78). The subsequent sentence elevates death to the utopian image of a nondestruc tive life: "[O]nly death is an image of undistorted life" (78). At issue here is not the religious doctrine that mortality guarantees eternal life, nor is it a matter of rendering fleeting life permanent. For Adorno, death (and beauty, which is akin to it) amounts to nothing less than a recovery from the sickness that is life. Adomo's inversion of Kierkegaard becomes explicit in the title of another entry: "The Health unto Death" (58). The same technique of symmetrical inversion makes it possible to expose "healthy" individuals as walking corpses: "[u]nderlying the prevalent health is death" (59). The Ki.imberger motto of Minima Moralia's "Life does not live" (19) points in the same direction. But Adomo's erotic interest in death is not exhausted by its dialectical constellation with the cult of life. Adomo's reading of one of the most famous fairy tales tells a somewhat different story. Lovingly, he lingers on the image of Snow White in the glass coffin. "For deeper knowledge cannot believe that she was awakened who lies as if asleep in the glass coffin" (121). The poisoned apple lodged in her throat is not a "means of murder" but, rather, "the rest of her unlived, banished life, from which only now she truly recovers, since she is lured by no more false messengers" ( 121). Only death grants recovery from the sickness of life. Moreover, Snow White's death also restores and recovers "her unlived, banished life." This "unlived life" is not eternal life but the life not lived because living one life excludes other possibili ties and other, potential lives. Life, any life, is destructive above all be cause it produces, at every moment, countless other possibilities of life, all of which are sacrificed to the one lived life.21 In death, when no life whatsoever is possible any longer, a sort of justice has been done to the possible lives that were not lived at the expense of the lived life. For now this lived life has also become what the other lives were from the begin- efaadnet oetrl rsoe nie possibilities. unlived restore momentarily self-abandonment (121). childbirth" in dying then and bleeding; of stab the window-frame, very a has Adorno life. in death of spectacle unique the afford pleasure h ata lv bten h raaee So Wie n te Prince the and White Snow reawakened the between love actual The the experience this in phenomenon: this privilege to reason specific fails to redeem that original loss: "The happy end takes away nothing away takes end happy "The loss: original that redeem to fails between exclusion mutual the dissolved, been has time of order quential rm hs (2) Lk te rne n h fiy ae wo el n oe with love in fell who tale, fairy the in Prince the Like (121). this" from
ig ntig u aps psiiiy Te at si a ie ad h past the and lived was it as past The possibility. past a but nothing ning: osblte ta wr nt ie nw hr te ae ln. hs is This plane. same the share now lived not were that possibilities dros eso o h afnt bten laue n dah Incidentally, death. and pleasure between affinity the of version Adorno's oi vle f raig lwr, aiir rm eivl oty on to down poetry medieval from familiar flowers, breaking of value bolic o alf ta wud ae sae mraiy bt om ffdlt t the to fidelity of form a but mortality, escaped have would that life a for ie n h kes o h blvd Te xeine n te bevto of observation the and experience The beloved. the of knees" the in life eti uae fte lwr eahr ery te rt o eae castra female of truth the betrays metaphor flower the of usage certain of heureuses" "minutes the Adorno, to According life. of transitoriness in "h wmn h fes esl a on we se les knows bleeds she when wound a herself feels who woman "The tion: more about herself than the one who imagines herself a flower because flower a herself imagines who one the than herself about more ht ut hr ubn" (95). husband" her suits that h fciiy flvd iead h ulvd osblte i rdcs ol to only produces, it possibilities unlived the and life lived of facticity the h bat bhn gasad ny cietly ilde te pl when apple the dislodged accidentally only and glass behind beauty the bno te, oetrl disappears. momentarily them, abandon itn te ofn i, dros w terztos flv ae i te final the in are, love of theorizations own Adorno's lid, coffin the lifting ntne isie b te rtcs o ta wih o ogr ie. s a As lives. longer no which that of eroticism the by inspired instance, btat osblt bt vr seii lf ta rmie qie literally quite remained that life specific very a but possibility abstract lwr ms b aog h ods smos f oe Te gendered The love. of symbols oldest the among be must Flowers placeholder the not then, is, pleasure of transience the mori, memento nie: ht f h Qen wo a be "ihn fr e daughter, her for "wishing been had who Queen, the of that unlived: after the lifelessly living beauty of the flakes, the black mourning of the of mourning black the flakes, the of beauty living lifelessly the after "forgotten his recognize can lover the why of question the answers also it ote sil eoae i te term the in resonates still Goethe,
0 Fmns Itrrttos fTedr Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Feminist 108
n h priua cs o "nw ht, te nie lf i nt an not is life unlived the White," "Snow of case particular the In
u lcig lwr o h proe faonn te eoe was origi- beloved the adorning of purpose the flowers for plucking But
1
~800~
defloration.
Flowers
If
n blee Aon, a Adorno, believes one
sym
se "No Happiness Without Fetishism" 109 nally a different matter altogether: decoration, sacrifice, and reconcilia tion all at once. "Now that we can no longer pluck flowers to adorn our beloved-a sacrifice that adoration for the one atones by freely taking on itself the wrong it does all others-picking flowers has become something evil" (112). The logic of this passage is complicated and ambivalent. Who exactly is being sacrificed? The flower or the beloved? Given the intricate symbolic potential of flowers, probably both. Plucking flowers (rather than lovers) is a deflected substitute; primary violence has been displaced from a person to the adorning flower. However, as in any sacri fice, it not only deflects but also recalls and reenacts the original violence. This is why even this harmless sacrifice is in need of reconciliation or atonement. According to Adorno, this is achieved by acknowledging the injustice done to all those other possible relations by the adoration of this person and none other. Once again, the unlived, possible relation ships, the unlived, possible lives, demand a justice that no court, human or otherwise, can extend, as Adamo's reflections on the betrayed or re fused lover show. It is an "inalienable and unindictable human right to be loved by the beloved" ( 164) but no court can enforce this right be cause what the lover "desires can only be given freely" (164 ). In a dis tinctly theological vein, Adorno concludes that "the secret of justice in love is the annulment of all rights to which love mutely points" (165). In the passage on flowers, reconciliation consists quasi-Christologically in assuming guilt incurred by loving someone particular. While this might all seem dangerously close to a theology of love-although one may wonder whether there is any sustained reflection on love that would not be theological in some way-Adorno makes abundantly clear that plucking flowers will no longer do. "It serves only to perpetuate the tran sient by fixing it" (112). Despite the stern rejections, Adorno leaves one option open: "But someone in rapture who sends flowers will reach in stinctively for the ones that look mortal" (112). Immortal memories turn into memories of mortality. The section titled "All the Little Flowers" makes explicit this very nontheological emphasis on transience for tran sience's sake. "The pronouncement, probably by Jean Paul, that memo ries are the only possessions whirh no-one can take from us, belongs in the storehouse of impotently sentimental consolation that the subject, resignedly withdrawing into inwardness, would like to be the very fulfil ment he has given up" (166). 110 Feminist Interpretations of Theodor Adorno
"Post Festum"
Adorno banned his final word on the matter of love and lust from the book proper. Whereas the official version of Minima Moralia concludes with the entry "Towards the End," the appendix contains a section aptly titled "Post Festum." Its subject is the inevitable decline of erotic relation ships. Feared loss of love is not the only reason for the accompanying melancholy. Another factor at play is "fear of the transience of one's own feeling." 22 It is not hard to guess that the entire section amounts to the clearest possible rejection of passion's redemptive value-not because it does not last, not because this world knows no true passion, but because Adorno enters love unambiguously under the rubric of the "guilty cycle of all creaturely [schuldhaftenKreis des Naturlichen],"which has no way out. The only available option is "reflection on the closure [Geschlossenheit]of this cycle." This is the end of Adamo's love affair with love. It is as if he had sobered up, relinquished all quasi-theological passions, and dutifully subjugated his occasional excesses under the law of reflection. To be sure, the insight that every passion is relative in the big picture of reflection and hindsight is still considered "blasphemous," but Adorno adds: "Und doch ist der Passion selber es unausweichlich, in der Erfahrung der unabdingb aren Grenze zwischen zwei Menschen auf eben jenes Moment zu reflek tieren und damit im gleichen Augenblick, da man van ihr i.iberwaltigt wird, die Nichtigkeit der Oberwaltigung einzusehen" (293 ). The power of passion, it turns out, is no power at all, or, better, it is a power that is nichtig. And this very knowledge dawns on the lovers already in the very moment of rapture. Like everything else, passion is doomed to fail. Adorno had good reason to exclude this "post festum"; it reverses his other speculations on love in Minima Moralia.Their implicit theoretical sig nificance has been severely restricted. Post festum, Adorno seems to take it all back. However, he holds on to the failure oflove with the same exclusion ary, blind passion as that of a lover clinging to the beloved. The fireworks of pleasure and passion might be over. But then, as Jean Paul knew, the point of fireworks never was to illuminate the night, but to use it.
Notes
1. Theodor Adorno, Minima Moralia:Reflections from a DamagedLife, trans. E. F. N. Jephcott (London: Verso, 1985), 3. All quotations in the present chapter are from this work; page numbers are cited parenthetically in the text. Occasionally, the translation has been slightly modified. rm at i olwo, dro on hmef hkn te ad fagetwo a n hn but hand no had who guest a of hand the shaking himself found Adorno Hollywood, in party a from
esp. 31-62. esp. Revisited," Semitism in the 'Dialectic of Enlightenment,'" of 'Dialectic the in Semitism
rshss nta. hri Caln a osre te niet rm ery n immediately and nearby from incident the observed had Chaplin Charlie instead. prosthesis a 9-47. 1985), kamp, edd o mtt Aaos etr o orfe rciig Te oia iiain Aon comments, Adorno imitation, comical The recoiling. horrified of gesture Adamo's imitate to ceeded ec o ti wmn o "ht a. Aaos nitne n h pwr flv i,t sm extent, some to is, love of powers the on insistence Adamo's man." "that or woman" "this of gency desires Adorno sense that In longing. renew to destined primarily seems actually experience fleeting released him (and presumably the guest with the prosthesis as well), from the shock of their of shock the from well), as prosthesis the with guest the presumably (and him released nesadbe s cmestr psue sue i dfac o Hgls rsmd elgne of negligence presumed Hegel's of defiance in assumed posture compensatory a as understandable desire. e. h soy stl i te volume the in told is story The ter. h idvda a te xes o h uiesl Aog hs lkl t tk isewt ti admittedly this with issue take to likely those Among universal. the of expense the at individual the ahr rd dfeetain ewe Hgl n Aon o lv i uih ulr Aray n her in Already Butler. Judith is love on Adorno and Hegel between differentiation crude rather Germany in disdained features very the States, United the in phase; political formative the skipped Adorno, first book, first with engagement sustained a offering works few the of One 1990s. the in welcome warm a found with compared Yet, 1998). Press, University nvriy rs, 97, h ws be o oae n ee a ehns o eie Ti raig was reading This desire. of mechanism a Hegel in locate to able was she 1987), Press, University rbes n oe sTm eprs Git y U)re soito" Aon o Rmne t l, in al.," et Romance on Adorno Association": (Un)Free by "Guilt Pepper's is Tom love on problems substantially refined in the chapter on the master/slave dialectic and its aftermath in her more recent more her in aftermath its and dialectic master/slave the on chapter the in refined substantially Alexander see particular, Modern Language Notes book Moralia, in Moralia," Minima Adorno's Hohendahl and Jaimey Fisher (New York: Berghahn Books, 2001 ), 49-68. 2001 ), Books, Berghahn York: (New Fisher Jaimey and Hohendahl
ria, in ernitat," r msudd rm h sat n hi sd tep t sae h cam fuieslt o the on universality of claim the stake to attempt sad their in start the from misguided are
akd h rcn cnena. hy r ovosy eie te on here. point the besides obviously are They centennial. recent the marked
nae ad xgeae i tm O te oe f xgeain n hlspy n i Aon in Adorno in and philosophy in exaggeration of role the On tum. in exaggerated and engaged ascetic. and spare
2004).
(Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1997), 263, translation my own. my translation 263, 1997), Suhrkamp, (Frankfurt:
03, 99 2003),
4 I i epig o ru ta Aoos huhs r pooyia fr ht a be called been has what for prototypical are thoughts Adomo's that argue to tempting is It 14.
1 SeAsn aibc' lcd nlss n Wy ee h esSciie?Te lc of Place The Sacrificed?Jews the Were "Why in analysis lucid Rabinbach's Anson See 11. 3 Te eepie oeta o iei i et lutae b n ncoe We tkn leave taking When anecdote. an by illustrated best is mimesis of potential redemptive The 13. 12. Hegel, for one, had little sympathy for love's universal aspirations. In his eyes, all love stories love all eyes, his In aspirations. universal love's for sympathy little had one, for Hegel, 12.
0 I ohr od, dm' eagrtos n hs on ae o t b nurlzd u, rather, but, neutralized be to not are point this on exaggerations Adamo's words, other In 10.
. lrct ele, Whhi, cen Vronn: dro ateice etn der Rettung asthetische Adornos Versohnung: Schein, "Wahrheit, Wellmer, Albrecht 4.
. h borpia acrc o hs ttmn wsapy nesoe b te eeain that revelations the by underscored amply was statement this of accuracy biographical The 9.
. n h tpc febraset n hm in shame and embarrassment of topic the On 3.
7. Theodor W. Adorno, W. Theodor 7.
. n codne ih h lgc f alr, uflmn rmis uodnt t lnig The longing. to subordinate remains fulfillment failure, of logic the with accordance In 8. 5. Andreas Bernhard and Ulrich Raulff, eds., Raulff, Ulrich and Bernhard Andreas 5.
. h mte mgt ok lgty ifrn fo aUS prpcie i ta Aaos reception Adamo's that in perspective, U.S. a from different slightly look might matter The 6.
2. The pieces written for television and radio are an exception in this regard. See Theodor See regard. this in exception an are radio and television for written pieces The 2.
h Psychic Power: of The Life Theories Subjection in
Critical Models: Interventions Catchwords,and
e Ade Hwt, A eiie ilci o Enlightenment of Dialectic Feminine "A Hewitt, Andrew see
Subjects Desire: of Hegelian Reflections Twentieth-Century in France
New German New Critique
Zur
Dialel 0 19) 933. o n motn dsuso o ooeult in of homosexuality discussion important an For 913-37. (1994): 109 van Moderne Postmoderne:und Garcia Asthetische Theorie, Critical Theory: Current State and Future Prospects, and State Critical Current Theory: 6 Srn-umr 92: 143-70. 1992): (Spring-Summer 56 Dcittmann, Vierzig Jahre Flaschenpost. Minima Moralia's Philosophie Obertreibung der New German New Critique in Minima Moralia neu gelesen N Hpies ihu Ftsim 111 Fetishism" Without Happiness "No Minima Moralia, Gesammelte Safr: tnod nvriy rs, 1997), Press, University Stanford (Stanford: trans. Henry Pickford (New York: Columbia York: (New Pickford Henry trans. Vernunftl rich materials, even these works seem works these even materials, rich Werl nach Adorno see E.G., "Mega Melancholia: "Mega see E.G., 1 Fl 0) 49-64. 200): (Fall 81 1 d Rl Teean t al. et Tiedemann Rolf ed. okemr n Adorno and Horkheimer Fakut Suhrkamp, (Frankfurt: Fakut Suhrkamp, (Frankfurt: (New York: Columbia York: (New (Frankfurt: d Ptr Uwe Peter ed. encoun contin Minima Anti Suhr Mod pro W eoe ouiutu a o ae ot uh fismaig sbr seiim eomns itself. recommends asceticism sober meaning, its of much lost have to as ubiquitous so become promtvt" n h wk o Jdt Bte' rfetos Bt ic ti priua cnet has concept particular this since But reflections. Butler's Judith of wake the in "performativity" omn n Ltlfed, 1996. Littlefield), and Rowman 112 e Dbrh Cook, Deborah See narcissism the concluding pillar of the theoretical edifice on which the narrative of the of narrative the which on edifice theoretical the of pillar concluding the narcissism Enlightenment bild) fpesr a el aog hm etei pouto ad xeine In experience. and production aesthetic them among well, as pleasure of al vr rwr a"ore malfeasance" "coerced a artworkevery calls reoe deed. gruesome Weg aus der Dialektik for ambivalent, teristically der AsthetischeKunst: Erfahrung dros et-on eitnils (214). existentialism death-bound Adorno's a Sqec" (78ff.). Sequence" ral of idmn e a. Fakut Shkm, 03. l rfrne are references All 2003). Suhrkamp, (Frankfurt: al. et Tiedemann Rolf 1999). Sage, (London: the relationship between linear time and property relations in the entry titled "Morality and Tempo and "Morality titled entry the in relations property and time linear between relationship the emn edition. German translations my own. my translations 5 Ti i h te yooia dsicin ewe "od ad bd nriss de o hold. not does narcissism "bad" and "good" between distinction typological the is why This 15. 6 Te oi ognzn sc tastos ste ilci o arfc, oehr ih iei and mimesis with together sacrifice, of dialectic the is transitions such organizing logic The 16. 7 Te hdw fpesr' violent pleasure's of shadow The 17. 8 Frapriet icsin ffnay n dro seBit Scholze, Britta see Adorno, in fantasy of discussion pertinenta For 18. 0 O rpeettos fte eiie seMgi ONil ed. O'Neill, Maggie see feminine, the of representations On 20. in who Menke, Christoph is trait this acknowledged has who writer One 19. 1 Ta ti i o a eitnils cnito i vdn fo Aon' dtie dsuso of discussion detailed Adorno's from evident is conviction existentialist an is not this That 21. 22. fte arfca rta (217). ritual sacrificial the of Ferµinist h apni i o tasae it Egih Al uttos n hs eto ae rm the from are section this in quotations All English. into translated not is appendix The et. In rests. nepeain o hoo Adorno Theodor of Interpretations Minima The Culture IndustryRevised: Culture TheTheodor Wizug Knghue ud emn, 2000). Neumann, und Konigshausen(Wiirzburg: Minima Moralia, Moralia: Untat nach ste ed o dn, u te rfx lo onts particularly a connotes also prefix the but done, not deed the is Reflexionen aus dem Adorno love is also called the "after-image" or "re-enactment" or "after-image" the is calledlovealso Urgeschichte [eine und abgedungene Derrida om lreeog t etn t ohr forms other to extend to enough large looms beschiidigten Fakut Shkm, 98 rmrs on remarks 1988) Suhrkamp, (Frankfurt: W na] 1 .Te xrsin is charac ( expressionUntat]111 ). The Adorno Leben Adorno,andCulture, Feminism on to in ae 9 o ht edition; that of 293 page Gesammelte Schriften, MinimaMoralia Kunst als Mass CultureMass Die Kritik: Souveriinitiit Dialectic of (London: Adornos Adorno (Nach ed.