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chapter 20 Literature and Modernity: Günther Anders, , and Theodor W. Adorno – Interpreters of Kafka

Daglind E. Sonolet

One of the merits ascribed to Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural is the at- tempt to free the theory and practice of determinism from the legacy of its Marxist past. Deeply interested in the subtle ways power relations are repro- duced, Bourdieu rejects the theories formulated by Georg Lukács or Lucien Goldmann that in his view explain literary works in terms of the world view or of a , establishing a rather simplified one-to-one con- nection between author, class, and work (Bourdieu 1967, 1971). To overcome this perceived reductionism in the relation between a work of art, literature, and music and its author, Bourdieu introduced two concepts that became essential to the discipline: field and (Bourdieu 1967, 1971). Field is the notion that the social production of cultural artifacts can be explained in terms of a many-faceted environment of interrelated conditions and actors’ weighing on the making of a work (Bourdieu 1967, 1971). Habitus defines the artist neither as a singular inexplicable genius nor as the typical representative of a class ideology but rather as a social actor in whom con- verge many traits, inclinations, and tastes, mostly acquired during childhood, that identify him or her as a member of a particular social stratum (Bourdieu 1967, 1971). Indeed, Bourdieu further defined the attitude of a group or class toward society as habitus that integrates structural and individual elements as a system of socially constituted dispositions that are at once “structuring and structured” and form “the generating and unifying principle of the totality of the practices and characterizing a group of agents” (Bourdieu 1967, 1971:15–16). Sustained by concepts such as cultural and symbolic , Bourdieu used habitus to grasp more fully the nature of power-dominated cultural consumption in , as is demonstrated in his extended study on (Bourdieu 1979). Taking into account a myriad of details, he broke down the French bourgeois class into various fractions that finely distinguish them- selves by aesthetic criteria, preferences in food and music, and all acquired

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Literature and Modernity 427 through family and education and confirmed through professional achievements (Bourdieu 1979).1 Intrigued by habitus, I wish to explore this concept in this short study on the reception that three German-Jewish emigrant reserved for the work of Franz Kafka. Günther Anders (1902–92),2 Hannah Arendt (1906–75), and Theodor W. Adorno (1906–69) all consider Kafka’s oeuvre – in particular the novels The Trial and The Castle – to be typical of “modern” writing. Yet, while the texts of Anders, Arendt, and Adorno show a common stance on ­modern society and the role of literature that flows from it, there are also considerable differ- ences in their appreciation of modernity and of Kafka’s literary achievements. Indeed, the case of these German intellectuals’ differing approach to Franz Kafka seems to me an interesting opportunity to explore the way in which, in the domain of literary reception, Bourdieu’s concept of habitus proves a useful instrument for understanding the social value attached to a writer. Anders, Arendt, and Adorno seem to present a perfect example for such an exploration considering that Bourdieu defined habitus as lasting, acquired schemes of perception that structure a person’s action in allegiance to a group. All three of them belonged to the German educated , the Bildungs- bürgertum; their parents highly valued education and wanted an academic or artistic career for their children. Anders was the son of William Stern, a fa- mous child psychologist, and his wife Clara who cooperated in her husband’s by keeping detailed diaries on their children’s mental development. Like Adorno, the young Günther Stern enjoyed not only encour- agement but also a musical education, which made him a good pianist. Adorno was the only child of a well-to-do wine merchant; both his mother and aunt were gifted musicians who introduced him to the piano and the violin in early childhood. And though Hannah Arendt grew up in more modest financial con- ditions and her parents were neither intellectuals nor musicians, their “Jewish acquaintances were […] not merchants but professionals – doctors, lawyers, educators, and musicians” (Young-Bruehl 1982:10). The three young people

1 This chapter was first published in 2010 as Daglind Sonolet, “Habitus et Modernité. Günther Anders, Hannah Arendt et Theodor W. Adorno: interprètes de Kafka,” 0PuS 15 Sociologie de l’Art (: L’Harmattan), pp. 35–58. 2 Günther Anders, a pseudonym for Günther Stern, was Arendt’s first husband and, like her, a disciple of Heidegger’s. He returned to Europe in 1950 and subsequently became a well- known of technology with Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen (The Obsolescence of Man), Munich, Beck, 1956. He also played an important part in the international antinuclear movement.