Naples 1925 : Adorno, Benjamin, and the summer that made critical theory / Martin Mittlemeier ; translated from German by Shelley Frisch.
| Author/creator | Mittelmeier, Martin, 1971- author. |
| Other author | Frisch, Shelley Laura translator. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2024] |
| Copyright Date | ©2024 |
| Description | xi, 179 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Uniform title | Adorno in Neapel. English |
| Series | A Margellos world republic of letters book Margellos world republic of letters book. ^A1054502 |
| Contents | Prelude: On Mount Vesuvius -- Introduction: Transformations -- Island of Happiness -- Tragic Haunts -- A Common Pursuit -- Charnel Houses -- Music from Volcanic Rock -- Star Formations -- Postcards -- Skeletons and Specters -- The Art and Science of Insertion -- Blasting Out Living Space -- Touring the Crater -- Snakelike Entrails -- The Treasureless Trove of the Functioning -- Parthenope Washes Ashore -- Blood Miracle in Little Italy -- The Prophecy of Positano -- Afterlife -- Postlude: Off-Season. |
| Abstract | "In the 1920s, the Gulf of Naples was a magnet for European intellectuals in search of places as yet untouched by modernity. Among the revolutionaries, artists, and thinkers drawn to Naples were numerous scholars at a formative stage in their journeys: Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer, Alfred Sohn-Rethel, Asja Lacis, Theodor W. Adorno, and many others. While all were indelibly shaped by the volcanic Neapolitan landscape, it was Benjamin who first probed the relationship between the porous landscape and the local culture. But Adorno went further, transforming his surroundings into a radical new philosophy--one that became a turning point in the modern history of the discipline. In this ingenious book, Martin Mittelmeier reveals the Gulf of Naples as the true birthplace of the Frankfurt School. From the majestic crater rim of Mount Vesuvius to the soft volcanic rock that Neapolitans used to build their city, Mittelmeier follows Adorno's and his fellow thinkers' footsteps through the cities along the gulf, demonstrating how their observations and encounters surface again and again in their writings for decades to come, and serve as the structuring principle of Critical Theory"--Amazon website. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-177). |
| ISBN | 9780300259308 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 0300259301 (hardcover : alk. paper) |