Theodor W. Adorno: ‘Contribution to the Theory of Ideology’
A translation of Adorno’s ‘Beitrag zur Ideologenlehre’ (1954) published in Volume 4 of Selva: A Journal of the History of Art – also accessible on Selva’s website
Translations
Two Small Brecht Translations on Memorials and Statues
From Journeys into Modernity After the great wars, my work was discovered in the vault of a fascist national library alongside other ‘degenerate literature’. An equestrian statue of me was erected on a children’s playground. I hurried along to see…
Conversations with Flowers and Landscapes: A Reader
A reader for a failed reading group, including new translations of some of Adorno’s letters with Paul Celan.
On the suicide of the refugee W.B (For friends in Calais)
Here’s a draft of that new translation of Bertolt Brecht’s poem “On the suicide of the refugee W.B.”, again the original is below in German, with my equally mediocre literal translation, with thanks again to Nelly Sachs, Freddy Nietzsche, Teddy&Max,…
Uromi (a new Adorno translation)
This is a translation of a miscellaneous late fragment published in Volume 20 of the Gesammelte Schriften. If you spot any errors please let me know. I read the word “Uromi” in a death announcement for a very elderly lady.…
Translation: On genitality and the domination of nature
The following is a translation of one of the many discussions between Horkheimer and Adorno that led to the Dialectic of Enlightenment. Critical footnotes are all my own. Square brackets indicate either my clarifications or those of the German editors. 23 October…
Translation of a little poem: the woman and the lioness
Yesterday I made a little translation of a poem for my friend Jesse, because they like lions and queer things. It’s from a book called mit Füssen mit Flügeln [with feet with wings] by the Swiss writer Verena Stefan, published 1980.…
An Adorno letter to Sohn-Rethel
Here’s a little translation of a letter from Adorno to Sohn-Rethel (related to the letter from Horkheimer to Adorno that I published here a few months back.) Again, I am putting up the German as well so if anyone has…
Eulogy for Ulrike Meinhof by Klaus Wagenbach – New Translation
This is a rough and ready, and perhaps too literal, translation of Wagenbach’s eulogy for Meinhof, which I don’t think has appeared before in English. It’s not particularly pretty, nor such an important text, but I thought I’d put it…
Horkheimer’s Attack on Sohn-Rethel – A Translation
IntroductionIn a letter to Adorno, sent on 8 December 1936, Horkheimer mounted an attack on Sohn-Rethel, with whom Adorno had suggested collaborating. This argument is perhaps the most important and extensive critical early statement on Sohn-Rethel’s work and to my…