The Association for Adorno Studies is pleased to highlight a new publication:

Theodor W. Adorno. Nachgelassene Schriften. Abteilung IV: Vorlesungen Band 8: Ästhetik (1961/62), Suhrkamp, 2025, 930.
Edited by Anne Eusterschulte

PUBLISHER’S BLURB

In this lecture, which spanned two semesters in the early 1960s, Theodor W. Adorno provides a basic outline of his conception of aesthetics. In an examination of the status of the arts from the perspective of the 20th century and with a socio-critical view of the art and cultural events of the postwar period, he outlines some of the central concepts of his ground-breaking aesthetic theory: appearance and expression, mimesis and rationality, art and autonomy, the beautiful in nature and the beautiful in art, the work of art as a field of energy, the primacy of the object, the sublime and form.

Adorno provides a systematic introduction to the major philosophical theories on the subject, but also pays attention to specific art forms and to the controversial question of the significance of art in society. He comments lucidly and uncompromisingly on the culturally conservative trends of his time. Most importantly, however – and this is what makes his analysis so utterly relevant to the present age – he redefines art and aesthetic experience as a critical practice.

More information:
Suhrkamp webpage for Nachgelassene Schriften. Abteilung IV: Vorlesungen Band 8: Ästhetik (1961/62)