Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory

I’ve had the chance to read Theodor Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory recently, and I’ve written about Adorno and the Frankfurt School of post-Marxist political theorists here before. This book is one I wish I’d been directed to earlier, rather than picking it up now for “fun.” The book was published posthumously, assembled from various drafts, and this editorial process means Adorno never had the chance to revise and edit his work himself. The result is that the book can be tedious to read in many places. Furthermore, as I read the book, I felt Adorno was being a bit of a snob about what he considered “art,” with him addressing works by long dead famous white men from Europe.