Essays by Adorno on art and cinema, available in English for the first time.
 
In Without Model, Theodor W. Adorno strikingly demonstrates the intellectual range for which he is known. Taking the premise of the title as his guiding principle, that artistic and philosophical thought must eschew preconceptions and instead adapt itself to its time, circumstances, and object, Adorno presents a series of essays reflecting on culture at different levels, from the details of individual products to the social conditions of their production. He shows his more nostalgic side in the childhood reminiscences of ‘Amorbach’, but also his acute sociocultural analysis on the central topic of the culture industry. He criticizes attempts to maintain tradition in music and visual art, arguing against a restorative approach by stressing the modernity and individuality of historical works in the context of their time. In all of these essays, available for the first time in English, Adorno displays the remarkable thinking of one both steeped in tradition and dedicated to seeing beyond it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Without Model
2. Amorbach
3. On Tradition
4. Scribbled at the Jeu de Paue
5. From Sils Maria
6. Non-Conciliatory Proposal
7. The Culture Industry: A Résumé
8. Obituary for an Organizer
9. Transparencies on Film
10. Chaplin Times Two
11. Theses on The Sociology of Art
12. Functionalism Today
13. Luccan Memorial
14. The Misused Baroque
15. Vienna, After Easter 1967
16. Art and the Arts