CMNS 321 Lecture 4: Week 4 - Theodor W. Adorno
28 Aug 2017
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Document Summary
Adorno was born in frankfurt germany; he was an only child and played piano. After getting his phd in philosophy at age 21, he devoted himself to composing classical music, writing concert and opera reviews, and lecturing and writing on philosophy. Being both a marxist and half-jewish, he felt unsafe in germany, so he fled first to great britain, then eventually he ended up in the u. s. What he saw in the us both shocked and frightened him: he thought he was coming to a new world, leaving behind european fascism for. The american consumer culture he witnessed had a similar adoration for mass culture and authoritarian spectacle that characterized the nazi regime. In 1930s america, adorno heard the silencing power of music: for him, modern life was unmusical. Music itself played a role in the adoration for mass culture that reside in germany.
