@article{ART001442103},
author={Hwayoung Yoon},
title={Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'},
journal={Journal of Modern English Drama},
issn={1226-3397},
year={2010},
volume={23},
number={1},
pages={59-87}
TY - JOUR
AU - Hwayoung Yoon
TI - Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'
JO - Journal of Modern English Drama
PY - 2010
VL - 23
IS - 1
PB - 한국현대영미드라마학회
SP - 59
EP - 87
SN - 1226-3397
AB - This essay tries to establish that the way of ‘negative thinking,’ one of Adorno’s primary concepts of his Critical Theory, runs through all the artistic endeavor of Beckett. Negative thinking, which refers to the unceasing labour of thought as a consistent “consciousness of the non-identity,” is required of the subject to bring the existing negativity, such as identificatory thinking and the domination of man and nature in capitalist society, to an end, In his aesthetic theory, Adorno discusses the character of ‘the new art’ in terms of the negative thinking because he requires the new art to undertake the social function of awakening the subject from the spell of the ‘administerd’ society.
The second part of the paper is concerned to demonstrate the Beckettian negativity(negation of the existing negativity together with the evasion of any simple positivity such as meaning, center, any absolutes) as an all encompassing aesthetic principle. Specifically, the paper discusses prominent features of Beckett’s drama such as figure(Bild), darkness, silence, repetition, and the comic in terms of aesthetic negativity.
The third part is conceived to provide a necessary follow up to the previous chapter. Here, I discuss the political nature of Beckett's autonomous(as monad) literature following Adorno’s position on the dialectic of the social and the in-itself of the artwork. Beckett’s literary asceticism is seen with relation to the fetish character of art and artwork as ‘absolute commodity,’ which functions as an antidote to reification and overly commercialized culture industry.
KW - Adorno;Beckett;negativity;negative thinking;figure;politics of autonomous art
DO -
UR -
ER -
Hwayoung Yoon. (2010). Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'. Journal of Modern English Drama, 23(1), 59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon. 2010, "Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'", Journal of Modern English Drama, vol.23, no.1 pp.59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon "Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'" Journal of Modern English Drama 23.1 pp.59-87 (2010) : 59.
Hwayoung Yoon. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'. 2010; 23(1), 59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon. "Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'" Journal of Modern English Drama 23, no.1 (2010) : 59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'. Journal of Modern English Drama, 23(1), 59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'. Journal of Modern English Drama. 2010; 23(1) 59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'. 2010; 23(1), 59-87.
Hwayoung Yoon. "Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Beckett: ‘Negative Thinking' and the ‘Politics of Autonomous Art'" Journal of Modern English Drama 23, no.1 (2010) : 59-87.
