A Precarious Balance: Adorno and German Classicism

The essay explores Adorno’s complicated relationship to the German literary tradition, using Goethe’s play “Iphigeneie” as a key. The context for this reexamination is the deficient literary public sphere of postwar Germany and Adorno’s role as its critic. More specifically, the essay looks at Adorno’s reading of the play against the backdrop of more conventional academic readings of the postwar era, which underscore the importance of German classicism. Special emphasis is placed on Adorno’s complex response to Max Kommerell and his understanding of Goethe’s role in German classicism.