Theodor W. Adorno: Adorno: The Stars Down to Earth and Other Essays on the Irrational in Culture (1994)
Filed under book | Tags: · anti-semitism, astrology, culture, fascism, irrational, occultism, psychoanalytics
The Stars Down to Earth shows us a stunningly prescient Adorno. Haunted by the ugly side of American culture industries he used the different angles provided by each of these three essays to showcase the dangers inherent in modern obsessions with consumption. He engages with some of his most enduring themes in this seminal collection, focusing on the irrational in mass culture – from astrology to new age cults, from anti-semitism to the power of neo-fascist propaganda. He points out that the modern state and market forces serve the interest of capital in its basic form. Stephan Crook’s introduction grounds Adorno’s arguments firmly in the present where extreme religious and political organizations are commonplace – so commonplace in fact that often we deem them unworthy of our attention. Half a century ago Theodore Adorno not only recognised the dangers, but proclaimed them loudly. We did not listen then. Maybe it is not too late to listen now.
Edited with an Introduction by Stephen Crook
Publisher Routledge, 1994
Routledge classics
ISBN 0415105684, 9780415105682
176 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-6-6)
Comment (1)Joscelyn Godwin: Music and the Occult: French Musical Philosophies, 1750-1950 (1995)
Filed under book | Tags: · 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, esotericism, france, music, music history, occultism, philosophy, philosophy of music
This book is an adventure into the unexplored territory of French esoteric philosophies and their relation to music. Occultism and esotericism flourished in nineteenth-century France as they did nowhere else. Many philosophers sought the key to the universe, some claimed to have found it, and, in the unitive vision that resulted, music invariably played an important part. These modern Pythagoreans all believed in the Harmony of the Spheres and in the powerful effects of music on the human soul and body. Faced with the challenge of the rationalist Enlightenment, then with that of modern scientism, they adapted their occultism to the prevailing style. A widely published musicologist and authority on esotericism, Godwin is able to give a clear and concise context for these philosophers’ often surprising beliefs, and he demonstrates how this “speculative music” influenced composers such as Satie and Debussy, who were familiar with occultism. His long study of music and the Western esoteric tradition makes him uniquely qualified to unravel the strange story of these forgotten sages.
Publisher University of Rochester Press, 1995
Volume 3 of Eastman studies in music
ISBN 1878822535, 9781878822536
261 pages
PDF (updated on 2013-4-14)
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