Geist Busted

Geist Busted THEODOR W. ADORNO: ONE LAST GENIUS BY DETLEV CLAUSSEN, TRANSLATED BY RODNEY LIVINGSTONE CAMBRIDGE, MA: BELKNAP PRESS. 464 PAGES. $35.

Adorno rejected an intellectual tradition tainted by nationalism

During the 2003 Adorno centenary, something remarkable happened in Germany. The entire nation reached out to embrace this renegade Marxist philosopher in ways that were truly surprising. Throughout the country, Adorno "festivals" took place-apotheoses of the public celebrations advocated in Rousseauesque "civil religion." In Frankfurt-am-Main, where Adorno taught and where he remains something of a legend, there is now an Adorno-Platz that features, instead of the …