Adorno's first dimension of barbarism is related to the Holocaust as the utmost expression of barbarism, which reveals the failure of culture and reason to prevent or overcome it. Adorno argues that any form of living on after Auschwitz is inherently barbaric, as it confirms the continuation of life after the ultimate end. However, he also demands that we arrange our thoughts and actions so that nothing similar will happen again, which he calls the “New Categorical Imperative” in the spirit of Kant.
The second dimension of barbarism according to Adorno is related to the critique of technical rationality, mass culture, and progress, which Adorno sees as manifestations of the Enlightenment’s exclusionary and instrumental reason (see his Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception). Adorno contends that these modes of thinking and acting are totalitarian, dogmatic, and violent, as they subsume and reduce the objects and others they encounter. He calls for a mode of thinking that is aware of its own irresponsibility and volatility, and that respects the non-identity and heterogeneity of the object.
Adorno took his views on barbarism to the symbolic and provocative topic of poetry after Auschwitz. Adorno famously declared that "to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric," suggesting that the atrocities of the Holocaust had fundamentally changed the role and function of art. However, Adorno did not mean that poetry should cease to exist, but rather that it should be transformed by the experience of barbarism.
Another dimension of barbarism is related to the critique of capitalism’s culture industry, which Adorno witnessed during his exile in the US. He argues that this form of culture produces sameness, homogeneity, and reification, which suppress and ignore the otherness and non-identicality that are essential for emancipation and critique. He also sees this form of culture as complicit with barbarism, as it fails to respond to the imperative imposed by Auschwitz. He calls for a "barbaric asceticism" towards progress and mass culture, which would resist their seductive and destructive effects.
The last dimension is related to the potential unbarbaric modes of response to the fundamentally barbaric condition of living on after Auschwitz. Adorno suggests that these modes could be found in art, philosophy, and negative dialectics, which could challenge and subvert the dominant forms of rationality, culture, and society. He also hints at a utopian condition of restoring an unbarbaric state, which is impossible but still guides our actions and thoughts.
In conclusion, Adorno's concept of barbarism has far-reaching implications for poetry after Auschwitz and the role of art in the face of unspeakable horrors. The article provides a list of references for further reading on Adorno's works, including his influential essay "Cultural Criticism and Society" and his book "Negative Dialectics."
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Adorno on Auschwitz, Barbarism and Slaughterhouses
