The little old German man agrees.
Jan. 13th, 2007 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sechan19At the Neue Gallerie this afternoon we stopped off in the bookstore after touring the museum. Mom looked at books on Viennese design, and I perused the art theory section. As this particular museum is dedicated to German and Austrian Art of the first half of the twentieth century, most of the works of theory were from German theoreticians - Adorno, Benjamin, Berg, etc.
As I was looking at the stacks (pulling a book out here, running a tracing finger along a spine there) a little old German man and his grandson, a full-blooded American boy, came up behind me. The grandson said to his grandfather, "Here's one," indicating a volume of the correspondence between Adorno and Berg.
"I have it in German," the grandfather said. "And honestly, I don't know why Berg bothered. It was a waste of his time. Adorno is deplorable."
"Why is that?" the grandson asked.
And it was at this point that Teva Jones turned to them and spewed forth her bossy, opinionated thoughts on Adorno. I spake thus: "He could never make up his mind about anything. He went back and forth ad infinitum under the guise of creating an aesthetic experience with his writings when really he was just refusing to take a position like any good theorist should."
The little old German man nodded his approval. "You're absolutely right," he beamed. Then he leaned in confidentially. "You know, Schoenberg despised him."
"Really?" I asked. (Arnold Schoenberg was one of Adorno's major influences.)
"Yes," he said. "Adorno was a student of Schoenberg's, even, and he hated him. You should read his critiques - they're right in line with your opinions."
"I will do that," I told him. "Thank you!"
"Thank you!" he said. And off they went.
A short time later, I ran into them in the coat check room. We said goodbye, and as I waited for my coat the little man came back. "I'd just like to add a further point about Adorno," he told me. "He was horrible towards women. It's a well known fact. He was just terrible to his female students."
!
As I was looking at the stacks (pulling a book out here, running a tracing finger along a spine there) a little old German man and his grandson, a full-blooded American boy, came up behind me. The grandson said to his grandfather, "Here's one," indicating a volume of the correspondence between Adorno and Berg.
"I have it in German," the grandfather said. "And honestly, I don't know why Berg bothered. It was a waste of his time. Adorno is deplorable."
"Why is that?" the grandson asked.
And it was at this point that Teva Jones turned to them and spewed forth her bossy, opinionated thoughts on Adorno. I spake thus: "He could never make up his mind about anything. He went back and forth ad infinitum under the guise of creating an aesthetic experience with his writings when really he was just refusing to take a position like any good theorist should."
The little old German man nodded his approval. "You're absolutely right," he beamed. Then he leaned in confidentially. "You know, Schoenberg despised him."
"Really?" I asked. (Arnold Schoenberg was one of Adorno's major influences.)
"Yes," he said. "Adorno was a student of Schoenberg's, even, and he hated him. You should read his critiques - they're right in line with your opinions."
"I will do that," I told him. "Thank you!"
"Thank you!" he said. And off they went.
A short time later, I ran into them in the coat check room. We said goodbye, and as I waited for my coat the little man came back. "I'd just like to add a further point about Adorno," he told me. "He was horrible towards women. It's a well known fact. He was just terrible to his female students."
!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-14 04:23 pm (UTC)Did you like the image of Alan Cumming? I posted that for you. ;)