Adorno’s inaugural lecture met universal rejection from his Frankfurt circle

Evidence

No one liked the lectureneither Horkheimer, nor Mannheim, nor Wertheimer, and even Kracauer wrote to him from Berlin that it had been tactically inept to present himself as a materialist dialectician in a lecture describing his programme, instead of taking up some minor, genuinely dialectical inquiry or other and breaking off at the point at which the dialectical-materialist consequences forced themselves through, thus penetrating the professors’ minds instead of antagonizing them. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 384 (#expands, via linked claim)

Adorno’s inaugural lecture seemed to be a step in Horkheimer’s direction, but it remained in fact essentially a theological-materialist programme in the spirit of Benjamin and Kracauer. No one liked the lectureneither Horkheimer, nor Mannheim, nor Wertheimer, and even Kracauer wrote to him from Berlin that it had been tactically inept to present himself as a materialist dialectician in a lecture describing his programme, instead of taking up some minor, genuinely dialectical inquiry or other and breaking off at the point at which the dialectical-materialist consequences forced themselves through, thus penetrating the professors’ minds instead of antagonizing them. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 384 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Adorno’s inaugural lecture met universal criticism including from his allies — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 384; Adorno’s inaugural lecture pleased none of his Frankfurt mentors — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 384

Broader Connections

• Adorno’s inaugural lecture met universal criticism including from his allies #expands (0.97) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 384
• Adorno’s inaugural lecture pleased none of his Frankfurt mentors #corroborates (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 384