Adorno’s taste for exclusive coteries drew him to the Institut’s inner circle

Evidence

Many years later Adorno would admit that one of the attractions of the Schonberg circle had been its exclusive, coterie-like quality, which reminded him of the circle around Stefan George in Germany. One of his disappointments during his three years in Austria was the dissolution of the circle’s unity, which followed after Schonberg’s new wife isolated him from his disciples. If this had not happened, it can at least be conjectured, Adorno might not have chosen to return to Frankfurt. Once there, of course, the same cliquish qualities drew him into the orbit of Horkheimer and the younger members of the Institut. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 144

Categorization

• XREF: A nice institutional-genealogy thread: Adorno’s attraction to the Schonberg circle prefigured his attachment to the Horkheimer circle — relevant to orienting how the Institute’s insular culture formed. — connects to: Internal power politics shaped Adorno’s early relations with the Institute — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 639; Adorno’s attraction to exclusive coteries steered him toward Horkheimer’s circle. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 144