Violence and Consolation: The Goodness of Literature from Adorno's Point of View

• The outset for the paper is the widespread notion that literature, and other forms of narrations, are better suited than philosophy for understanding and relating experiences of evil. A problem with this supposedly post-metaphysical notion, exemplified by an essay written by María Pía Lara, is that it implies a metaphysical conception of an inherent goodness in narrations as such. To find a more critical approach, I then turn to Theodor W. Adorno, and his infamous comments on poetry after Auschwitz. From his perspective evil is just as present in the interior of every artwork as in society in general - literature is neither less rational, nor less evil, than anything else. Due to its material character, however, every artwork does harbor a possibility of understanding and reconciliation that philosophical thinking lacks. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the difference between Adorno's and Lara's points, namely Michael Haneke's film Funny Games, and the Swedish novel Äldreomsorgen i övre Kågedalen by Nikanor Teratologen. Both could be seen as two extremely cruel narrations of evil, totally lacking all reconciliation. The point is that a reconciliation can be found in the interior of the works. This reconciliation is not situated in the narration however, but rather on the level of the material. In that way, the two works demonstrate a sensibility of the immanent violence of their own form.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Literary Studies (hsv//eng)

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