Dream Notes

by Theodor W. Adorno

Dreams are as black as death.
--Theodor W. Adorno
Adorno was fascinated by his dreams and wrote them down throughout his life. He envisaged publishing a collection of them although in the event no more than a few appeared in his lifetime.

Dream Notes offers a selection of Adornos writings on dreams that span the last twenty-five years of his life. Readers of Adorno who are accustomed to high-powered reflections on philosophy, music and culture may well find them disconcerting: they provide an amazingly frank and uninhibited account of his inner desires, guilt feelings and anxieties. Brothel scenes, torture and executions figure prominently. They are presented straightforwardly, at face value. No attempt is made to interpret them, to relate them to the events of his life, to psychoanalyse them, or to establish any connections with the principal themes of his philosophy.

Are they fiction, autobiography or an attempt to capture a pre-rational, quasi-mythic state of consciousness? No clear answer can be given. Taken together they provide a highly consistent picture of a dimension of experience that is normally ignored, one that rounds out and deepens our knowledge of Adorno while retaining something of the enigmatic quality that energized his own thought.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Nonfiction, German Literature, Theory, Essays

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after World War II. Although less well known among anglophone philosophers than his contemporary Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and intellectuals in postwar Germany. In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Jürgen Habermas, Germany's foremost social philosopher after 1970, was Adorno's student and assistant. The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged. It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of contemporary Western society. He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of Critical Theory.

Unreliable translations hampered the initial reception of Adorno's published work in English speaking countries. Since the 1990s, however, better translations have appeared, along with newly translated lectures and other posthumous works that are still being published. These materials not only facilitate an emerging assessment of his work in epistemology and ethics but also strengthen an already advanced reception of his work in aesthetics and cultural theory.

Reviews

[Keto Kipiani · Rating 5 out of 5]

...The whole scene is shot through with the same hopeless feeling of sorrow as my visit to Vienna. <3

[Roie · Rating 5 out of 5]

had the fateful idea of reading this very unimpressive book to impress a girl and it backfired the brains out of me

then i wrote this long-winded commentary about love and communism and being possessed and crossing into our dreams and walking comprehendingly across the terrain of the stupid and inaccessible and then i scrapped it

this shit sucks but at least i’m now into: suits and long songs and sentences that go sideways

!!!!!!

[Parsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

آدورنو از مشهورترین چهره های مکتب فرانکفورت بود که بواسطه نظرات و آرا بدیع و خلاقانه اش در نقد موسیقی و هنر و جامعه شناسی شناخته شده است. او که از نزدیک شاهد تلاش روانشناسان معاصر خود برای تبیین علم روانشناسی بود، تصمیم گرفته بود خوابهایش را بلافاصله پس از بیداری ثبت و بعدا به شکل کتابی منتشر کرد. اتفاقی که هرگز به فرجام نرسید.
کتاب حجم کمی دارد که با مقدمه مفصل سیاوش جمادی و موخره ای خواندنی به چاپ رسیده است.
نکته جالب کتاب، انگیزه و همت آدورنو است که خوابهایش را برای نزدیک بیست سال گردآوری و ثبت کرده بود.

[Ivan Loginov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorno's dream notes, some of which he also mentions in other books, create an excellent background for his work and help readers better understand his personality and philosophy.

[Asounani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estuvo bien, nada fantástico o memorable para mi

[Rubén Sainz Jiménez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy recomendado el epílogo de Jean Philipp Reemtsma que aparece en esta edición.

[Kaplumbağa Felsefecisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Rüya ölüm gibi siyahtır."
1934-1903=31 yaşındayken yazmaya başladığı ve belirli bir periyodu olmadan rüyalarını yazdığı bir kitaptır. Kendi yorumunu yapmadan yazmıştır. Freud'un Düşlerin Yorumu kitabındaki rüya kayıtlarından bu noktada ayrılır. Son sözde rüyalar ile ilgili kitaplar yazan pek çok yazara değiniler mevcut. Bu çok farklı okumalar açacak gibi görünüyor.

[Pável Granados]

Sé muy poco de Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969). Además, lo conozco sólo dormido, ya que entré al mundo de sus obras a través de su diario de sueños. Para otros asuntos, tendría que despertarlo, pero en realidad no sé bien de qué hablar con él. Además, lo que yo pudiera decirle seguro que no le gustaría. “Señor Adorno: el interés que suscitan los diarios de sueños se termina dos páginas más allá de la portada. Que yo recuerde, sólo el diario de sueños de Ionesco me ha parecido interesante. No sé si alguno más… Tendría que pensar. Los diarios de sueños son somníferos. Nos dormimos apenas comenzamos su lectura. Así, todos, lectores y escritores compartimos el país de los sueños.” La narrativa onírica es un subgénero difícil. Se cae en la tentación de narrar los sueños por más que su interés no es transferible. Y la sensación que causan, la provocan en la vigilia, cuando tomamos conciencia de ellos. Mientras nos envuelve el sueño, creo recordar que no sentíamos expectación. Pero muchas veces al emerger todavía somnolientos de la noche, pensamos: “Ojalá no me hubiera despertado”. Y volvemos a cerrar los ojos rogando que por piedad volver a caer en el mismo sueño. En los sueños nos interesan temas que al despertar no podemos recordar. Pero mientras soñábamos, ¡qué placidez nos trasmitían los asuntos tan sutiles! En fin, mientras Adorno vivía en California y escribía Dialéctica de la Ilustración al lado de Max Horkheimer, durmió una noche… Soñó entonces que leía un artículo sobre la obra de Shakespeare, acerca de cómo la obra clave de su teatro era La comedia de las equivocaciones. ¿Qué no es esa obra en que un matrimonio tiene gemelos y, entonces, el padre compra otros gemelos para que sea, cada uno de ellos, sirviente de uno de sus hijos? Qué difícil es escribir de dos gemelos, amos de otro par de gemelos. Lo curioso es que el autor del artículo es Herwarth Walden, un artista alemán que se dedicó a impulsar el expresionismo, el dadaísmo y el futurismo. Como me encuentro dentro del sueño de Adorno, me ocurre lo que acontece en los sueños: que no podemos fijar bien la vista en los textos que queremos leer. No sabría bien por qué, pero como si yo fuera una mente tomada por el delirio, me puse a perseguir la imagen de Shakespeare y del expresionismo. No lo conozco lo suficiente, pero las imágenes que recuerdo de La tempestad posiblemente sí puedan considerarse escenas expresionistas, deformaciones de la realidad que son una proyección de las emociones del artista. La maleza que se agita y las olas que excita la tempestad, son representaciones del artista. Así lo creía Harold Bloom: que Shakespeare era inventor del expresionismo. Bueno, este crítico en realidad le atribuía a Shakespeare la invención de casi todo. En fin, se trata de un soñador demasiado intelectual, casi todos sus sueños tienen notas al pie… Es muy difícil saber qué encontró Adorno en su propio diario onírico. Su conclusión parece pequeña, pero en realidad es que su demostración requiere una vida para comprobarla (o para desecharla), y es que: todos los sueños que un individuo sueña hacen un sistema de pensamiento onírico. Todos parecen una sección de lo mismo, de un mundo más grande, de una coherencia de imágenes y de ideas. ¿Tendremos siempre el mismo sueño, pero con distintas máscaras? En gran parte de las páginas de este diario vi a Adorno hablando de Filosofía, de arte o, bien, acudiendo a conferencias, conciertos y exposiciones. Cuando se encontraba con algún muerto, se alegraba y lo saludaba con efusión.

Theodor W. Adorno. Sueños / Traumprotokolle, ed. Christoph Gödde y Henri Lonitz, epílogo de Jan Philipp Reemtsma, tr. Alfredo Brotons. Madrid, Akal, 2008.

[Nika · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you wish to know more about Adorno's inner life, then I would recommend this book. However, unpleasant people often have unpleasant dreams, and it pains me to say I find Adorno to be a rather unpleasant man.

Nevertheless, the Afterword in this book is worthwhile, and I did enjoy a few of the dreams quoted below. The book's presentation is gorgeous—a surreal masterpiece.

'Unlike the real river, the river in my dream has countless bends. At one bend, suddenly, unexpectedly, I glimpse the entire panorama of the city stretched out before me, but compressed into a miniature space...The whole scene is lit up by an eclipse like the image of Toledo in El Greco. The whole scene is shot through with the same hopeless feeling of sorrow as my visit to Vienna.'



'I knew that everything I did in this dream had self-destruction as its aim. But the dream itself desired to teach me about this and cure me.'

'A large number of silent, shadowy people. Superficially calm: they won't do anything to me. Underneath: even greater fear, fear of their unreality.'

'These events seemed so vivid to me that I found it hard to decide whether I had really experienced them. That is precisely the pattern that operates when one is gripped by madness.'

'I set myself to work with a will. I now found myself in a lofty ruin, perhaps the Baths of Caracalla.'

'The moon was about to crash to earth...I comforted myself with the optimistic thought that, if it really is made of dust or some other loose substance, the impact will not be so severe.'
Frankfurt, 18 November 1956.

I dreamt of a catastrophic fire. In the cosmic inferno all the dead reappeared in their former shape for a few seconds, and I realized: only now are they truly dead.

Vienna, 26 June 1960.
The night before last I dreamt that one day it had remained completely dark. For the first time since creation of the world, the sun had failed to rise.

[Erdem Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/uZlgrNfimpo?si=7AiQz...

rüya kayıtları (Traumprotokolle 🇩🇪)
Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969, 66y)
Çeviren: Şeyda Öztürk

Alman düşünür, sosyolog, müzikbilimci ve besteci..
21 yaşında felsefe doktoru ünvanını aldı. 28 yaşında professör oldu. 30 yaşındayken Yahudi öğretim üyelerinin çalışma izinleri iptal edildi. 1934’de de 31yaşındayken Hitler Almanya’sını terk edip İngiltere’ye göç etti. 35yaşında ABD’ye göç etti. Savaş sonrası tekrar Almanya’ya döndü. 1969’da 66 yaşında kalp krizinden öldü. Frankfurt Okulu’nun felsefi mimarlarından, yaşadığı yüzyıla ve savaş sonrası Almanya’ ya damgasını vurmuş, zamanının çok ötesinde düşünebilen bir filozof ve sosyolog ✨

Bu kitabı.. Bikaç kelimeyle açıklamak gerekirse bu kelimeler.. arka kapakta da ifade edildiği gibi..
..rüyaların olabildiğince ham halini yansıtan bir anlatım.. olur heralde..

Yazarın 31yaşından 66 yaşına dek
Frankfurt’tan Oxford’a, oradan Los Angeles’a, sonra yine Frankfurta döndüğü, zaman zaman Değişik Alman ve İsviçre şehirlerine gittiği dönemdeki rüyalarını okuyarak içsel ve bilinç dışı yolculuğuna eşlik ediyoruz..
yavaş yavaş ölümüne doğru yaklaştıkça… yazar bunu bilmese de yazarın yerine biz tedirginliğe kapılıyoruz. İnsanın ölümünün ne zaman olduğunu bilmediği halde hiç ölmeyecek, bu şekilde devam edecekmiş gibi yaşamaya ve rüyalar görmeye devam etmesi ne kadar ilginç..
Adorno ‘rüyalarımız.. devamlı ve aralıksız bir bütün oluştururlar.. bütünsel bir dünyaya aittirler’ diyor..
bu rüyaları uyanır uyanmaz yazmış..kitaba giren son rüyasını 12Nisan 1969’da yazmış, 6 Ağustosta ölmüş…

[Oğuzcan Önver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rüyasını anlatan bir insana 10 dakika sonra rüyanı tekrar anlatır mısın diye sorun. İki anlatım arasındaki farklar size o insanla ilgili anahtar anlamlar verir. Her anlama bir yanlış anlamadır. Bize ne Adorno'nun, Freud'un rüyalarından demeyiz. Çünkü başka insanların rüyaları en gizli mesleğidir hepimizin. Başka rüyalar çeker bizi ve bazen başkaları rüyayı çeker bizim için. Her insanın rüyası sadece ona özel bir alandır, mobeseler yakalayamaz onu. Adorno da işte böyle böyle kayıt altına almış rüyalarını, anlattığı an ise artık onlar bizim rüyalarımız.

[C. de L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“La vida es un mito. Prueba: la raíz βί en βίος, vi en vita, sería idéntica a μυ”.


“La noche antes de partir [para Viena], soñé que, si no podía desistir de la esperanza metafísica, no era por mi gran apego a la vida, sino porque me gustaba despertarme con G.”

[Gaspar Juárez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 porque se me viene en gana.
Y además, quién se toma en serio las calificaciones con decimales o estrellas.

[Eva Gustafsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5