Landscapes of Ice, Wind, and Snow: Alexander Kluge's Aesthetic of Coldness

摘要

In a letter from March 13, 1967, Theodor W. Adorno reveals his plans for an essay on coldness inspired, in part, by Alexander Kluge's debut feature, Abschied von gestern [Yesterday Girl, 1966). Intended to pick up on unfinished business from earlier works such as Dialectic of Enlightenment and Minima Moralia, the proposed work on coldness never materialized. In poor health and besieged by revolting students, Adorno died two years later in the mountains near Sils Maria, Switzerland, before finishing his Aesthetic Theory. Some of his coldness project's seeds can nevertheless be found lurking in Adorno's lecture, "Education after Auschwitz," from 1966.