Work of art and philosophy: Franz Kafka, a reading based on Theodor Adorno

Abstract

This is a theoretical research conducted from rereading the thought of the philosopher Theodor Adorno, a member of the first generation of the Frankfurt School, with emphasis on the character of social criticism of his thinking in dialectical movement by reading Franz Kafka, making use of works of both authors, with special attention to direct references of the philosopher about the writer’s work, using up eventually commentators. From an analysis of the relationship between philosophy and works of art as thought by Adorno, the goal is to show that both the thought of the philosopher and Kafka’s literature are marked by criticism of a society managed by Enlightenment rationality, which converts to violence against the subject himself. Although distinct, philosophy and works of art complement each other as resistance to cultural mass, while the first interprets the second.