Notes on the essay in Theodor W. Adorno

Abstract

Most of the texts that are part of the collection entitled Notes of literature, by the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno is part of a production that goes beyond the academic environments. There are some broadcasting lectures and several texts previously published in magazines. However, "The essay as form" was especially written for the first volume of Notes of literature and it is, so to speak, one of its most famous essays. In spite of the defense of the essay writing form as an expression of a theoretical model especially involved with the object to the point of highlighting the uniqueness of this literary production, the essay is thought as a theoretical production: perhaps the one that comes closer to the singularity of the literary production, without being confused with it. It stands out, in the text that follows, the eminent conceptual nature of the essay - which is not closed under a pre-established method nor even abandon the methodology procedures - and its attempt to say something which, according to Wittgenstein, should not be said. Keywords: Essay, Literature, Critical theory.