How to understand the sentence "After Auschwitz, writing poetry was barbaric"?
This sentence comes from Adorno's "Prism" in 1955. Theodor Adorno was a German philosopher, sociologist, and music theorist. He was a major representative of the first generation of the Frankfurt School and the theoretical founder of critical social theory.
"Auschwitz" refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp, the most notorious concentration camp and extermination camp in Germany during the Nazi period. Located in Auschwitz, a small town in southern Poland, 1.1 million to 1.5 million people were murdered here during World War II, most of them Jews. Even in a state of war, this is an extremely horrific humanitarian disaster.
The famous "Schindler's List" tells the story of the German businessman Schindler who saved the Jews in Auschwitz.
The Auschwitz concentration camp is irrefutable evidence of the genocide of the Jews by the German Nazi regime. It also bears witness to heinous crimes against humanity. This is also a monument to the humanistic spirit, commemorating the free thoughts that resisted the totalitarian suppression of the German Nazis under extremely harsh adversity.
Adorno’s statement that “after Auschwitz, writing poetry was barbaric” represents the ability of the entire literary and art world to think independently and survive after the anti-human Auschwitz incident. critical reflection. When atrocities occurred, the entire society chose to remain silent. After the Nazis were crushed, the entire social literature and art began to criticize the atrocities. What significance does such reflection and praise have on the entire process of human society? The fragility of culture is worthless to barbarians. Poetry, as the most noble form in culture, was used by him as a representative of criticism of literary and artistic nature. This is a profound problem in humanistic philosophy, and it also led Adorno to question the entire civilization.
However, we can simply understand this sentence. When Auschwitz occurred, writing poetry was an act of aiding the evil, which was of course a barbaric act. After Auschwitz, those poems that reflected on and praised the present were powerless and adrift compared to the atrocities that had occurred. Poets with a truly critical and independent spirit often had difficulty surviving the Nazi period in Germany. Poetry creation seems to have broken with justice, humanity, and conscience.
According to the understanding of ancient Chinese poetry, it is probably "a useless scholar". Under the cruel blow of reality, a scholar finally sees clearly that the things he has insisted on for many years are completely powerless. Fighting against social injustice may also give rise to this feeling.
It’s just that Auschwitz is a disaster for all mankind, so this sentence is inappropriate anywhere except for the Nazis.
We cannot compare any existing crisis to Auschwitz.
This is why this sentence caused a lot of ridicule and discussion today.