“Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.”
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist
On Dramatic Poetry (1758)
“Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.”
[N]ach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch...
Full quote: Kulturkritik findet sich der letzten Stufe der Dialektik von Kultur und Barbarei gegenüber: nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch, und das frißt auch die Erkenntnis an, die ausspricht, warum es unmöglich ward, heute Gedichte zu schreiben.
Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft [Cultural Criticism and Society] (1951); this quote is more famously known in the forms "No poetry after Auschwitz" or "There can be no poetry after Auschwitz." Sometimes a more specific proscription is made, such as "No lyric poetry after Auschwitz." The influence of the underlying idea can be seen in such derivative statements as "No history after Auschwitz."
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Do you have more details about the quote "Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric." by Theodor W. Adorno?
Theodor W. Adorno90
German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for … 1903–1969Related quotes
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Quotation posted with the permission of the National Scottish Library, Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Poetry Quotes
“Defy the law! Write the heartbroken poetry of the World!”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer
This appears not to be a Kerouac quote. It has not been found in any of Kerouac's published work.
Misattributed