From Philosophy Lecturer to Advanced Student 213eight analyses of Berg’s compositions, and, since his intention was to
show the complexity of Berg’s works, his contributions were anything
but introductory. He had maliciously suggested to Krenek that the book
should ‘on no account be redolent of that panegyric stable-atmosphere
that generally deprives monographs of all their value.’^129 He was more
concerned, he said, to render Berg’s oeuvre transparent by a variety of
methodological approaches that would make the ‘reverse tendencies’ in
Berg’s music clear.
If we bear in mind the large number of very different intellectual
tasks that Adorno completed up to the middle of 1936, despite the loss
of two people who were so important to him, it is difficult to believe
that his Underwood typewriter was ever allowed any respite. It is easy
to sympathize with his complaint to Horkheimer, ‘I am completely
exhausted by my efforts of the last three months.’^130 He also complained
to Benjamin in a postcard written in January 1936 ‘from an extremely
dark café in the very heart of the city [of London] surrounded by domino-
playing characters – a little place that I would love to disclose to you
alone.’^131 He had every reason to complain, if only because of the diversity
of the texts he had to work on and wanted to or had to complete at
more or less the same time. And over and above all this publishing
activity, there was an ever-increasing burden of correspondence that
claimed his attention, particularly at this point in time.