Notes to pp. 268–271 551the unifying power of communication-orientated speech which simultane-
ously secures for the speakers involved a life-world that is distributed
intersubjectively and hence the horizon within which everyone can relate
to one and the same objective world’ (Habermas, Wahrheit und Recht-
fertigung, p. 10).
139 That Adorno had some sort of theory of linguistic disintegration in
mind can be confirmed by his mention of the Chandos letter of Hugo
von Hofmannsthal, in which the latter expresses his fear of the loss of
language and his sceptical view of the ability of language to express ideas.
See Adorno’s letter to Horkheimer, 2 November 1941. Horkheimer,
Briefwechsel, GS, vol. 17, p. 176; cf. Christoph Demmerling, Sprache und
Verdinglichung: Wittgenstein, Adorno und das Projekt einer kritischen
Theorie, p. 117ff.
140 Horkheimer, Briefwechsel, GS, vol. 17, p. 176.
141 Ibid.
142 Benjamin, Briefwechsel, vol. VI, p. 436.
143 Three months later Adorno received more of Benjamin’s papers from his
lawyer, Martin Domke, who had known Benjamin since his student days.
While Benjamin was in Lourdes he had left his papers with his sister
Dora, who passed them on to Domke after her brother’s death. Domke
was on the point of leaving France for the USA and he was to hand them
over to Adorno, whom Benjamin had named as executor. In Adorno’s
letter to Gershom Scholem on 19 February 1942, he speaks of ‘two suit
cases [sic] with manuscripts and books of Walter....I made a complete
catalogue of the content of these suit cases’ (Frankfurter Adorno Blätter,
V, 1998, p. 153f.). Benjamin had entrusted further manuscripts to Georges
Bataille in Paris. These formed part of the arcades project. On the history
of Benjamin’s literary estate, see Walter Benjamin 1892–1940, p. 329ff.;
Susan Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing, p. 331ff.
144 Horkheimer, Briefwechsel, GS, vol. 17, p. 60.
145 David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, pp. 426ff. and 465ff.
146 Horkheimer, Briefwechsel, GS, vol. 17, p. 195.
147 Ibid., p. 225.
148 Adorno to Horkheimer, 26 October 1941, Horkheimer–Pollock Archive,
Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main.
149 Horkheimer, Briefwechsel, GS, vol. 17, p. 182.
150 Ibid., p. 111. Towards the end of 1940, the American government pledged
support to Great Britain as a nation whose defence was in the American
interest, and delivered war material on the lend lease principle. Moreover,
after Germany had attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Russia
too was declared to be of vital importance. Ever since 1941, German
nationals had been interned in the USA and German capital was con-
fiscated. Henceforth, the US navy sank German U-boats without prior
warning. As for Japan, which aimed at the domination of Asia, Roosevelt
blocked important exports. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked a
large part of the American fleet anchored off Pearl Harbor. After this, the
American public abandoned its resistance to the war. On 8 December
Britain and the USA declared war on Japan.
151 Adorno to Horkheimer, 20 August 1941, Horkheimer–Pollock Archive,
Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main.