James Crane
@jamescrane.bsky.social
2.5K followers 890 following 2.1K posts
editor @ critical theory working group: https://ctwgwebsite.github.io/
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jamescrane.bsky.social
HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU: You find yourself wondering: why can’t I find any two hour long podcast episode about Kanafani’s literary works as condition/consequence of his conception of resistance culture? YOUR SEARCH IS OVER
jamescrane.bsky.social
yes, it’s fascinating! This article is why I started paying much more attention to the ISR crew’s (failed) efforts to make a French connection in the 1930s, & Weingrad convinced me that the ISR’s non-encounter with the CdS has pretty massive, still mostly unexplored, theoretical ramifications!
jamescrane.bsky.social
has some of their best notes on the critique of political economy from that period. also: Adorno’s Oedipus sketch + digression about how humans used to be more like corals, Horkheimer’s Schopenhauerian odyssey in the void, etc
jamescrane.bsky.social
the full series of seven discussions Horkheimer & Adorno had in January, 1939—focusing on the concept of the individual in Marx, Hegel, Freud, Kant, Hume, Heidegger, Caillois, the Oedipus myth, & more—that would lead to Dialectic of Enlightenment!
jamescrane.bsky.social
amazing. i’ve made it to snail tik tok
Reposted by James Crane
tpeater.bsky.social
Enjoyed the first standard pic of rooty but can you spot her in the second pic from daycare as well?
jamescrane.bsky.social
does she actually want to step in the wet cement? no. too much exertion. but does she enjoy pushing the caution tape around with her snout to flaunt the law? yes. with perverse delight.
jamescrane.bsky.social
she loves testing boundaries. for the thrill of it
jamescrane.bsky.social
lactose intolerance can be weaponized for good. think about it. you have an easy low-key way of being poisoned with something other people eat all the time. instant get out of jail free card. eat enough dairy quickly enough you can induce vomiting. live mas
Reposted by James Crane
jamescrane.bsky.social
Adorno (responding to Horkheimer’s question about whether humans were biological “individuals” prior to the mythical staging of coming-of-age): No I think we were probably more like corals before the institution of property. Probably. Maybe.
jamescrane.bsky.social
the coral is the most interesting image here because the language of different kinds of collectivity they go on to use—crowd, swarm, mass, etc—doesn’t really have the quiet constructive character of the coral as colony-organism!
jamescrane.bsky.social
the comparison continues on with Horkheimer bringing that up actually! Adorno says the time of myth is the time of the swarm (Gewimmel), Horkheimer draws the distinction between an organized swarm of bees, the diffuse seething of worms, & chaotic throngs of people, etc
jamescrane.bsky.social
myths here would in part be about how hard it is for human beings as individuals bound to orders of property & inheritance to find the right language to express what it was like to be more like a coral reef
jamescrane.bsky.social
Adorno (responding to Horkheimer’s question about whether humans were biological “individuals” prior to the mythical staging of coming-of-age): No I think we were probably more like corals before the institution of property. Probably. Maybe.
Reposted by James Crane
shabana.bsky.social
Children in Gaza jumping for joy as dad chants “Hudna! Hudna! Hudna!” (Arabic for long-term truce or ceasefire). Dear God, grant them relief, grant them continued joy, please
jamescrane.bsky.social
making money moves on tik tok
jamescrane.bsky.social
in my defense at 19 i realized i was the only one of my friends w/o a shoplifting story so i stole a copy of Derrida’s Spurs from Barnes & Noble. i had to run to the bathroom to throw up mid heist bc i was so hungover but it turns out that threw the guard who was following me off. nothing but net
jamescrane.bsky.social
no—so i definitely don’t have the energy to go as far as Adorno & lie for half a decade about the whereabouts of a book that i have to hide from my co-author & soulmate who i see almost every day & who is actively looking for the book lol
jamescrane.bsky.social
first pass translation of Adorno’s historical-philosophical sketch of a materialist interpretation of Oedipus in the discussion minutes
jamescrane.bsky.social
these greatures cannot be real
jamescrane.bsky.social
Adorno pulled stunts like this too. mid-40s Horkheimer, Löwenthal, & the NY office secretary Margot von Mendelssohn spent months trying to figure out where the ISR library copy of Hegel’s Logic was—turns out Adorno stole it in like ‘39 & lied about returning it for ~5 years lol
jamescrane.bsky.social
as a follow up to this—apparently Adorno’s first pass at the Odysseus excursus from DoE was a series of notes on Oedipus that for some reason he let a hysteric friend of his borrow when she was having a personal crisis & she lost them & later denied ever having them lmfao