Nationalities of Language: Adorno's Fremdworter An Introduction to "On the Question: What Is German?"

Abstract

In 1965 the prescience of Nietzsche's observations was dramatically confirmed by a series of radio lectures organized by the Hessische Rundfunk on the topic is German? Adorno's contribution, broadcast on May 9th of that year with the name of the series as its title, follows Nietzsche's lead in its refusal of nationalist generalizations and its shift of emphasis to the very question itself. Indeed, when Adorno's essay is republished in 1969 in Stichworte, it is indicative that, besides the deletion of two phrases, the only significant change is an addition to the title which now reads On the Question: What is German? The ambiguity of this query allows Adorno to develop another quite literal line of response: what is German?, it's a language. But such a recasting of the question of nationality as a question of language and linguistic nationality generates new problems. In order to sayjust what is (the) German (language), one must be able to establish the identity, limits and character of a national idiom. To do this, Adorno argues, one must take a trip to another language, a voyage, as we shall see, of translation.