Peter Uwe Hohendahl (born 1936) is a literary and intellectual historian and theorist. He served as the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of German Studies at Cornell University, where he is now a professor emeritus.
Career
Hohendahl's early work focused on methodological questions in the field of sociology of literature. His first book, influenced by the early Lukacs and Adorno, uses a thematic approach to explore the impact of a modern industrial society on the structure of Expressionist drama. During the 1970s his research is preoccupied with the public function of literary criticism. Hohendahl explores the structure of the literary public sphere and the role of literary criticism in modern society. The theory of the public sphere (Habermas) allowed him to theorize the link between the literary and the socio-political sphere. His work on the reception of the poet Gottfried Benn can be seen as part of this approach, which shifts the focus from the text to its public reception. In his second major project Hohendahl broadens his focus by investigating the institutional elements of 19th-century German literature, including literary criticism, the emergence of literary history, the formation of the literary canon, the conception of a national literary tradition, and the changing structure of the reading public.
During the 1990s Hohendahl's research shifts from historical and methodological to theoretical problems. The writings of the Frankfurt School, especially the work of Theodor W. Adorno, becomes the center. This work foregrounds Adorno's cultural criticism, especially his engagement with European literature and aesthetic theory. Adorno's aesthetic theory becomes the focus of Hohendahl's second Adorno monograph. In this study Hohendahl emphasizes the radical nature of Adorno's theory, going beyond the standard claim of aesthetic autonomy. Adorno's interest in the connection between formal and social structures can be found in Hohendahl's renewed engagement with German modernism, especially in his work on Ernst Jünger.
Hohendahl's later writings reflect his persistent interest in two areas, the history and future of higher education, both in the United States and Germany, and the relevance of political theory for the formation of the cultural sphere. In several essays Hohendahl interrogates the status and role of the American research university. Closely connected to these interventions is his work on the development and the future of German Studies (Germanistik) in the US. Because of this involvement, Hohendahl became the leading co-editor of the history of German Studies in the US, published by the Modern Language Association. Hohendahl's work on German conservatism focuses on Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt. Hohendahl considers Carl Schmitt's reception in the US a serious challenge for the development of a democratic culture. His analysis highlights Schmitt's role in the political discourse of post-war Germany and his significant impact on the American discussion of European colonialism and its military consequences.
Works
Books
Das Bild der bürgerlichen Welt im expressionistischen Drama (Heidelberg: Winter, 1967). Literaturkritik und Öffentlichkeit (Munich: Piper, 1974). Der europäische Roman der Empfindsamkeit (Wiesbaden: Athenaion, 1977). The Institution of Criticism (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1982). Literarische Kultur im Zeitalter des Liberalismus, 1830–1870 (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1985). Building a National Literature: The Case of Germany, 1830–1870 (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1989). Reappraisals: Shifting Alignments in Postwar Critical Theory (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991). Geschichte, Opposition, Subversion. Studien zur Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts (Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 1993) Prismatic Thought: Theodor W. Adorno (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1995). Öffentlichkeit: Geschichte eines kritischen Begriffs, P. U. Hohendahl, co-authored with R. A. Berman, K. Kenkel and A. Strum (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2000). Heinrich Heine: Europäischer Schriftsteller und Intellektueller (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2008). Erfundene Welten: Relektüren zu Form und Zeitstruktur in Ernst Jüngers erzählender Prosa (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2013) The Fleeting Promise of Art. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory Revisited (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2013). Perilous Futures. On Carl Schmitt's Late Work (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2018).