First MIT Press paperback edition, 1999

This edition © 1998 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This work originally appeared under the title Die Souveränität der Kunst: Ästhetische
Erfahrung nach Adorno und Derrida, © 1988 Athenäum Verlag, Frankfurt, Germany.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means (including information storage and retrieval) with-
out permission in writing from the publisher.

This book was set in New Baskerville by Wellington Graphics and was printed and
bound in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Menke-Eggers, Christoph, 1958‐
[Souveränität der Kunst. English]
The sovereignty of art : aesthetic negativity in Adorno and Derrida / Christoph
Menke ; translated by Neil Solomon.
p. cm.—(Studies in contemporary German social thought)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-262-13340-7 (hc : alk. paper), 0-262-63195-4 (pb)
1. Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969. Aesthetics. 2. Derrida, Jacques—Aesthetics.
3. Negativity (Philosophy)—History— 20th century. 4. Aesthetics, Modern— 20th
century. 5. Deconstruction. I. Title. II. Series.
B3199.A34M4413 1998

111'.85—dc21

97-46401
CIP