Pre-order
1
of
1
Without Model
Parva Aesthetica
Series: The German List
Brief Description
Essays by Theodor W. Adorno on art and cinema. In Without Model, Theodor W. Adorno strikingly demonstrates the intellectual range for which he is known. Taking the premise of the title as his guiding principle, that artistic and philosophical thought must eschew preconceptions and instead adapt...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4399
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Pre-order
Releases
26th
August 2026
(Approx. Date)
Pre-order "Without Model" now to secure your copy from our first shipment
Found a better price? Request a price match
Without Model
$4399
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Essays by Theodor W. Adorno on art and cinema.
In Without Model, Theodor W. Adorno strikingly demonstrates the intellectual range for which he is known. Taking the premise of the title as his guiding principle, that artistic and philosophical thought must eschew preconceptions and instead adapt itself to its time, circumstances, and object, Adorno presents a series of essays reflecting on culture at different levels, from the details of individual products to the social conditions of their production.
He shows his more nostalgic side in the childhood reminiscences of 'Amorbach', but also his acute sociocultural analysis of the central topic of the culture industry. He criticizes attempts to maintain tradition in music and visual art, arguing against a restorative approach by stressing the modernity and individuality of historical works in the context of their time.
In all of these essays, available for the first time in English, Adorno displays the remarkable thinking of one both steeped in tradition and dedicated to seeing beyond it.
Series: The German List
View all-
Anyone Who Utters a Consoling Word Is a Traitor
Alexander Kluge’s work has long grappled with the Third Reich and its aftermath, and the extermination of the Jews forms its gravitational centre. Kluge is forever reminding us to keep our present catastrophes in perspective—“calibrated”—against this historical monstrosity. Kluge’s newest work, Anyone Who Utters a Consoling Word Is a Traitor, is a book about bitter fates, both already known and...Hardback$3599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
A Slap in the Face
Now in paperback, the touching, timely story of an Iraqi refugee in Germany. In our era of mass migration, much of it driven by war and its aftermath, A Slap in the Face could not be more timely. It tells the story of Karim, an Iraqi refugee living in Germany whose right to asylum has been revoked in the wake...Paperback$2399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Bad Sheep
A touching and sensitive tale of love and loss that unfolds in a divided Berlin in the 1980s. Against the backdrop of West Berlin in 1987, meet Soja—a skilled typesetter, a refugee from East Germany, and a temporary florist with a generous heart. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she crosses paths with Harry—a tall, free-spirited individual with a...Hardback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Blue Jewellery
Now in paperback, Katharina Winkler’s heartbreaking saga of a tenacious woman trapped in an abusive marriage. Blue Jewellery is private property. Not to be seen. Not to be talked about. It is worn like a bracelet around the wrists, on ribs, legs, arms. Blue jewellery is another name for the marks left on women’s bodies, inflicted by the men around...Paperback$2399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Blumenberg
Now in paperback, from one of the most dazzling authors of contemporary German literature comes this delightful tale of a philosopher and his encounter with a supernatural lion. One night, German philosopher Hans Blumenberg returns to his study to find a shocking sight—a lion lying on the floor as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. The lion...Paperback$2399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Hour Between Dog and Wolf
Now in paperback, Silke Scheuermann's portrayal of intimacy and estrangement between sisters as they navigate rivalries, addiction, and shared love interests. A young woman who has been living abroad returns to her hometown of Frankfurt am Main in Germany. Her sister Ines—a beautiful, impetuous painter—who still lives there, soon appears and promptly asks for financial help. But the returning sister...Paperback$2399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Kong's Finest Hour
In a world full of devils, the giant ape Kong defends what he loves the most. But who and what is this undomesticated animal? Might it reside within us? As we tread confidently, is this where the earth opens up beneath us? In Kong’s Finest Hour, Alexander Kluge explores anew the accessible spaces where Kong dwells within us and in...Hardback$6699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Last Country
Now in paperback, the epic tale of a violinist who must navigate the fractious world of early twentieth-century Germany. "Ruven Preuk stands apart from the village, on an August day in 1911, and listens." Thus begins an epic bildungsroman about the life of Ruven Preuk, son of the wainwright, child of a sleepy village in Germany’s north, where life is...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Mokusei!
Two men talk in Tokyo. One, a Belgian, is a diplomat. The other, Dutch, is a photographer. What, they wonder, is the real face of Japan? How can they get beyond the European idea of the nation and its people—with its exoticism—and see Japan as it truly is? The Belgian has an idea: he helps the photographer find a model...Hardback$3599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Monsters Like Us
A novel of two young friends growing up on divergent paths in the last days of Communist East Germany. What is it like to be young and broken in a country that is on the brink of collapse? This is what acclaimed poet and sound artist Ulrike Almut Sandig shows us in her debut novel, through the story of old...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Party Fun with Kant
Thousands upon thousands of books have been written about Immanuel Kant since his death. None, let’s be clear, have been quite like what we have here. In Party Fun with Kant, Nicolas Mahler tells the story of Kant—and his fellow serious-minded figures from the history of philosophy—with a comic edge. With his witty visual style and clever wordplay, he delves...Paperback$4099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Prose
“His manner of speaking, like that of all the subordinated, excluded, was awkward, like a body full of wounds, into which at any time anyone can strew salt, yet so insistent, that it is painful to listen to him,” from The Carpenter. The Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931–89) is acknowledged as among the major writers of our...Paperback$3599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781803096957
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 August 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd
Contributors:
- Translated by Wieland Hoban
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 18.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 454g
Pages: 184
About the Author
Theodor W. Adorno (1903–69) was the author of In Search of Wagner, Aesthetic Theory, and Negative Dialectics, among many other books. Wieland Hoban is a British composer who has translated several works from German, including Night Music, a collection of essays by Theodor W. Adorno.
Also by Theodor W. Adorno
View all-
Correspondence, 1939 - 1969
At first glance, Theodor W. Adorno’s critical social theory and Gershom Scholem’s scholarship of Jewish mysticism could not seem further removed from one another. Initially, they also harboured a mutual hostility. However, their first conversations in 1938 New York were the impetus for a profound intellectual friendship that lasted thirty years and produced more than 220 letters. These letters discuss...Hardback$4299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Aesthetic Theory
Theodor Adorno (1903-69) was undoubtedly the foremost thinker of the Frankfurt School, the influential group of German thinkers that fled to the US in the 1930s, including such thinkers as Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer. His work has proved enormously influential in sociology, philosophy, and cultural theory. Aesthetic Theory is Adorno's posthumous magnum opus and the culmination of a lifetime's...Paperback$6899Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
An Introduction to Dialectics
This volume comprises Adorno's first lectures specifically dedicated to the subject of the dialectic, a concept which has been key to philosophical debate since classical times. While discussing connections with Plato and Kant, Adorno concentrates on the most systematic development of the dialectic in Hegel's philosophy, and its relationship to Marx, as well as elaborating his own conception of dialectical...Hardback$13199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Fighting Antisemitism Today
In autumn 1962, Theodor W. Adorno delivered a lecture on fighting antisemitism to the German Coordinating Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation. This lecture remains as topical and urgent today as it was in the 1960s. After the Second World War, Germany grappled with a reluctance to admit collective guilt for the horrors of the Holocaust. German society was witnessing...Paperback$2399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Lectures 1949-1968, Volume 1
When Theodor W. Adorno returned to Germany from his exile in the United States, he was appointed as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Frankfurt and he immediately made a name for himself as a leading public intellectual. Adorno’s widespread influence on the postwar debates was due in part to the public lectures he gave outside of the...Paperback$4499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Lectures 1949-1968, Volume 2
When Theodor W. Adorno returned to Germany from his exile in the United States, he was appointed as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Frankfurt and he immediately made a name for himself as a leading public intellectual. Adorno’s widespread influence on the postwar debates was due in part to the public lectures he gave outside of the...Paperback$4499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Philosophy and Sociology: 1960
In summer 1960, Adorno gave the first of a series of lectures devoted to the relation between sociology and philosophy. One of his central concerns was to dispel the notion, erroneous in his view, that these were two incompatible disciplines, radically opposed in their methods and aims, a notion that was shared by many. While some sociologists were inclined to...Paperback$4499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Philosophy of Modern Music
In this classic work of music theory, Adorno critiques two major composers, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, whom he presents as dialectically opposed to one another in terms of their musical styles, techniques, and directions. Adorno’s readings, especially of Schoenberg, continue to cause controversy and disagreement among musicians, music lovers, and philosophers today. As always with Adorno, a wide range...Paperback$5199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Without Model – Parva Aesthetica
Essays by Adorno on art and cinema, available in English for the first time. In Without Model, Theodor W. Adorno strikingly demonstrates the intellectual range for which he is known. Taking the premise of the title as his guiding principle, that artistic and philosophical thought must eschew preconceptions and instead adapt itself to its time, circumstances, and object, Adorno presents...Hardback$4699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The New Music
A year after the end of the Second World War, the first International Summer Course for New Music took place in the Kranichstein Hunting Lodge, near the city of Darmstadt in Germany. The course, commonly referred to later as the Darmstadt course, was intended to familiarise young composers and musicians with the music that, only a few years earlier, had...Hardback$8399Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Beethoven
Beethoven is a classic study of the composer's music, written by one of the most important thinkers of our time. Throughout his life, Adorno wrote extensive notes, essay fragments, and aides-memoires on the subject of Beethoven's music. This book brings together all of Beethoven's music in relation to the society in which he lived. Adorno identifies three periods in Beethoven's...Hardback$13199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Orpheus in the Underworld
Delves into Theodor W. Adorno's lesser-known musical career and successful music criticism. Theodor W. Adorno is recognised as one of the twentieth century's most prominent social theorists. Though best known for his association with the Frankfurt School of critical theory, Adorno began his career as a composer and successful music critic. Comprehensive and illuminating, Orpheus in the Underworld centres on...Hardback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
More from Philosophy & Psychology
View all-
New ReleaseEat Your Ice Cream
The New York Times bestseller that presents a bold new vision for living well and ageing with purpose from a world-renowned health expert THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From a leading doctor and world-renowned health expert, the simple, uplifting and practical guide to cutting through the wellness noise, living well and ageing with purpose. ‘Essential reading for anyone who...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseThe Winner's Formula
The Neuroscience of Peak Performance, Success, and Happiness Why do some people win all the time? Why do others languish? From Olympians to Formula 1 drivers, addicts to billionaires, cognitive neuroscientist Dr Kerry Spackman has spent decades working to help people understand how to succeed. In The Winner's Formula, Kerry explains what goes on in your brain when you are...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseInside the Box
How to do more with less and use limits to stimulate creativity, innovation and collaboration, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Range. We live in a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and values freedom above all else. We have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be and how to spend our time....Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3900Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Signed CopyNew Release
Better Never Stops
The Art and Science of Continuous Improvement From delinquent to doctor, Paul Wood knows first-hand how far we can take our lives if we address what holds us back. At the age of 18, Wood was sent to New Zealand's toughest prison. Almost 11 years later, in 2006, he walked out a free man, escaping his past and becoming a...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Body Keeps the Score
The Body Keeps the Score by Dr Bessel van der Kolk is a compelling and compassionate exploration of the deep-seated impact of trauma on the human body and mind. This groundbreaking work delves into the complex causes of trauma and paints a vivid picture of the revolutionary treatments that are enabling countless individuals to reclaim their lives filled with purpose...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Strangers
The must-read memoir of the end of a marriage and the start of a personal revolution, based on the iconic Modern Love essay in the New York Times and perfect for fans of Glennon Doyle. "A beautifully written eulogy for the loss of a relationship" — Joyce Carol Oates How do we go on when a loved one betrays us?...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Atomic Habits
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a transformative guide that demonstrates how tiny, incremental changes in behaviour can fundamentally reshape your life. Rather than urging sweeping transformations, Clear advocates for the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions. Whether it’s performing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes earlier, or making a brief, focused phone call, these minuscule adjustments,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Man's Search For Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the author’s groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...Paperback$1800Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New Release
Tell Me Where It Hurts
Leading expert Rachel Zoffness bridges the gap between medicine and psychology to get to the heart of treating pain We can move the dial on pain Every one of us will experience pain, be it back pain, the pain of childbirth, or living in an ageing body. Not a single one of us will escape. But what if everything you...Hardback$6500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Book of Awakening
A new edition of the #1 NYT's bestseller by Mark Nepo, who has been called "one of the finest spiritual guides of our time" and "a consummate storyteller." Immerse yourself in The Book of Awakening, a compelling spiritual daybook by philosopher-poet and cancer survivor, Mark Nepo. This remarkable work is a profound manual for living a more deeply connected and...Paperback$3999Elsewhere:$4499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Strong Ground
#1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown returns with an urgent call to reimagine the essentials of courageous leadership. In a time when uncertainty runs deep and bluster, hubris and even cruelty are increasingly framed as acceptable leadership, Brown delivers practical, actionable insights that illuminate the mindsets and skill sets essential to reclaiming focus and driving growth through connection, discipline and...Hardback$4000Elsewhere:$5500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Stimulated Mind
A practical, empowering plan to boost your day-to-day brain function and prevent dementia - by a renowned neuroscientist and performance coach. 'From day one I was always blown away by Dr Tommy Wood's command of the science from which he communicates.' - Dr Peter Attia, bestselling author of Outlive- The Science and Art of Longevity 'As global health declines, Dr...Paperback$3800Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
