Open Wounds: Holocaust Theater and the Legacy of George Tabori. Edited by Martin Kagel and David Z. Saltz. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2022. 208 pages + 4 images. $85.00 hardcover, $69.95 e-book.

Abstract

chapter concerns the degree to which the two schools of thought made explicit reference to each other. While Thompson argues mutual familiarity with each other’s texts, the reader is occasionally left wondering how sustained (and mutual) such exchange was between Black Power thought and Critical Theory. Davis, in this context, takes on an exceptional role, since Adorno served as her advisor and she maintained a strong relationship with Marcuse. Driven—or even provoked—by Adorno, Davis goes beyond the Frankfurt School itself to take on Hegel’s teleological view of dialectics and history. She also grapples with Arendt, using “Hegel to condemn Arendt’s reading of Greek political thought on freedom and slavery” (136). It is in this final chapter that Thompson’s own voice becomes more apparent, arguing against readings that Davis downplayed theory for activism. Thompson corrects such claims, instead showing how her activism is borne out of this reversal of Hegel’s dialectics. With Phenomenal Blackness, Thompson condenses what seems like a scattered discourse into a coherent narrative about Critical Theory’s impact on Black Power thought. The chapter outlining Davis’s more sustained interaction with Critical Theory is the most intriguing, but the book as a whole points out that her engagement was also preceded by others. One overarching theme that Thompson could explore more is the extent to which Critical Theory might have, in turn, been influenced by or responded to Black Power theory. But Phenomenal Blackness will be of interest to scholars and historians of African American studies as a discipline, social theorists in general, and of course, scholars of Critical Theory, Black Power intellectual history, and the Frankfurt School. Thompson has shed light on a rich intellectual exchange that has hitherto been overlooked, and readers will surely be curious to see future work on the topic.