Tragedy, Immanence and the Persistence of Semblance

The form of tragedy has been central to philosophical projects since classical antiquity, and it gained special critical import as a result of the so-called ‘tragic turning within philosophy’ during the Romantic period of German Idealism (see Beistegui 2000). The aim of this article is to address the notion of aesthetic appearance (semblance, Schein) within aesthetic theory (Theodor W. Adorno) and in Howard Barker's theatre. The article shows that the problem of semblance re-appears as a productive critical category in the current discourse of performance philosophy