Abstract: Beckett's theatre of absurd was regarded by Adorno as the most quintessential modernist artworks. In Notes to Literature, Adorno interpreted Beckett's Endgame against the background of the post-WWII historical and psychological crisis. Firstly, the meaningless living of the characters in Endgame leads to Adorno's delineation of a declining subject in a rational age. Secondly, Adorno found in Endgame some anti-existentialist literary elements, which prompted him to re-interpret the relations between subject and situation and endow Beckettian absurdity with novel theoretical significance. Thirdly, Adorno considered Endgame as a parody of traditional drama, which was, for Adorno, a deviation from the rational identity and also the very characteristic of autonomous art. Adorno's interpretation of Beckett reflects his conceptions of modernist theatre: in the post-war era with the decadence of subjectivity, dramatic figures are characterized through fragmentary images, and the plot and language appear to be contingent and absurd. Modernist theatre, such as Beckett's works, may not have the intention to intervene the social reality, but it responds negatively to the reality through its autonomous form. Therefore, the modernist theatre could maintain a critical force and redeem life and society in a serious and even a martyrly way.

Key words: Beckett, Endgame, subjectivity, absurd, autonomous art