Abstract In a letter from June 3, 1945, Adorno candidly relates to Thomas Mann his innermost feelings about meeting the novelist in the United States: “When I was able to meet you here in person, upon this remote western coast, I had the feeling that I was only now, for the first time, actually encountering that German tradition from which I have received everything—including the strength to resist the tradition.”1 At first glance, there is nothing too remarkable about this note from an admirer of one of the masters of European letters. Under closer scrutiny, however, this seemingly innocuous letter accentuates…