Abstract

Unfortunately, experiences of suffering not only have an individual dimension, but are always already embedded in social orders that produce, structure, and offer perspectives for relief. In this regard, suffering is inscribed with a duality that moves between individual experience and social formation. It is argued that the young Karl Marx and the old Heinrich Heine determine this duality as precarious and consequently problematize this relationship. However, while Marx seeks to eliminate individual suffering within a revolutionary collective, Heine insists on the irreversibility of suffering in collective offerings of identity. This finding is evident when Marx’s ›Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right‹ is confronted with Heine’s ›Germany – A Winter’s Tale‹. Based on this, it will be traced that Heine’s critique of the abolition of suffering forms the basis for Theodor W. Adorno’s essay ›Heine the Wound‹.