Abstract

The concept of style is deeply imbricated with the concept of the modern human self as a sovereign, reflective, and creative subject. In this sense, the category of style calls into presence a self-reflexive moment that attains critical significance when the modern human being begins to become problematic to itself. Building on this premise, the article sheds light on the refractory and elusive concept of style as it is developed in Theodor W. Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory. The deeply dialectical character of style, which always works to articulate both a general normativity and an individual spontaneity, may help us to come to terms not only with the irreducibly linguistic character of artworks but also with the abiding contradictions that inhere in any act of individual affirmation within the administered world of capitalism.