Três vetores do negativo na teoria estética de Theodor W. Adorno: o feio, a dissonância e a linguagem do sofrimento

Abstract

The objective of this text is to analyze three conceptual indices of negativity in Theodor Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory: the ugly, dissonance, and the language of suffering. Initially, we will address the problem of aesthetic autonomy in relation to the negative in general terms and linked to each of these three vectors. This will be examined in terms of the internal logic of the constitution of the artifact, considering the dialectical dimension of its connection with the negativity of the world, namely, the intertwining of the responsibility for denouncing this negativity and the imperative to remain as a mere image, refusing direct intervention in reality. Subsequently, each of those vectors will be analyzed based on its connection with aesthetic expressiveness, particularly due to the way in which formal mediation can assimilate within itself the principles of synthesis reigning in empirical reality and elevate the negativity repressed by instrumental rationality to a form of sui generis vocalization. The ugly will be addressed in terms of the historical logic of its relationship with beauty, emphasizing how the autonomization of the ugly combines with the autonomization of art itself. Dissonance will be analyzed through the lens of radical expressiveness, inherent in the fictional-mimetic character of art, where life is expressed as pain and the artistic form reflects, in a refracted manner, this vital core. Finally, the language of suffering will be seen as agglutinating various aspects raised throughout the essay, delineating the expressiveness of art as intimately connected to the denunciation of suffering, which is both produced and silenced by social domination.