The great artists were never those who embodied a wholly flawless and perfect style, but those who used style as a way of hardening themselves against the chaotic expression of suffering, as a negative truth.引自第130页
Style represents a promise in every work of art. That which is expressed is subsumed through style into the dominant forms of generality, into the language of music, painting, or words, in the hope that it will be reconciled thus with the idea of true generality. This promise held out by the work of art that it will create truth by lending new shape to the conventional social forms is as necessary as it is hypocritical. It unconditionally posits the real forms of life as it is by suggesting that fulfillment lies in their aesthetic derivatives.
....In the culture industry this imitation finally becomes absolute. Having ceased to be anything but style, it reveals the latter's secret: obedience to the social hierarchy.引自第130页
从作者的角度来看,当前文化工业的做法,“lend new shape to the conventional social forms",是其存在的前提,但这也是虚伪的。文化工业中艺术的诞生,其希望是对于true generality 的一种和解,甚至是一种讨好。 但是,艺术如何能够真正的表达苦难?只有对抗传统的风格,才能做到真正表达苦难。