Debating Latin American Aesthetic Theory. Beatriz Sarlo on the Autonomy of Art

For quite some time, Beatriz Sarlo has been at the forefront of the debate over the possibility of ascertaining the aesthetic value of art. The Argentine critic's dismissal of value‐neutral approaches to art has been often criticised as a repackaging of the aestheticist tradition inherited from the European Enlightenment. Using Sarlo's own critical practice – a selection of Sarlo's key texts on Argentine literature written since 1980 – as a testing ground for her theoretical insights I argue in favour of re‐evaluating Sarlo's project as an aporetic discourse with positive implications for cultural politics that should be refined rather than abandoned.