The Making of Middlebrow CultureUniv of North Carolina Press, 09.11.2000 - 438 Seiten The proliferation of book clubs, reading groups, "outline" volumes, and new forms of book reviewing in the first half of the twentieth century influenced the tastes and pastimes of millions of Americans. Joan Rubin here provides the first comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon, the rise of American middlebrow culture, and the values encompassed by it. Rubin centers her discussion on five important expressions of the middlebrow: the founding of the Book-of-the-Month Club; the beginnings of "great books" programs; the creation of the New York Herald Tribune's book-review section; the popularity of such works as Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy; and the emergence of literary radio programs. She also investigates the lives and expectations of the individuals who shaped these middlebrow institutions--such figures as Stuart Pratt Sherman, Irita Van Doren, Henry Seidel Canby, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, John Erskine, William Lyon Phelps, Alexander Woollcott, and Clifton Fadiman. Moreover, as she pursues the significance of these cultural intermediaries who connected elites and the masses by interpreting ideas to the public, Rubin forces a reconsideration of the boundary between high culture and popular sensibility. |
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Seite ix
... important to me year in and year out . Early in my work , several conversations with the late Warren Susman convinced me to continue exploring what then felt like an unmanageable subject . Finally , as always , David Brion Davis's gener ...
... important to me year in and year out . Early in my work , several conversations with the late Warren Susman convinced me to continue exploring what then felt like an unmanageable subject . Finally , as always , David Brion Davis's gener ...
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... important entry in this lexicon was " character . " In broad outline , the word denoted integrity , balance , and restraint , traits which well served the needs of an economy dependent on diligent producers . Animated by a firmly ...
... important entry in this lexicon was " character . " In broad outline , the word denoted integrity , balance , and restraint , traits which well served the needs of an economy dependent on diligent producers . Animated by a firmly ...
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... importance , to those which lead to the nobler cultivation of the intelligence and of the taste , and to the ... important in the lexicon of the " Victorian connec- tion " was " discipline , " which was closely allied with the ...
... importance , to those which lead to the nobler cultivation of the intelligence and of the taste , and to the ... important in the lexicon of the " Victorian connec- tion " was " discipline , " which was closely allied with the ...
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... important to Norton and his colleagues as Mill's ; nor , when he launched his attacks on American society in the 1880s , did it always find favor among those who applauded his literary criticism . Yet eventually Arnold became the most ...
... important to Norton and his colleagues as Mill's ; nor , when he launched his attacks on American society in the 1880s , did it always find favor among those who applauded his literary criticism . Yet eventually Arnold became the most ...
Seite 19
... importance of choosing the " best " books , Porter felt compelled to supply general principles of book choice and lists of acceptable volumes . Offering predictable warnings against sensational novels , he also fended off attacks on the ...
... importance of choosing the " best " books , Porter felt compelled to supply general principles of book choice and lists of acceptable volumes . Offering predictable warnings against sensational novels , he also fended off attacks on the ...
Inhalt
1 | |
Stuart Pratt Sherman Irita Van Doren and Books | 34 |
The Early History of the BookoftheMonth Club | 93 |
John Erskine and Great Books | 148 |
illustrations | 199 |
Will Durant and the Vogue of the Outline | 209 |
Book Programs on Commercial Radio | 266 |
Notes | 331 |
Bibliography | 373 |
Index | 405 |
Permissions | 415 |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
Adler advertising aesthetic Alexander Woollcott American appeared Arnold Arnoldian audience authority Autobiography Babbitt Book Review Book-of-the-Month Club broadcast Broun Canby Canby's Canfield character civilization classics Clifton Fadiman club's COHC College critics democratic Dewey Dorothy Canfield Fisher Durant's early editor effort Eliot Emerson Erskine Papers Erskine's essay example experience Fadiman Fisher Folder genteel tradition Haldeman-Julius Helen Helen Rogers Reid Henry Seidel Canby Herald Tribune human Ibid idea ideal intellectual Irita Van Doren James John Erskine Lazarsfeld lecture Letters Library Lincoln Schuster listeners literary Loon Loon's Mark Van Doren Max Lincoln ment middlebrow modern moral Morley NBC Records Norton novel outline personality Phelps Phelps's political popular publishers quiz Radio readers reading Review of Literature role Saturday Review selection sense Sept Sherman Similarly Simon and Schuster social Story of Philosophy tion Weekly Wells's William William Lyon Phelps Woodberry Woodberry's Woollcott writers wrote Yale