I don't think the newspaper business has done itself any favors by neglecting "high" culture in favor of a pop culture whose products seem increasingly transient and peripheral. On the other hand, "high" culture hasn't done itself any favors by focusing on preaching rather than entertaining (in its original sense of compelling attention).
Yes, I vote for the "middle" culture! Not too pretentious, and not too vacuous.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, Terry really gets to the core of a matter, with his comment: On the other hand, I'm sure that it can't be good for high culture when none of its practitioners are known outside a tight little circle of connoisseurs.
ReplyDeleteWhich is exactly what's going on with poetry these days. Most of the flailing within PoetryWorld is about this very issue, at root.
Amen, sister. Amen, brother.
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