626
DWIGHT MACDONALD
time. The only practical thing along those lines would be to
revive the spirit of the old avant-garde, .that is' to .
r~create
a
cultural-as against a social, political or economic-elite as . a
countermovement to both Masscult and Mid.cult. It
m;1Y
he
possible, in a more modest and limited
se~
tlu!n
in the
p~t:r-I l\hall return to this point later-but it will be
especi~ydif
ficult in this country where the blurring of class lines, the l<,lok
of a continuous tradition and the greater facilities for the manu–
facturing and distribution of
kitsch,
whether Masscult or Mid–
cult, all work in the other direction. Unless
this
country goes
either fascist or communist, there will continue to be isl<!llcls
above the flood for those determined enough to reach tpem.
~d
live on them
j
as Faulkner has shown, a writer can use HoUy–
wood instead of being used by it,
if
his purpose be firm enough.
But islands are not continents.
The alternative proposal is to raise the .level of Qur culture
in general. Those who advocate
this
start off from the assump–
tion that there has already been a great advance in the
dif–
fusion of culture in the last two centuries-:-Edward shilS is sure
of this, Daniel Bell thinks it is probably the
case~ancithatthe
main problem is how to carry this even further
j
they tend to
regard such critics of Masscult as Ernest van den Haag; Leo
Lowenthal or myself as either disgruntled Left romantics or re–
actionary dreamers or both. Perhaps the most impressive-and
certainly the longest-exposition of this point of view .appears
in Gilbert Seldes'
The Great Audience.
Mr. Seldes blames the
present sad state of our Masscult on (1) the stupidity of the
lords of
kitsch
(who underestimate the . mental.age of the
public), (2) the arrogance of the intellectuals (who make the
same mistake and so ·snobbishly refuse to trY to raise .
~eJevel
of the mass media), and (3) the passivity of the public ..itself
(which doesn't insist on better Masscult). This diagnosis Seems
to me superficial because it blames everything on subjective,
moral factors: stupidity (the
lor~s .
of
ki.ts.c.h)
,
peryersitY . (the
intellectuals) . or failure of
will
(the publit;;). My- own .notion
is
