Elitism in Literature:
A Bit of an Unhinged Rant
Defining "High Culture" Literature
I stumbled across an Instagram post discussing the “High Culture vs. Inferior Culture” literature debate and a few people had some really interesting takes. I’m just so passionate about this topic, which I feel is particularly important in such a time of cultural change.
Historically, literature has influenced culture, instigated social change, and acted as a time capsule for the period of publication. Despite the rising influence of social media, I don’t see that changing. Anyone can educate themselves simply by reading books.
There are plenty of definitions for “High Literature” provided by people with varying degrees of “qualifications”. Personally, I would categorize a book as “High Literature” if it met most of the criteria in the following list:
"Inferior Culture"
>>Doesn’t Include Poignant Social/ Cultural Commentary
>>Popular Now, but Not in 20 Years
>>Pure Escapism
>>Straightforward and Lacking Symbolism
>>Does not Require Interpretation
>>Not Thought-Provoking
>>Not Really Well-Written (Plot Holes & Simple Sentence Structure)
>>Not an Original Work (i.e. Fan-fiction)
>>No Real Substance/ Doesn’t “Make You Feel Something”
"High Culture"
>>Socially/Culturally Relevant
>>Withstood the Test of Time
>>Wasn’t Written for Escapism/ Solely for Entertainment
>>Contains Layered & Complex Themes
>>Takes some Thought to Decipher
>>Intellectually Stimulating
>>Well-Written (No “Phil thought it was cooler than being a cop.”
>>Plot is Original & Authentic
>>Evokes Emotional Reaction/ Makes you Feel Something
My definitions differ from those presented in the original post. @therealisticbookcorner wrote a short piece quoting sources that defined these categories using the following:
"Inferior Culture"
-Popular Culture (for the Thousands)
-Mass Produced
-The Leftovers
-Cheaper
-More Accessible to the General Public
"High Culture"
-“Has to be Difficult”
-For the Rich
-For the Highly Educated
-Less Accessible for the Average Person
"I wonder why
not everyone is highly educated to be able to understand the 'elitist' books."
-maira.metelo.author
For the Wealthy & Educated:
Because I’m not doing a snow angel in a pile of money, I won’t be able to appreciate high literature? It’s so fucking condescending. I didn’t put myself in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt for a Master’s degree, so I can’t understand the classics? (You can get a fucking degree for studying Taylor Swift, like a college degree doesn’t give you a greater capacity to read and think critically.) And if it’s a requirement for class, does it really count as consuming high literature? You didn’t choose that book. You were told to read it for a grade. You don’t need a “privileged education” to understand the themes of love, loneliness, jealousy, or revenge often explored in these works. Part of the reason why they have withstood the test of time so well is because they primarily focus on the universal human experience.
It’s just such an obnoxious, bourgeois attitude that this type of literature is exclusively for the wealthy and “more educated” to the point the average person doesn’t really have access. It’s just not true. There are numerous sites like Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg that have pdf versions of these books FOR FREE. I’m not college educated. I’m not wealthy. I can easily find these books online, and so can you. Read whatever you want. Don’t let someone lead you to believe you’re not smart enough or accomplished enough to read “high culture” novels. If you have access to a library or the internet, you can read them just fine.
I hate to be so repetitive but it’s such a prevalent belief that some unspecified amount of “higher education” is required to understand high literature. I feel like I have to be equally obnoxious about the fact that is not true.
"Like if you're a certain gender (male) you can access high culture (or be a creator of high culture), while if you're a woman, you're more likely to do pop culture in a way that is derogatory...Fanfiction/romance is dumb because 'it's made by girls for girls', which is untrue and research proves otherwise."
-au.firmament
The Comments:
Gender:
Like most topics, there is a lot of nuance when defining high culture literature and the debate continued in the comments. There was an interesting amount of emphasis on how the gender of the author should impact whether a novel is categorized as high culture literature or not, which segued into how the gender of the audience influences it.
The last time I checked you don’t need to be a man to read a classic or to a write a modern classic. For this to be a view that was so repeatedly expressed really depressed me. Especially because it was predominantly pushed by women claiming to be feminists… Like who is telling you that you can’t read a book because you’re a woman? Who is convincing you that if a certain novel has a mostly female audience it’s less respected? It’s not accurate. It’s not true.
The average woman became literate during the Industrial Revolution at the same time as the average man. Even before the average person knew how to read, there was still a distinction between “highbrow and lowbrow literature.” There has always been a hierarchy. The Bible was never seen as an equal to the smut of the time. The only thing that should be taken into consideration when categorizing a book is the book itself. Not the author. Not the audience. Just the contents of the book.
"Highbrow and lowbrow literature only began to exist once your average girl became literate."
-caloyan_of_bulgaria
Marketing Campaigns Vs.
Supply & Demand
"There are so many Booker winning contemporary titles (and other "high literature" contemporary titles) that I've never heard of (and I DO have an MA in English)."
-g.likes.books
Are modern classics less accessible than older works?
Of course not. The argument that modern classics aren’t posted all over Booktok or displayed prominently in the airport bookstore, does not mean they’re less available to the average reader. It’s not always about supply and demand. Readers aren’t organically seeking out the new cringey Colleen Hoover books, they’re being promoted through a massive marketing campaign; relentlessly pushed on social media and through celebrity book clubs. If you see a specific title popping up every time you open Instagram, you’ll probably consider giving it a chance.
If you are interested in reading modern classics, but you’re not sure where to find them, I made a list here that I’ll continue to update as more books are published. Whatever your preference, you can order almost any book on Amazon, or if you prefer to buy used copies, Thriftbooks is the absolute best.
"I Don't Know What I Think Until I Write It Down."
-Joan Didion
48 Must-Read Modern Classics
The Ultimate List of Classics from the Last 45 Years!