Highbrow/Lowbrow : : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America / / Lawrence W. Levine.

In this unusually wide-ranging study, spanning more than a century and covering such diverse forms of expressive culture as Shakespeare, Central Park, symphonies, jazz, art museums, the Marx Brothers, opera, and vaudeville, a leading cultural historian demonstrates how variable and dynamic cultural...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
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Place / Publishing House:Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [1990]
©1988
Year of Publication:1990
Language:English
Series:The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization
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Physical Description:1 online resource (320 p.)
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ctrlnum (DE-B1597)571815
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spelling Levine, Lawrence W., author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut
Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America / Lawrence W. Levine.
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [1990]
©1988
1 online resource (320 p.)
text txt rdacontent
computer c rdamedia
online resource cr rdacarrier
text file PDF rda
The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- One William Shakespeare in America -- Two The Sacralization of Culture -- Three Order, Hierarchy, and Culture -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec online access with authorization star
In this unusually wide-ranging study, spanning more than a century and covering such diverse forms of expressive culture as Shakespeare, Central Park, symphonies, jazz, art museums, the Marx Brothers, opera, and vaudeville, a leading cultural historian demonstrates how variable and dynamic cultural boundaries have been and how fragile and recent the cultural categories we have learned to accept as natural and eternal are. For most of the nineteenth century, a wide variety of expressive forms—Shakespearean drama, opera, orchestral music, painting and sculpture, as well as the writings of such authors as Dickens and Longfellow—enjoyed both high cultural status and mass popularity. In the nineteenth century Americans (in addition to whatever specific ethnic, class, and regional cultures they were part of) shared a public culture less hierarchically organized, less fragmented into relatively rigid adjectival groupings than their descendants were to experience. By the twentieth century this cultural eclecticism and openness became increasingly rare. Cultural space was more sharply defined and less flexible than it had been. The theater, once a microcosm of America—housing both the entire spectrum of the population and the complete range of entertainment from tragedy to farce, juggling to ballet, opera to minstrelsy—now fragmented into discrete spaces catering to distinct audiences and separate genres of expressive culture. The same transition occurred in concert halls, opera houses, and museums. A growing chasm between “serious” and “popular,” between “high” and “low” culture came to dominate America’s expressive arts. “If there is a tragedy in this development,” Lawrence Levine comments, “it is not only that millions of Americans were now separated from exposure to such creators as Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Verdi, whom they had enjoyed in various formats for much of the nineteenth century, but also that the rigid cultural categories, once they were in place, made it so difficult for so long for so many to understand the value and importance of the popular art forms that were all around them. Too many of those who considered themselves educated and cultured lost for a significant period—and many have still not regained—their ability to discriminate independently, to sort things out for themselves and understand that simply because a form of expressive culture was widely accessible and highly popular it was not therefore necessarily devoid of any redeeming value or artistic merit.” In this innovative historical exploration, Levine not only traces the emergence of such familiar categories as highbrow and lowbrow at the turn of the century, but helps us to understand more clearly both the process of cultural change and the nature of culture in American society.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Mrz 2024)
HISTORY / United States / 19th Century. bisacsh
Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999 9783110442212
print 9780674390768
https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674040137?locatt=mode:legacy
https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780674040137
Cover https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780674040137/original
language English
format eBook
author Levine, Lawrence W.,
Levine, Lawrence W.,
spellingShingle Levine, Lawrence W.,
Levine, Lawrence W.,
Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America /
The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization
Frontmatter --
Contents --
Illustrations --
Acknowledgments --
Prologue --
One William Shakespeare in America --
Two The Sacralization of Culture --
Three Order, Hierarchy, and Culture --
Epilogue --
Notes --
Index
author_facet Levine, Lawrence W.,
Levine, Lawrence W.,
author_variant l w l lw lwl
l w l lw lwl
author_role VerfasserIn
VerfasserIn
author_sort Levine, Lawrence W.,
title Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America /
title_sub The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America /
title_full Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America / Lawrence W. Levine.
title_fullStr Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America / Lawrence W. Levine.
title_full_unstemmed Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America / Lawrence W. Levine.
title_auth Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America /
title_alt Frontmatter --
Contents --
Illustrations --
Acknowledgments --
Prologue --
One William Shakespeare in America --
Two The Sacralization of Culture --
Three Order, Hierarchy, and Culture --
Epilogue --
Notes --
Index
title_new Highbrow/Lowbrow :
title_sort highbrow/lowbrow : the emergence of cultural hierarchy in america /
series The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization
series2 The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization
publisher Harvard University Press,
publishDate 1990
physical 1 online resource (320 p.)
contents Frontmatter --
Contents --
Illustrations --
Acknowledgments --
Prologue --
One William Shakespeare in America --
Two The Sacralization of Culture --
Three Order, Hierarchy, and Culture --
Epilogue --
Notes --
Index
isbn 9780674040137
9783110442212
9780674390768
url https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674040137?locatt=mode:legacy
https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780674040137
https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780674040137/original
illustrated Not Illustrated
dewey-hundreds 300 - Social sciences
dewey-tens 300 - Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
dewey-ones 306 - Culture & institutions
dewey-full 306.470973
dewey-sort 3306.470973
dewey-raw 306.470973
dewey-search 306.470973
doi_str_mv 10.4159/9780674040137?locatt=mode:legacy
work_keys_str_mv AT levinelawrencew highbrowlowbrowtheemergenceofculturalhierarchyinamerica
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ids_txt_mv (DE-B1597)571815
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hierarchy_parent_title Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
is_hierarchy_title Highbrow/Lowbrow : The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America /
container_title Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
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