One Culture and the New Sensibility
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| "One important consequence of the new [[sensibility]] [is] that the distinction between [[high culture|"high"]] and [[low culture|"low" culture]] seems less and less meaningful." | "One important consequence of the new [[sensibility]] [is] that the distinction between [[high culture|"high"]] and [[low culture|"low" culture]] seems less and less meaningful." | ||
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| + | "There is plenty of stupid [[popular music]], as well as inferior and [[pretentious]] “avant-garde” paintings, films, and music." | ||
| <hr> | <hr> | ||
| "If art is understood as a form of discipline of the feelings and a programming of sensations, then the feeling (or sensation) given off by a [[Robert Rauschenberg|Rauschenberg]] painting might be like that of a song by the [[The Supremes|Supremes]]. The [[brio]] and elegance of [[Budd Boetticher]]’s ''[[The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond]]'' or the singing style of [[Dionne Warwick]] can be appreciated as a complex and pleasurable event. They are experienced without [[condescension]]." --[[Susan Sontag]], 1965. | "If art is understood as a form of discipline of the feelings and a programming of sensations, then the feeling (or sensation) given off by a [[Robert Rauschenberg|Rauschenberg]] painting might be like that of a song by the [[The Supremes|Supremes]]. The [[brio]] and elegance of [[Budd Boetticher]]’s ''[[The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond]]'' or the singing style of [[Dionne Warwick]] can be appreciated as a complex and pleasurable event. They are experienced without [[condescension]]." --[[Susan Sontag]], 1965. | ||
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| - | "'''One Culture and the New Sensibility'''" is an [[essay]] by [[Susan Sontag]] first published in ''[[Mademoiselle (magazine) |Mademoiselle]]'' in 1965. It was later collected in an expanded version in ''[[Against Interpretation]]'' of 1966. The essay is often referenced for noting that the boundaries between [[low culture]] and [[high culture]] were disappearing. | + | "'''One Culture and the New Sensibility'''" is an [[essay]] by [[Susan Sontag]] first published in ''[[Mademoiselle (magazine) |Mademoiselle]]'' in 1965. It was later collected in an expanded version in ''[[Against Interpretation]]'' of 1966. The essay is often referenced for noting that the boundaries between [[low culture]] and [[high culture]] were disappearing, an evolution now known as [[nobrow]]. |
| + | ==Nobrow aspects== | ||
| + | Many have seen in this essay a "[[nobrow]]" defense of popular culture. However, this is not necessarily the case. As noted by Greil Marcus and Camille Paglia who both quote Sontag from a [[Time]] interview of October 24, 1988 in which she was rather dismissive of popular culture: | ||
| - | Robert Rauschenberg, “[[Signs (Robert Rauschenberg)|Signs]]” (1970) | + | :"I made a few jolly references to things in popular culture that I enjoyed. I said, for instance, that one could enjoy both [[Jasper Johns]] and [[the Supremes]]. It isn’t as if I wrote an essay on the Supremes.” |
| - | About these ads | + | implying that writing an essay on the Supremes would be beneath her dignity. |
| - | Share this: | + | |
| - | Share | + | |
| - | Related | + | Paglia commented in ''[[Vamps and Tramps]]'' (1994) that "Sontag's calculated veering away from popular culture is my gravest charge against her." |
| - | Stylus to Cease Publication | + | |
| - | In "Obits" | + | Greil Marcus in ''[[The Dustbin of History]]'' (1995) in his essay on Susan Sontag titled "[[Cowboy Boots and Germans]]" corrects Sontag's supposed "[[equating high and popular culture]]" by saying "Sontag is not soft on pop. She doesn't understand it, has little or no real interest in it." |
| - | 33 RPM | + | ==Incipit== |
| - | In "Book (P)reviews" | + | :"In the last few years there has been a good deal of discussion of a purported chasm which opened up some two centuries ago, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, between “[[two cultures]],” the literary-artistic and the scientific. According to this diagnosis, any intelligent and articulate modern person is likely to inhabit one culture to the exclusion of the other. " |
| - | Brad Tolinski: Interview with Guitar World's Top Gear Head | + | ==See also== |
| - | In "Interviews" | + | *[[Ortega y Gasset]]'s definition of culture: "culture is what remains after we’ve forgotten everything we’ve read." |
| - | Category: Archival, Quotes | + | *[[T. S. Eliot]]'s "[[dissociation of sensibility]]" |
| - | Someone With a True Grasp of the Reality »« It Had to Be Rock | + | |
| - | 2 thoughts on “The New Sensibility” | + | |
| - | Devin | + | |
| - | February 12, 2013 at 12:40 pm | + | |
| - | In his takedown of Sontag (included in The Dustbin of History), Greil Marcus quotes Sontag from a Time interview, 10/24/1988: “As for equating high and popular culture, she explains: ‘I made a few jolly references to things in popular culture that I enjoyed. I said, for instance, that one could enjoy both Jasper Johns and the Supremes. It isn’t as if I wrote an essay on the Supremes.” That always sounded pretty dismissive to me. | + | |
| - | s woods | + | |
| - | February 12, 2013 at 12:56 pm | + | |
| - | You’re right, Devin, thanks. I would have read that some years ago, and simply forgot the source. I did think of Marcus’s takedown of Sontag while posting this, but didn’t feel the need to pursue further evidence on the subject–don’t think I need his dismissal (though I’m sure he helped) to convince me that she’s basically full of shit here (I won’t dismiss her work entirely, not being familiar with hardly any of it). Even the original quote from ’65 is a bit laughable, especially the line “can be appreciated as a complex and pleasurable event.” See Nat Hentoff’s throwaway line about Ralph Gleason and “pop culture” in this post to begin to understand why. | + | |
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Revision as of 12:56, 16 April 2014
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"One important consequence of the new sensibility [is] that the distinction between "high" and "low" culture seems less and less meaningful." "There is plenty of stupid popular music, as well as inferior and pretentious “avant-garde” paintings, films, and music." "If art is understood as a form of discipline of the feelings and a programming of sensations, then the feeling (or sensation) given off by a Rauschenberg painting might be like that of a song by the Supremes. The brio and elegance of Budd Boetticher’s The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond or the singing style of Dionne Warwick can be appreciated as a complex and pleasurable event. They are experienced without condescension." --Susan Sontag, 1965. |
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"One Culture and the New Sensibility" is an essay by Susan Sontag first published in Mademoiselle in 1965. It was later collected in an expanded version in Against Interpretation of 1966. The essay is often referenced for noting that the boundaries between low culture and high culture were disappearing, an evolution now known as nobrow.
Nobrow aspects
Many have seen in this essay a "nobrow" defense of popular culture. However, this is not necessarily the case. As noted by Greil Marcus and Camille Paglia who both quote Sontag from a Time interview of October 24, 1988 in which she was rather dismissive of popular culture:
- "I made a few jolly references to things in popular culture that I enjoyed. I said, for instance, that one could enjoy both Jasper Johns and the Supremes. It isn’t as if I wrote an essay on the Supremes.”
implying that writing an essay on the Supremes would be beneath her dignity.
Paglia commented in Vamps and Tramps (1994) that "Sontag's calculated veering away from popular culture is my gravest charge against her."
Greil Marcus in The Dustbin of History (1995) in his essay on Susan Sontag titled "Cowboy Boots and Germans" corrects Sontag's supposed "equating high and popular culture" by saying "Sontag is not soft on pop. She doesn't understand it, has little or no real interest in it."
Incipit
- "In the last few years there has been a good deal of discussion of a purported chasm which opened up some two centuries ago, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, between “two cultures,” the literary-artistic and the scientific. According to this diagnosis, any intelligent and articulate modern person is likely to inhabit one culture to the exclusion of the other. "
See also
- Ortega y Gasset's definition of culture: "culture is what remains after we’ve forgotten everything we’ve read."
- T. S. Eliot's "dissociation of sensibility"
