Revolutionary Revaluation of Literature
Arts and entertainment are highly valuable industries that also serve many humane functions, such as encouraging introspection about ethical questions, the relations humans have with each other, and the wider meaning of an individual life. For the past several centuries, even as publication technologies evolved substantially, there has persisted a distinction between the “high culture” supported by wealthy donors and taught in university humanities courses, and popular culture sold to the supposedly unsophisticated “masses.” This distinction may be obsolete, as well as invidious, but it points to a currently crucial fact: much “high culture,” such as the plays of Shakespeare and the novels of ...
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