middlebrow n : someone who is neither a highbrow nor a lowbrow

English

Etymology

A spin-off from the terms highbrow and lowbrow. The term first appeared in Punch (1925) and later was used by Virginia Wolf (1930's) in an unsent letter to the "New Statesman," published as a chapter in the book "The Death of a Moth and Other Essays" (1942).

Adjective

1. Neither highbrow or lowbrow, but somewhere in between.

Noun

1. A person or thing that is neither a highbrow or lowbrow, but in between.

References

• ESC, 2003. Re:highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, The Phrase finder.
• Robert Hendrickson, 1997. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (New York: Facts on File)

The term middlebrow is used to describe both a certain type of easily accessible art, usually literature, as well as the population which uses art to acquire culture and class that is usually unattainable. First used by the British satire magazine Punch in 1925, middlebrow is derived as the intermediary between highbrow and lowbrow, terms derived from phrenology. Middlebrow has famously gained notoriety from derisive attacks by Dwight MacDonald, Virginia Woolf, and to a certain extent, Russell Lynes. It has been classified as a forced and ineffective attempt at cultural and intellectual achievement, as well as characterizing literature which emphasizes emotional and sentimental connections rather than literary quality and innovativeness.

Virginia Woolf on Middlebrow

Virginia Woolf's derision of the middlebrow was explicitly articulated in a letter to the editor of The New Statesman, in regards to a review of her book which omitted the word 'highbrow.' The letter was only written, never sent, and was posthumously published in the collection of essays entitled The Death of the Moth published in 1942. Virginia Woolf distinguishes middlebrows as petty purveyors of highbrow cultures for their own shallow benefit. Rather than truly selecting books for their intrinsic value, middlebrows do and read what they are told is best. Middlebrows are concerned with how what they do makes them appear rather than choosing based on individual preference. This is in contrast to highbrows, avant-garde individuals who act according to their indelible commitment towards what is beauty, value, art, form, and integrity. Woolf said, “We highbrows read what we like and do what we like and praise what we like.” A lowbrow is similarly devoted towards a singular interest, as a person “of thoroughbred vitality who rides his body in pursuit of a living at a gallop across life,” and are therefore equivalently worthy of reverence as they, too, are living for what they intrinsically know as valuable.

Middlebrows are instead “betwixt and between” which Woolf classifies as “in pursuit of no single object, neither art itself nor life itself, but both mixed indistinguishably, and rather nastily, with money, fame, power, or prestige.” Their value system rewards quick gains through literature already designated as ‘classic’ or ‘great,’ never of their own choosing, because “to buy living art requires living taste.” They are meretricious, which is much less demanding than authenticity.

It is noteworthy that while Woolf criticizes those members of the middlebrow, she too wrote for ‘middlebrow’ publications, such as The New York Herald Tribune Books section. Her literature has also been classified as middlebrow, easily-accessible and feminized, the very threat which she claimed would provoke her to “take [her] pen and stab him, dead,” for such a label. Middlebrow audiences finance the works of the highbrow, and most artists must appeal to a wider audience in order to be successful.

Russell Lynes, Highbrow, Lowbrow, Middlebrow

Harper's Magazine editor Russell Lynes satirized Woolf’s highbrow scorn in an article entitled "Highbrow, Lowbrow, Middlebrow." Using quotations from Woolf as well as several other highbrow proponents such as art critic Clement Greenberg, Lynes parodied their pompous superiority by pointing out how the subtle distinctions Woolf found so significant between the 'brows' were in reality simply a means of upholding cultural superiority. Lynes specifically parodied the highbrow claim that the products a person uses distinguishes their level of cultural worth; he satirically outlined deliberate and specific products which would distinguish a middlebrow person.

Lynes continued on by further distinguishing between 'brows,' dividing middlebrow into upper middlebrow and lower middlebrow. The upper middlebrow's patronage of the arts makes highbrow activity possible. Museums, orchestras, operas, and publishing houses are all run by upper middlebrows. The lower middlebrows are the ones attempting to use these arts for self-enhancement; they were "hell-bent on improving their minds as well as their fortunes." They also intend to live the simple and easy lives outlined by advertisements; “lower middlebrow-ism” was "a world that smells of soap." Caricaturing Woolf, Lynes outlined the perfect world which eliminated the middlebrows entirely, leaving the lowbrows to do the labor and the highbrows to do pure art.

Life magazine followed in suit several months later, when they asked Lynes to specifically distinguish between the right foods, furniture, clothes, and arts for each of the four 'brows'. This started a nationwide sensation as people tried to distinguish their proper social class based on their particular favorites. While middlebrow has often been used contemptuously, Lynes in some ways lauded the zeal and aspirations of the middlebrows.

Dwight MacDonald, “Masscult and Midcult” 1960

Dwight MacDonald's incendiary critique of middlebrow culture, “Masscult and Midcult,” associated the modern industrial society drive away from specialization and folk as creating mass-market and therefore anonymous consumers of the arts. Highbrow culture, to MacDonald, is associated with specialization for the connoisseurs, while lowbrow culture entails folk products made authentically for specific communities. Mass culture, masscult, copies, and manipulates both these traditions, with factory creations made without innovation or care expressly for the market “pleas[ing] the crowd by any means.” This creates an America in which “a pluralistic culture cannot exist,” where homogeneity rules.

Midcult, contrastingly, came about with middlebrow culture and dangerously copies and adulterates high culture, spreading “a tepid ooze of Midcult,” which threatens high culture. He indicts, among others, “Our Town,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” and American collegiate gothic architecture. Midcult “pretends to respect the standards of high culture while in fact it waters them down and vulgarizes them.” The only possible preservation and continued distinction of the cherished true culture is the avant-garde high brow.

References

Babbitt, boeotian, boob, dabbler, dilettante, dunce, fool, greenhorn, greeny, ignoramus, illiterate, illiterati, know-nothing, lowbrow, no scholar, puddinghead, tenderfoot, unintelligentsia