Product Description: "From Lobrow to Nobrow" demolishes the elite argument that popular fiction and culture are the underside of civilization. In this innovative book, Peter Swirski goes beyond demonstrating that "high-brow" has been transformed to "low-brow," showing that nobrow art is the interactive factor in the relationship between popular art and highbrow art. Swirski begins with a series of groundbreaking questions about the nature of popular fiction, vindicating it as an art form that expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers. He follows his insightful introduction to the socio-aesthetics of genre literature with a synthesis of the century long debate on the merits of popular fiction and a study of genre informed by analytic aesthetics and game theory. Swirski then turns to three "nobrow" novels that have been largely ignored by critics. Examining the aesthetics of "artertainment" in Karel Capek's "War With the Newts", Raymond Chandler's "Playback", and Stanislaw Lem's "Chain of Chance", crossover tours de force, "From Lowbrow to Nobrow" throws new light on the hazards and rewards of nobrow traffic between popular forms and highbrow aesthetics.
From Lowbrow to Nobrow, Something for Everyone From lowbrow to Nobrow is a great book in terms of content and style. The author describes nobrow as a fusion between highbrow and lowbrow, provides a thorough theoretical and historical analysis, and shows that nobrow culture and literature occurred in the early decades of the twentieth century. In every argument, he provides statistical data and evidence to support his points. This book will help you to know more about the connection between literature and popular culture.
The master in the rise of novel literary-cultural formation! You would never forget such an impressive book cover, as it implies there is a need to turn over a new leaf in popular literature. As an English teacher with linguistics background at the University of Hong Kong, From lowbrow to nobrow, a recent bestseller, has enlightened me as to the crucial role of popular literature that has escaped most of the attention of both academic and general readership. While there is still widespread assumption that, popular literature (though the dominant art in our times) neither can be art nor would be so popular, From lowbrow to nobrow has set the scene for the rise of novel literary-cultural formation.
The author, Peter Swirski, is Honorary Professor of American Literature at the University of British Columbia, and Associate Professor and Head of American Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Swirski is a brilliant literary critic and has written nine books in American Literature and Culture, and has contributed more than fifty articles in various places. Swirski's works have been highly praised by numerous scholars and literary critics. In From Lowbrow to Nobrow, you will see why Swirski deserves wide recognition as a scholar in American literature, in the way he writes clearly, quotes intelligently, argues provocatively, approaches his portrait of nobrow culture with originality ...
What makes this book original and praiseworthy is Swirski proposes that both highbrow and lowbrow literary cultures have been interpenetrating each other from at least the early in the twentieth-century, i.e. decades before what John Seabrook proposes in Nobrow (2000). Swirski begins with some groundbreaking questions about the nature of popular fiction, defending with sound arguments an innovative way of viewing it as `artertainment'. He then moves on to give a history of popular fiction publishing with the support of some recent statistical data, followed by an insightful analysis of "nobrow aesthetics." As the heart of the book, Swirski evaluates three 20th-century novels, which have almost escaped the attention of both academic and general readership, to demonstrate they have innovatively established a wide spectrum of aesthetic qualities of popular culture. And pages in, you are amazed by the original mix of soul searching and thought provoking popular literature, as represented in Karel Capek's War with the Newts, Raymond Chandler's Playback and Stanislaw Lem's Chain of Chance.
From lowbrow to nobrow definitely is influening the way we look at popular culture. After reading, I recalled some popular fictions or movies, and started to realise they could have the nature of nobrow aesthetics, as Swirski proposes. Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, caused much debate in 1994 after winning six Oscars, but it is a portrayal of life, conveying a message that any person, no matter how seemingly stupid, can change any person's life, no matter their stature. Some Chinese popular fictions written in Ming dynasty, such as Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), also play a significant part in ancient Chinese literary art, appreciated by everyday people not only in Ming dynasty but over centuries till now. The Last Mimzy (2007), starring Timothy Hutton and Joely Richardson, that is based on the acclaimed 1943 science fiction short story, Mimsy Were the Borogoves by Lewsi Padgett is an insipration and discovery of humanity's future ... Instead of "colour[ing] a colourless day" (p. 177), popular literature can lead us to a real discovery of life and culture. As Swirski argues, in many cases far from thoughtless pulp, "popular literature expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers" (p.6).
Read From lowbrow to nobrow OR it's your loss!
Simply brilliant! Call me cynical but I've never thought that the book which examines the blurring phenomenon between "brow" cultures and the emergence of the "nobrow" space could ever stir my emotions in such a powerful way! Who said that social trend setting should be reserved only for sociologists, psychologists, marketers and futurists? The author, who certainly does not belong to the circle of conventional thinkers, alerts us to a powerful social change that emerges from the popular literature. This book helped me realise that wherever it is that we are going, it is mass literature, which conveys the values and attitudes of its readers, shapes the full character, behaviour and lives of its audience. What amazes me is the fact that the change that emerges from this ocean of mainstream thinking still remains somehow unnoticed and not because of its movement but because of the impact it makes on its audience. It is brilliant book that strangles many orthodox ideas in the periphery of their thinking!
From Lowbrow to Nobrow - A Book WELL Worth your time! Peter Swirski is on a mission!
Peter Swirski's book From Lowbrow to NoBrow is a compelling and ambitious work in the area of literature studies. As has been mentioned, Swirski's main argument lies in the fact that he is trying to "wipe the brow" (pun intended) of distinction amongst works of literature, essentially calling for the banishment of the title "lowbrow" for those books deemed "not sophisticated enough for serious academic study". Swirski contends that while there are many books out there that don't warrant said serious academic study, there are just as many that do, and should be examined through an academic framework.
It is my belief that Swirski is correct in this line of thinking; it is sad and indeed flippant to dismiss a novel and reserve academic study of it, because it is considered "genre fiction" or simplistic. There is a great distinction in the halls of academia concerning what is studied and what is not, what is worthy and what is worth glossing over or not covering at all. Swirski is saying, and indeed proving with his examples, that many previously glossed over works, which would be looked at with disdain, and more than a little contempt, need to be truly examined, and not simply pushed to the side because of their sources or content. It is a very provocative idea indeed to challenge the academic snobbery that is present in the study of literature, and even more admirable to submit that not only should the "canon" be studied, but things like genre fiction, at that, should be examined also, expanding the scope of investigation and getting a look at the whole picture, not just a segment of it. This is a rather bold idea, and Swirski, armed with his examples, wit, a wealth of knowledge about what he is writing about, and a little bit of attitude, tries to prove this to the reader.
Swirski blazes forward with his contention that genre fiction, whatever type it may be, may stand on its own merit, should not be considered "lowbrow". In fact, wait for it - the study of literature should not pit "highbrow" versus "lowbrow", and in the end, we should have "nobrow", simply evaluating books on their own strengths and weaknesses, not placing labels on them.
It is my opinion that Swirski takes a wonderful swipe at the "looking down the nose" of academia, and that he is successful at his attempt. By no means can this book cover all arguments and examples in terms of this debate, but it exerts a valiant effort to do so, and to change people's minds. "Leveling the playing field" in literature is a tall order, and Swirski has shown that he is more than up for the challenge. I highly recommend this book - prepare to have a shift in your "brows"!
A slim book with a big vision From the back cover: "This superb book will make all previous studies in popular culture moot. Swirski demonstrates that in cultures there are no brows whatsoever. This book must be owned by all libraries and cultural studies scholars," Ray B. Browne. That about sums it up.
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