Mass Civilization and Minority Culture From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emblem of The Minority Press printed in Edwards !Pla"iarism# $n Essay on %ood and &ad &orrowin"! '()**+# $ bean sprout, perhaps representin" or"anic "rowth, rises above the letter M The Minority Press was Press was a shortlived &ritish publishin" house founded in ()*- by %ordon Fraser '()((().(+ '()((().(+ while he was an under"raduate student at /t# 0ohns Colle"e 'Cambrid"e+ # Fraser was an under"raduate student of F# 1# 2eavis# 2eavis# The Minority Press was essentially the book publishin" arm of the 2eavis camp of literary criticism# The Press published a series of si3 pamphlets, several reprint editions with new introductions, and a few lon"er essays on literary topics# The first publication of the Press was 2eavis manifesto, Mass Civilization and Minority Culture '()*-+# Most of the other initial authors were fellow Cambrid"e students# $t least some of the titles were were printed by by W# 4effer 4effer and /ons, /ons, 2td# Cambrid"e, Cambrid"e, En"land# En"land# Contents 5hide hide66 ( 7ri"in of the name 8 E3cerpts from 2eavis Mass Civilization and Minority Culture 586 * Publications of this house ←
*#( The Minority Pamphlets
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*#8 The 1eprint /eries
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*#* 7ri"inal literary works
9 1eferences 5edit6 7ri"in of the name The name of the press comes from 2eavis selfpositionin" as a literary critic upholdin" a minority rather than a mass culture stance: a"ainst an !anythin" "oes! pluralism# 2eavis wrote that The potentialities of human e3perience in any a"e are realized by only a tiny minority, and the important poet is important because he belon"s to this 'and has also, of course, the power of communication+####$lmost all of us live by routine, and are not fully aware of what we feel: or, if that seems parado3ical, we do not e3press to ourselves an account of our possibilities of e3perience### The poet is unusually sensitiv, unusually aware, more sincere and more himself thatn the ordinary man can be# 4e knows what he feels and knows what he is interested in# 4e is a poet because his interest in his e3perience is not separable from his interest in words#!
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5edit6 E3cerpts from 2eavis Mass Civilization and Minority Culture 586 !;n any period it is upon a very small minority that the discernin" appreciation of art and literature depends< it is 'apart from cases of the simple and familiar+ only a few who are capable of unprompted, firsthand =ud"ment# They are still a small minority, thou"h a lar"er one, who are capable of endorsin" such firsthand =ud"ment by "enuine personal response# >## The minority capable not only of appreciatin" ?ante, /hakespeare, ?onne, &audelaire, 4ardy 'to take ma=or instances+ but of reco"nisin" their latest successors constitute the consciousness of the race 'or of a branch of it+ at a "iven time# For such capacity does not belon" merely to an isolated aesthetic realm< it implies responsiveness to theory as well as to art, to science and philosophy in so far as these may affect the sense of the human situation and of the nature of life# @pon this minority depends our power of profitin" by the finest human e3perience of the past: they keep alive the subtlest and most perishable parts of tradition# @pon them depend the implicit standards that order the finer livin" of an a"e, the sense that this is worth more than that, this rather than that is the direction in which to "o, that the centre is here rather than there# ;n their keepin", to use a metaphor that is metonymy also and will bear a "ood deal of ponderin", is the lan"ua"e, the chan"in" idiom, upon which fine livin" depends, and without which distinction of spirit is thwarted and incoherent, &y culture ; mean the use of such a lan"ua"e# 'pp# (8+ !There seems every reason to believe that the avera"e cultivated person of a century a"o was a very much more competent reader than his modern representative# Aot only does the modern dissipate himself upon so much more readin" of all kinds the task of acBuirin" discrimination is much more difficult, $ reader who "rew up with Wordsworth moved amon" a limited set of si"nals 'so to speak+< the variety was not overwhelmin"# /o he was able to acBuire discrimination as he went alon"# &ut the modern is e3posed to a concourse of si"nals so
bewilderin" in their variety and number that, unless he is especially "ifted or especially favoured, he can hardly be"in to discriminate# 4ere we have the pli"ht of culture in "eneral# The landmarks have shifted, multiplied and crowded upon one another, the distinctions and dividin" lines have blurred away, the boundaries are "one, and the arts and literatures of different countries and periods have flowed to"ether, so that, if we revert to the metaphor of !lan"ua"e! for culture, we way, to describe it, adapt the sentence in which Mr# T# /# Eliot describes the intellectual situation< !When there is so much to be known, when there are so many fields of knowled"e in which the same words are used with different meanin"s, when every one knows a little about a "reat many thin"s, it becomes increasin"ly difficult for anyone to know whether he knows what he is talkin" about or not#! 'pp# (.()+ 5edit6 Publications of this house 5edit6 The Minority Pamphlets (# F# 1# 2eavis Mass Civilization and Minority Culture, Minority Pamphlet Ao# (,cover desi"n by 1aymond Mc%rath# %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< Cambrid"e, ()*-# 8# Theodore Francis Powys '(.D()D*+ Uriah on the Hill. A short story. Cambrid"e< The Minority Press, ()*-# 8-pp Cover desi"n by 1aymond Mc%rath, &#$rch#, $#1#;#&#$ 2imited to .D copies# *# William 4unter The Novels and Stories of T.F. Powys Cambrid"e, Minority Press, ()*-# *9pp# 9# 0ohn Middleton Murry D H Lawrene !Two essays" 5!The ?octrine of ? 4 2awrence! 'review of 2ady Chatterleys 2over+ and !The Poems of ? 4 2awrence6 Cover desi"n by 1aymond Mc%rath# Pamphlet Ao# 9# (D pp# ()*-# D# 1# P# &lackmur Dirty hands or the true#$orn ensor The Minority Press: %ordon Fraser at /t# 0ohns Colle"e Cambrid"e ()*-# !Minority Pamphlet Ao# D! in the publishers series: pp# (D# # F# 1# 2eavis D.H. Lawrene, Pamphlet Ao# # ** pp#, illustration by 1aymond Mc%rath# %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< Cambrid"e, ()*8# 5edit6 The Reprint Series ←
Mark an ?oren The Poetry of %ohn Dryden ;ntroduction by &onamy ?obrGe'1epr#H 1ev# Ed#+ %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< ()*( 8))pp#
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4enry Fieldin" ! $n $polo"y for the 2ife of Mrs# /hamela $ndrews!# With an introduction by &rian W# ?owns#
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Aorman $n"ell The Press and the &r'anization of Soiety 1evised reprint, Cambrid"e, The Minority Press, ()**# -pp
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F# 1# 2eavis For Continuity , %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< Cambrid"e, ()**# 7pens with 2eavis !Mass Civilization and Minority Culture!# Essays from 2eavis literary ma"azine, Srutiny # 8()pp
5edit6 Original literary works ←
1onald &ottrall The Loosenin' and &ther Poe(s , The Minority Press< Cambrid"e, ()*(# D* pp# 1aymond Mc%rath, cover desi"ner#
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Edward Meryon Wilson 'translator+ The Solitudes of Don Luis de )*n'ora ;ntroduction by 1udder# %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< ()*(# Portions of this translation had previously been printed in +,-eri(ent , Ca($rid'e Poetry # /0/ and in Criterion# Portions were republished in a ?oubleday paperback and in 1enaissane and 2aro3ue Lyris ' 4arold Martin Priest, editor+# $n unauthorized reprint with many errors was published by 2as $mericas Press in ()D and disowned by Wilson# $ revised version was published in ()D 'Cambrid"e @# Press+ 5*6
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F# 1# 2eavis How to Teah 1eadin'4 A Pri(er for +zra Pound , %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< Cambrid"e, ()*8# 9)pp# This was a response to Ezra Pounds How to 1ead '()*(+
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2ionel Charles Ini"hts How Many Children Had Lady Ma$eth5 An +ssay in the Theory and Pratie of Sha6es-eare Critiis( ()**
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William $llan Edwards Pla'iaris(. An +ssay on )ood and 2ad 2orrowin' , %ordon Fraser, The Minority Press< Cambrid"e, ()**# (--- copies#
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