There is a class war being waged in the literary world. The highbrow and the middlebrow are unable to see eye to eye. The literary elite claim that the middlebrow are reading books all wrong, they have no respect and patience for the transformative experience of reading properly. The middlebrow doesn’t see what the big deal is – reading is reading, isn’t it?
There are two major points of tension that prevent highbrow society from accepting the middlebrow as a legitimate cultural group. The first is the lack of initiative the middlebrow show when dealing with all things literary. Instead of reading what speaks to them, instead of engaging with the book via browsing (à la O’Brien) and befriending (à la Edmundson), the middlebrow follow cues.
These cues can come from book clubs, recommended-reading lists, literary prizes, or even celebrities. The creation of Scherman’s Book-of-the-Month Club was met with hostility from the culturally influential not necessarily because of the threat posed to their own power, but as a reaction to the imposition of any kind of centralised power at all. These editors of magazines, authors, and other members of the literary elite took up arms against a club which they interpreted as the literary version of the totalitarian state, creating mindless followers out their subscribers.
It is notable that Radway mentions no such complaints stemming from the club members themselves. It seems as though the middlebrow have no problem with being led. Books to the intelligentsia are significant cultural artefacts that reflect not only one’s taste, but a person’s very identity. But how is it possible to judge an individual’s taste, their conception of themselves, if they are indiscriminately reading the same thing as everyone else?
The second point of tension comes from the lack of middlebrow interest in the book world as a whole, and consequent lack of reverence for that which the elite hold sacred. Being given the pre-packaged ‘best book’ each month leads to a very limited field of cultural vision. This is distressing to highbrow readers, especially as their own cultural capital is undervalued as a result. There is a fear that greater part of society will question whether you’ve read this ‘best book’ first and foremost, and only as an afterthought consider how well-versed you are in the culture and canon proper. By narrowing the scope of the literary world, the middlebrow dismiss hundreds, thousands of books and authors that are revered in highbrow culture. It is the large-scale equivalent of being told that the books you care for don't matter, to the extent that they are not even worth looking into. To the devoted reader, this can be offensive, hurtful, or simply extremely irritating.
