The Lowest Common Denomination

Posted 21 July, 2008 in Worth Repeating |

“We recognize this mental atmosphere, and its name is anti-intellectualism. Noticeable, too, is the re-emergence of sentiment as the prince of the critical utensils. Commentators respond, not to the novel, but to its personnel, whom they want to ‘care about,’ in whom they want to ‘believe.’ Such remarks as ‘I didn’t like the characters’ are now thought capable of settling the hash of a work of fiction. This critical approach will eventually elicit what it fully deserves — a literature of ingratiation. And we will have then reached the destiny that Alexis de Tocqueville predicted for American democracy: a flabby stupor of mutual reassurance. The simultaneous consolidation of ‘dumbing down’ is not an accident. PC is low, low church, like the Church of England; it is the lowest common denomination.”

– Martin Amis, “The Voice of the Lonely Crowd”

4 comments to “The Lowest Common Denomination”

Nigel Beale, July 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 am:

• Thanks. I needed that.

Nigel Beale, July 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 am:

• I read the Second Plane about six months ago and have been farting around not writing anything about it…until now. Problem is I’d read most of the first half of it when the essays were first published…so they came across rather stale…came back to it later and really enjoyed his Blair piece…have you read it?

Steven W. Beattie, July 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am:

• I read it earlier this year and was underwhelmed. Rereading parts of it now, I’m surprised at how much sense (at least some of) it makes. I anticipate having more to say on the subject in the near future.

Nigel Beale, July 22nd, 2008 at 12:05 pm:

• Couldn’t agree with you more…not just sense, but predictably, how good the phrasing is. First time through I tended to agree with others that it was too flip, too clever…and therefore inappropriate for such a raw serious topic…now I don’t think so.

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