Culture/Metaculture (The New Critical Idiom) by Francis Mulhern

by Francis Mulhern

Culture/Metaculture is a stimulating introduction to the meanings of 'culture' in contemporary Western society. This essential study culture as an antidote to 'mass' modernity, in the work of Thomas Mann, Julien Benda, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Karl Mannheim and F. R. Leavis; changing views of the term in the work of Sigmund Freud, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, T. S. Eliot and Richard Hoggart; post-war theories of 'popular' culture and the rise of Cultural Studies, paying particular attention to the key figures of Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall; and 'metaculture' itself, or the way in which culture, however defined, speaks of itself." "Francis Mulhern's interdisciplinary approach allows him to draw out the fascinating links between key political issues and the changing definitions of culture. The result is an unrivalled introduction to a concept at the heart of contemporary critical thought.

Genres: Cultural Studies, Nonfiction, Collections, Philosophy

Hardcover

First published March 23, 2000

Reviews

[Giorgi Komakhidze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read for everyone concerned with Cultural Studies, as well as struggles for power or will.

Starting from the term of "Kulturkritik", Mulhern greatly describes every transition of the cultural studies featuring Marxism, Hoggart, Hall... etc.

[Dante]

Only missing a review of Ian Holm as F. R. Leavis in the (largely forgotten) 1992 BBC film, The Last Romantics; once Mulhern casts his judgement on that oddity, the full metacultural arc of the 20th century will have been completed.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best and most insightful explorations of the contest and complex politics of culture on the 19th and 20th century Anglo-American worlds from the excellent New Critical Idiom series. Mulhern presents a rich and nuanced case while remaining generous and fair to those he critiques.