Highbrow literature and non-fiction novels certainly do have their place they are educational and can inspire critical thinking on crucial topics. With this, a sort of snobbery ensued, as the upper class deemed highbrow literature as ultimately superior. As literature became more accessible for the lower classes, the upper and upper-middle classes found themselves no longer the main consumer of novels. Rooted in a system interwoven with race and class, ‘lowbrow’ literature grew in popularity in the era when mass production was taking off. Unlike their older sister, ‘lowbrow’ and ‘middlebrow’ are typically used as derogatory terms. Middlebrow literature is the novels produced in mass, yet tackling the same intellectual topics as the highbrows. And there, resting on the fence somewhere in between, like a cat surveying its surroundings, is the ‘middlebrow’. Highbrows were seen as more culturally and intellectually advanced, whereas lowbrows focused more on entertainment and ‘simplicity’. It was derived from the pseudoscience of phrenology-the study of skull shape as a determiner of character. This term was first used in print in 1884, but wasn’t popularised until it appeared in a piece for The Sun of New York City in 1902. To understand lowbrow literature, we need to take a quick glance at its predecessor, ‘highbrow’. Lowbrow fiction flooded these search results. As the level of restrictions increased, so did my google searches for ‘Best Books for Escapism’. Many of the narratives I felt drawn towards were easily found in my local bookshop, or listed on the homepage of a large bookstore website. When the news became too overwhelming, I would reach for a novel and there I would feel safe. ![]() I, myself, stretched for fiction, grasping for a chance to narrow my focus to the pages of interdimensional space travel, magical realms, and shocking plot twists. And so we held on to more books, more pages. Book sales soared as we realised that, for a while, our world would be restrained within the pages in our hands. Many people also turned to their bookshelves for comfort. When the little bubble of our world became restricted, we found creativity in the corners of our homes. "The Frankfurt Book Fair is my idea of heaven.In early 2020, Melbournians in lockdown found freedom in new hobbies: baking a fresh loaf of sourdough, learning to crochet, tie-dying jeans, or learning the latest TikTok dance. "Unless you’re a terribly bad writer, you are never going to have too many readers." Some quotable quotes from the man himself: Ballard Estate, Jorge Luis Borges Estate, Saul Bellow Estate, Roberto Bolaño Estate, Joseph Brodsky Estate, William Burroughs Estate, Italo Calvino Estate, Raymond Carver Estate. And the sparks fly impressively, right until the end of the list. The estates! For instance, the Diane Arbus Estate, J.G. ![]() ![]() The Wylie Agency's client list is staggering: as you start at the beginning of the alphabet, you notice the procession of great and good names, alive and dead. Instead, he has thrived-throughout the rise of the mega-bookstores, the emergence of Amazon, and the e-book turf war over digital rights and royalties." "It might seem that Wylie’s single-minded emphasis on highbrow literature would have made him an early casualty of the turmoil in book publishing. They called him "the reigning king of the backlist" and note that "his distaste for commercial fiction" is "legendary". ![]() The Janet Frame Estate's magnificent literary agent Andrew Wylie was interviewed last year for New Republic (7 October 2013).
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