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Philistines and Philistinism by Vladimir Nabokov ...
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Complete article at following URL:
http://hectocotylus.blogspot.com/2010/03/philistines-and-philistinism-by.html
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Philistines and Philistinism by Vladimir Nabokov (from "Lectures on Russian Literature")
"A philistine is a full-grown person whose interests are of a material and commonplace nature, and whose mentality is formed of the stock ideas and conventional ideals of his or her group and time.
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It is possible that the term itself has been so nicely devised by Russians because of the cult of simplicity and good taste in old Russia. The Russia of today, a country of moral imbeciles, of smiling slaves and poker-faced bullies, has stopped noticing poshlism because Soviet Russia is so full of its special brand, a blend of despotism and pseudo-culture; but in the old days a Gogol, a Tolstoy, a Chekhov in quest of the simplicity of truth easily distinguished the vulgar side of things as well as the trashy systems of pseudo-thought. But poshlists are found everywhere, in every country, in this country as well as in Europe — in fact poshlism is more common in Europe than here, despite our American ads."
Posted by Hectocotylus at 12:00 PM
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