Conflation Of Elite And Popular Cultures

Shortly after the Second World War, the popular culture enjoyed great success due to the conservative atmosphere and the material prosperity in the United States. However, the Modernists such as Faulkner, called on the writers to turn their back against such a culture, for it only caters to the readers' tastes and degrades public's soul. Thus a distinctive line was drawn between elite and popular culture.Salinger, who categorizes himself as one member of the elite culture, clearly pronounced his position in the elite culture through the hero Holden in his novel The Catcher in the Rye. However, after publication, this novel ironically enjoyed great success as a popular one. So what category does this novel really belong to, elite or popular? Some critics hold that this novel is another American classic novel on adolescents after Mark Twain's Adventure of Huckberry Finn, while others consider it full of vulgar languages and phoniness which it criticizes itself. Consequently, the novel is included in the reading list of high school schedule in some states but it is severely banned in some other states at the same time. Among Chinese critics, this novel is mostly considered a classic novel to be against the tradition and the mainstream discourse. So naturally it is held as a elite one.Based on Bourdieu's theory of the Field of Cultural Production and after an thorough analysis of the text, the present thesis argues that it is unreasonable to categorize Salinger and his novel simply as elite or popular. As a matter of fact, his stance reflects his position in the field of cultural production. Now that Salinger had been accepted by the elite group, the legitimacy of the elite discourse would undoubtedly bring him more benefit. So it is reasonable for him to argue for this discourse. Meanwhile, the habitus, the totality of his disposition, also plays an important role in his position-taking. So Salinger could not escape the influence from the popular culture while distancing from it. This novel thus presents to us the conflation of elite and popular culture in the post-modern era.This paper consists of five parts. The first part is mainly about the literature review of this novel. In the second part, the theories of the field of cultural production and habitus are explored first. And then historical background of the 1940s and the 1950s are closely examined so as to bring into focus the main features of popular culture. The author then shifts the attention to Salinger's announced attitudes towards popular culture. Close examination reveals Salinger's efforts to advocate the legitimacy of the elite culture. The third part, on the other hand, tries to offer evidence of the influence of popular culture on Salinger's writing. The hero imitates characters from film star and advertisement. And it offers a round-trip motif in the novel, which reinforces the message in popular culture. The fourth part examines closely the relationship between Salinger's position-taking and his particular position in the field of cultural production. At the same time, the formation of Salinger's habitus is explained. In the last part, the author concludes: Salinger's position in the field is not stable but shaky. This reflects the author's position in the field of cultural production. He had been accepted by the elite culture before the publication of this novel. So the legitimacy of the elite discourse will undoubtedly ensure him more cultural capital. However, this position-taking is also adjusted by the writer's habitus. What's more, this exemplifies the conflation of elite and popular cultures in the postmodern era.