1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910783797803321

Autore

Kuffert L. B (Leonard B.)

Titolo

A great duty [[electronic resource] ] : Canadian responses to modern life and mass culture in Canada, 1939-1967 / / L.B. Kuffert

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Montréal, : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2003

ISBN

1-282-86141-7

9786612861413

0-7735-7138-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (348 pages)

Collana

Carleton library ; ; 199

Disciplina

306/.0971

Soggetti

Popular culture - Canada - History - 20th century

Canada Civilization 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [319]-341) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Cultural Criticism in English Canada -- War and the Culture of Reconstruction 1939–1945 -- Light from the Crucible of War -- The Culture of Reconstruction -- Postwar Realities, Shifting Perspectives 1945–1957 -- Science and Religion in a Mass Culture -- Cultural Policy, Cultural Pessimism -- Full Circle: A Broadening Definition of Culture 1957–1967 -- Mass Media, Broadcasting, and Automation -- The Long Long Weekend: Centennial and Expo 67 -- Conclusion: A Secret Understanding -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

English-Canadian cultural critics from across the political spectrum championed self-improvement, self-awareness, and lively engagement with one's surroundings, struggling to find a balance between the social benefits of democracy and modernization and what they considered the debilitating influence of the accompanying mass culture. They used print and broadcast media in an attempt to convince Canadians that choosing wisely between varieties of culture was an expression of personal and national identity, making cultural nationalism in Canada a "middlebrow" project. As Kuffert argues, "if English Canadians are today more familiar with the ways in which modern life and mass culture envelop and define them, if they live in a



nation where private citizens and cultural institutions view the media as avenues of entertainment, as businesses, or as the means to construct identity, they should be aware of the role of wartime and post-war cultural critics" in creating those orientations toward culture.