1/22/98

Introduction/review

1. Last class surveyed approaches to intellectual history (see handout "AIH.Historiography," also on Classes fileserver. Examined notion of intellectual history as "discourse of intellectuals," as outlined in Hollinger, David, "Historians and the Discourse of Intellectuals," in New Directions, ed. Conkin and Higham . Contrasted with "cultural studies." Today explore: (a) character of period 1870s-mid 1890s, alternately dubbed the "Gilded Age" and "Genteel Tradtion"; and (2) more general ways which "culture and "capitalism" are related, one of the central issues of "cultural studies".

2. overview of major works (see handout:H47# Genteel Tradition/Realism. 1/22) See also a timeline in back of Hollinger, American Intell. Tradition. This is primarily the "culture" of an newly affluent upper bourgeoisie, the literature and magazines they read, the buildings they built, and the ways they theorized about society and politics.

3. A. The contrasting terms Gilded Age and Genteel Tradition focus the issue: the first referring to aggressive materialism, and excesses of industrial capitalism, and the second, a presumed refuge in "genteel" world of high ideas, moralism etc.

+ as is often the class with designation of historical periods, both were originally pejoratives, the first in the novel by Mark Twain and Dudley Warner, The Gilded Sage (1872); the second in a speech at Berkeley in 1911 by the Harvard philosopher, H George Santayana ("The Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy"

b. comes out further in contrast between "Genteel Tradition" and the "realism" that allegedly challenged the late Victorian cult of "ideality." In this view "realism" ultimately undermined "genteel " (e.g. in literature of Howells, Twain etc, in architecture of Sullivan, in treatment of social issues by Riis and muckrakers. The result allegedly was a "culture" more indigenously "American" , and less derivative of Europe. In contrast, Trachtenberg sees both "genteel" and "realism" as part of a new organization of culture and society along hierarchical lines.

I. . historiography in greater detail,

A. A debate over "ideality" and "reality" began as a controversy within literature during the 1880s, but soon spilled over into social/political thought. In the "traditional account" "realism" became the hallmark of a new, more "progressive" middle class from the 1890s onward, opposed to the older "aristocratic, Europeanized culture of the so-called "genteel tradition," a term coined by the philosopher George Santayana in a speech at Berkeley in California in 1911.Modern scholarly debate over the GT began with Santayana's attack on the Genteel Tradition in 1911, an account that rooted the GT in the breakup of Calvinism, and in a sense, a final attenuation of some of the impulses in Transcendentalism. Santayana found echoes in Mumford The Golden Day . Santayana also suggested that the "realists" were more immersed in the GT that their protests suggested. The Carpenter article, Stow Persons, The Decline of American Gentility (1973), and John Tomsich, A Genteel Endeavor (1972) are essentially refinements on Santayana. John McCormick, George Santayana (1987) gives good background on what led Santayana to make this attack. Howard M. Jones, The Age of Energy, chs. 6, 7 presents a direct challenge to Santayana, and particularly the notion that the GT was the opposite of professionalization and science.

*discussion/explication of Santayana, "Genteel Tradtion" in Hollinger, Am. Intell Tradition.


B . Although the distinction between a meretricious "genteel tradition" and a robust, reform minded "realism" persisted in the work of progressive scholars such as Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought subsequent observers charged that "realism" (as preached by William Dean Howells, for example) served the interests of a new, professionalized middle class that came of age in the 1880s onward, just as borrowings from Europe were part of a process of middle class formation of the post Civil War generation.

C. This reassessment part of tendency to see late 19th early 20th less in terms of reaction-reform than nationalization of American life as small, local, informal structures replaced by large, national, and formal ones. Several elements to be explored: professions, universities, national press, visible symbols (World Fairs).Three recent works tie the so-called "genteel tradition" more explicitly to the development of capitalism, albeit in slightly different ways.

1. Lears, No Place of Grace
2. Bledstein , The culture of Professionalism
3. Trachtenberg, The incorporation of America

I. The Institutional Setting

A. Institutionalization of Knowledge on National Level

1. Professions

2. Universities (see Veysey, Emergence of the American University)

3. National Press: Harper's, Century, Atlantic Monthly

*explication of "culture of professionalism" in Bledstein, Culture of Professionalism . Roots in psychology of emerging middle class, at once ambitious, energetic etc. but also fearing consequences of unfettered ambition and individualism.

B. Consumerism : Lears, No Place of Grace

C. . "Incorporation" as a larger metaphor: Trachtenberg, Incorporation of America


II. The "Genteel Tradition" and the Columbian Exposition

A. Louis Sullivan and the "progressive critique" (from Sullivan, Autobiography of an Idea

B. Howard Mumford Jones Age of Energy defense

C. Trachtenberg and "Incorporation" (do his view of Columbian exposition in context of his overall argument).

Slides:

1. Columbian Exposition, Chicago ( panoramic view)
2. Administration Building RICHARD MORRIS HUNT
3. '' , Agricultural Bldg. MCKIM, MEAD, WHITE
4. '' , Art Building CHARLES B. ATWOOD
5. Transportation Building LOUIS SULLIVAN

For more views and detailed discussion of the of Columbia exposition see Web site "Columbia Exposition" at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/title.html

Written by Robert Bannister, 1/4/98. May be reproduced in whole or part for educational purposes, but not copied or distributed for profit.