Introduction: Identifying the Middlebrow, the Masculine and Mr Miniver

Introduction: Reassessing the Strand Magazine, 1891–1918

“…A somewhat nebulous term, the "middlebrow" carries largely negative associations with mainstream, unambitious, and undemanding popular culture aimed at a broad, culturally conservative audience in search of social respectability and inexpensive, unintellectual leisure pursuits. 3 Middlebrow culture is seen to track, rather than set, cultural trends, and reflect, rather than shape, contemporary debates and events, its consumers perceived as conservative followers rather than radical modernisers. In an academic culture that valorises novelty, experimentation, transgression, and rupture, the middlebrow is often dismissed as unworthy of serious scholarship.…”