The Myth of Popular Culture: From Dante to Dylan

“Perry Meisel’s study of popular culture is a surprising enhancement of received opinion and common wisdom on that vexed subject. Moving from Shakespeare through Freud on to Bobby Dylan would seem something of a descent, yet Meisel provides a perspective that has its own descriptive justice. Even if I am not wholly persuaded that Dylan’s ultimate importance is as sublime as Meisel ventures it to be, I am given much here to intrigue me.”
—Harold Bloom

“Perry Meisel has written a boundary-smashing critique of the myth that popular culture is distinct from and inferior to the fine arts.”
—Richard Goldstein, Hunter College of the City University of New York

"... stunning in its originality, breadth, erudition, and in its understanding of the transatlantic evolution of popular culture."
—Josephine G. Hendin, New York University