-
Not Ready for Primetime Players
May 17, 2013 | 108 comments
-
Manny Pacquiao vs. The IRS
May 10, 2013 | 25 comments
-
Salt of the Earth?
May 3, 2013 | 44 comments
-
The Death of an Artist in Everybody’s Collection
April 26, 2013 | 6 comments
-
The Meaning of Patriots’ Day
April 19, 2013 | 88 comments
In Memoriam
In a Class of His Own
Paul Fussell was status-conscious when he didn’t have to be.
“We’re pretty well stuck for life in the class we’re raised in,” Paul Fussell wrote in his 1983 book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. Surely Fussell would have applauded Charles Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit character Montague Tigg, an amusing petty street chisler who morphs into Tigg Montague upon becoming an obnoxiously wealthy insurance swindler.
You can escape poverty. You can’t escape yourself.
Paul Fussell died Wednesday at 88. The quickie obit initially posted by the New York Times failed to mention Class, perhaps an understandable omission given that the subject had authored and edited more than twenty books, earned two Purple Hearts during the Second World War, and taught at the University of Pennsylvania. He was even the villain of My Kitchen Wars, in which his author-exwife details bearing put-downs from her literary-figure husband as she pursued a writing career, entertaining patronizing professors as a faculty spouse, and catching her partner in marriage partnering with a student.
Hell hath no fury like a fiftysomething woman scorned for a twentysomething man.
Isn’t the gutter decadence of the student-teacher liaison, and the ensuing poisoned-pen revenge, just so high society?
Paul Fussell didn’t quite say that in Class. But he did say that “navy is the upper-middle-class color” and “purple is the prole equivalent.” He instructs that “fishing in fresh water is classier than in salt.” He informs, “Upper-middles like to show off their costly educations by naming their cats Spinoza, Clytemnestra, and Candide.” He insists that young middle-class men say “no way” instead of “no.”
According to Fussell, the curvature of one’s driveway, the flowers displayed in the front hall, the proximity to a bowling alley, and the layering of one’s clothes all advertise a person’s public position. The pages even display drawings illustrating class physiognomy (delicate, pointy noses and squinty eyes for the upper crust; oversized facial features for the blue collars).
Class is one man’s prejudices strung together to form a book. The randomness of its observations, such as the idea that there are nine classes in America, seemingly come out of nowhere. Fussell really didn’t say anything therein save that he was proud of being a snob.
The boorish book even makes the reader long for Thorstein Veblen, whose Theory of the Leisure Class at least directed its venom at an exclusive club of the rich. The 1899 treatise excoriated duels, dead languages, walking sticks, estates, etiquette, and other pastimes and possessions of the wealthy the way Fussell went after gauche trucker hats and the bourgeois affinity for prominently displaying The Great Books of the Western World. Veblen’s '80s-era imitator’s equal-opportunity, cross-lineage-mocking demonstrated that snobs can be egalitarian, too.
One understands why a wealthy American would seek to construct a rigid hierarchy based on trivial matters of taste. The New World’s greater economic fluidity than the Old World’s made wealth a poor barometer on which to gauge one’s social status. Surely the masses couldn’t look upon the likes of Kim Kardashian, Mark Cuban, and Paris Hilton as their betters?
More puzzling is why this wealthy American would seek to construct a rigid hierarchy based on trivial matters of taste. Fussell, despite leaving the world this truly terrible book, entered it without having to accomplish much to be considered a success. Yet, he valiantly fought the Nazis in Alsace. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. And he transcended the babbling academic ghetto to write the accessible 1975 commercial and critical success, The Great War and Modern Memory. His admirable achievements, rather than his affluent origins, could have served as a reminder of his apartness from the mob.
Alas, where he came from, rather what he did, defined Paul Fussell. He at least fit his Class narrative.
Paul Fussell has now moved on up to that great classless society in the sky. Heaven must be a hell for the status-obsessed scribe.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Daniel J. Flynn
More Articles From In Memoriam
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/25/in-a-class-of-his-own
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Obama’s Drone War
- A President Loses His Power
- Downton’s Class System — and Ours
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Appleby| 5.25.12 @ 7:01AM
Ray Stevens, the very funny blue-collar singer, named one of his characters, a member of the "First Self-Righteous Church" in Paskagoula MS "Sister Bertha Better-Than-You". For anyone who grew up in the Old Confederacy, or whose family hailed therefrom, this was an instant picture of class distinction without much explanation being necessary. Our neighbourhood in the Fifties was "middle class" save for the doctor's family that was "rich" and the mafia who were, well, the mafia. Our parents were hard working blue collar folks and the fathers had nearly all been in the military and fought in the War or were upwardly mobile immigrants from Europe, were young with mobs of young children and stay at home mothers and beautiful garden yards. As far as any of us knew, everybody in the world was like us. We had no TV until the late 1950s and even when we did get TV, everyone on TV was like us too, except Liberace, Leonard Bernstein and the people on Roller Derby. I didn't really find out that people came in Classes until I took my round-the-world cruise in my senior year at University; my first three years of college were at Bible College and everyone there was pretty much like my family too.
Today I have one sister who is trying to pretend her parents were Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and she grew up in Hollywood, and one sister who hates everyone who has five cents that she believes by right belongs to her, and the other three of us are still middle class; but the interesting thing to me is that their children are all exactly what the 1950s would have recognized as middle class. It's a puzzlement and rather amusing to those of us who went out and had adventures because there really were no rules shutting us into boxes -- we remain, even today, the Auntie Mames.
Not Special Ops Bill| 5.25.12 @ 10:28AM
In the 1950s, it was respectable (and even laudable) to address hifalutin' ideas to the middle class. Such activity was called "middlebrow."
That approach was mocked by the "highbrow" folks, and fell into disfavor, so the result was that high-level thought didn't get distilled into the general populace.
Middlebrow culture has been out of favor probably since not long after the 50s ended.
Booger| 5.25.12 @ 10:34AM
This is totally off topic, but it shouldn't be. Since this is blog about Brett Kimberlin (the convicted terrorist) day, and Robert Stacy McCain, one of Spectator's own, is currently in hiding with his family due to threats from Kimberlin, why is there no mention of it here today? Shame on Spectator for not sticking up for its own.
Alan Brooks| 5.25.12 @ 2:40PM
"Paul Fussell was status-conscious when he didn't have to be."
Damning with faint praise!
Occam's Tool| 5.27.12 @ 2:50AM
I liked "Wartime," as well, which was significant enough to be directly challenged by Fraser in his "Quartered Safe Out Here."
He also wrote the definitive defense of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in "Thank G-d For the Atom Bomb." A truly superb writer.
He also bled and suffered for his country in her defense, as an Infantry Company Commander in WWII.
SPQR | 5.25.12 @ 7:02AM
I don't know what you mean by "quicky" obit, but the New York Times obit on Fussell did mention his book on Class- starting in the ninth paragraph. No fact checkers here?
Dan Flynn| 5.25.12 @ 8:20AM
By "quickie" obituary, I mean the rushed one posted in the immediate wake of news of Fussell's death. It most certainly did not say anything about "Class." Sometimes for public figures where there is not an obit prepared, a newspaper will post one on the fly and then take a day or so to carefully construct a more complete one. That is what the Times did with Fussell.
old skeptic| 5.25.12 @ 8:39AM
Well, Mr Flynn, I read Fussel's "Class" and found it a witty document, rather a satire. I also think that the observations he makes about the consumption patterns of the various "classes" are empirically correct. Nor do I think he is a snob; nowhere did he imply that the uppers or upper-middles are better human beings that the lowers.
Actually, his observations--although he probably did not intend them as such--are really a reflection on what the prices of particular goods and who can afford to pay them. Lowers don't necessarily prefer purple, for example; they tend to wear more purple because the cheaper clothing tends to be in more garish colors. Lowers aren't fat because they choose to be, but because they can't afford the best nutrition. Lowers might be more likely to drive a pickup truck than an SUV, because they might actually have a need to haul the tools of their trade.
Cobalt| 5.25.12 @ 8:54AM
I also read "Class". I think old skeptic is correct in his opinion of this book.
Fussell wasn't a snob. However, snobbery is alive and well in America. As long as we have insecure people, we will have snobs.
Anna Keppa| 5.26.12 @ 4:30PM
I envision you sniffing into your perfumed hanky as you write this:
"Lowers [sic] don't necessarily prefer purple, for example; they tend to wear more purple because the cheaper clothing tends to be in more garish colors."
Why yes, just wander down to TJ Max and see all the "garish" colors on display! Have you considered that "garish" reflects a fashion value judgment and not a fact? When you look at the families leaving an Evangelical church on Sunday, are they all dressed like "garish" buffoons? Do Ivy League students all dress in muted earth tones?
"Lowers {sic} aren't fat because they choose to be, but because they can't afford the best nutrition."
Then, please explain the yo-yo dieting Oprah, Rush, Rosie O'Donnell, and all the other rich celebs, including "classy" ones like Martha Stewart and the late Julia Childs?
"Lowers [sic] might be more likely to drive a pickup truck than an SUV, because they might actually have a need to haul the tools of their trade."
How...unexceptionally perceptive!
Notice the assumption that tradesmen are "lower" because they do icky things involving their backs and hands, such as building homes and installing plumbing and wiring---which we all know to be well within the intellectual grasp and skill sets of "uppers" like Old Skeptic.
Notice further the assumption that such tradesmen do not own an SUV AS WELL.---which is commonly the case all across America.
Not Special Ops Bill| 5.25.12 @ 8:57AM
Paul Fussell's looking-down-the-nose-at-you attitude pervades every book he's ever written, including the admittedly outstanding work, The Great War and Modern Memory.
It would be one thing if he could justify that superior, smug attitude, but even two Purple Hearts doesn't justify his "I'm better than you because I see things so much more clearly and tenderly than you do" style. He's just a bourgeois snob and he doesn't even realize the bourgeois part.
Not Special Ops Bill| 5.25.12 @ 8:59AM
He's the nonfiction counterpart of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., who also has that annoying holier-than-thou style.
Vern Crisler| 5.25.12 @ 10:25AM
I think John Malloy's books on dress and class are much better than idiosycratic observations. His books were based on statistical research.
I think one can write a history of class by tracing it to military traits: shoulders strait, mouth closed, deliberative movements, calmness, the sorts of things we associate with the upper middle-class. Even the tie was originally a military invention (a Croatian regimental emblem). So too the beige rain coat, worn by English officers. I think it's because those who were successful in business and industry were former military men, and they brought that background into the commercial world with them.
I had to put down Fussell's *Great War* book halfway through because it was too speculative and "structuralist." However, he did provide a perfectly apt description of WW1: "industrialized ghastliness." I don't think anyone could have said it better.
Not Special Ops Bill| 5.25.12 @ 11:26AM
Plus, he wrote down all of the lyrics to "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-Ling-a-Ling."
Vern Crisler| 5.25.12 @ 12:35PM
straight, not strait; gees, to quote the Dong Man.
Bob K.| 5.25.12 @ 10:29AM
I never read anything he wrote and I don't intend to but if this article accurately analyzes "Class" he was more right than wrong.
Here in NE PA and in other parts of this state; among the Chuzzlewits, Hafwits and other 4th and 5th generation heirs of the 19th Century Robber Barons with their hangers on crowd, you can still see this "Class Action" being played out.
In the meantime unknown numbers of people with talent, brains and ambition left for bigger and better things elsewhere in this great Republic.
Seek| 5.25.12 @ 11:41AM
Paul Fussell was a remarkably literary critic and social commentator. A professor (at Penn, Rutgers and elsewhere) and the author of well over a dozen books, he was a charming curmudgeon of the sort that emerged in England and America between the wars. Speaking of which, his 1989 book about World War II (as a young man on the Western Front he was badly injured), "Wartime," was as fiercely honest as his earlier book on WWI, "The Great War and Modern Memory." War fever was not for him. He knew that soldiers called upon to fight a war must live by different social rules than those who give the orders from afar or cheer them on in rallies. There is nothing "unpatriotic" about such an observation. It is universal.
Fussell poked fun of everyone from all strata and belief systems. That's what a satirist is supposed to do. He made fun of the upper and middle-classes, but thankfully didn't indulge in piety-drenched Christopher Lasch-style elevation of the "virtuous" working-class either.
Paul Fussell -- a worthy successor to H.L. Mencken. R.I.P.
Vern Crisler| 5.25.12 @ 12:33PM
As I don't think Mencken was particularly worthy, I can't comment on whether Fussell was worthy in following him.
I'm not sure why you describe the *Great War* as "fiercely honest." The book merely looks at themes and words used during the war and draws all sorts of speculative conclusions from them.
His anti-war stance is sort of like M*A*S*H* in print, but without the humor. His writing would have been better if he could have disciplined himself more and curbed his flights of fancy, something that could be said of a lot of English professors today.
Occam's Tool| 5.27.12 @ 2:55AM
His anti-war stance was based on being part of the mincing machine. However, he also notes that our discussion of War aims on the Allied side was a lot less precise than that on the Axis side. It was from him that I also learned that Eric Blair had a listed phone number in London, with an open invitation for American servicemen on leave to ring him to discuss literature.
I liked Fussell's work, even when I disagreed with a lot of what he said. His forthright discussion of the rightness of the nuking of Japan allowed a lot of ofrgiveness in other issues. I was not aware from his writing that he was wealthy.
Not Special Ops Bill| 5.29.12 @ 1:43PM
Eric Blair was the real name of George Orwell. Maybe you meant Tony Blair.
Not Special Ops Bill| 5.29.12 @ 1:45PM
Never mind. I fell for that one right on my face.
Dave Williams| 5.25.12 @ 12:54PM
I particularly enjoyed his honesty on Hiroshima. I may not have the title exactly right, but "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" must have been what a LOT of US servicemen were thinking on August 7, 1945. RIP, Mr. Fussell, and thanks for your many contributions.
PetePatriot| 5.25.12 @ 1:29PM
Unfortunately, my copy of "Class" is in a box somewhere so I am going on memory, but I found the book to be often accurate and for the most part quite amusing. Observing that someone who fixes his Harley in his linoleum-floored living room is probably in a lower class than someone who has an original oil paining hanging over the mantle shouldn't cause anyone to get into a class warfare tizzy. That doesn't seem to be much different than Jeff Foxworthy writing that you might be a redneck if you try to pick up a girl at the VD clinic.
On the other hand, if you loved bowling and hated opera, but gave up bowling and began attending Verdi concerts after reading Fussell's book, the fault would be yours.
Skippy| 5.25.12 @ 1:51PM
Fussell was the "conscience" of Ken Burns' "The War" series.
He was bitter; negative; angry and depressing in every clip.
I know war sucks, but he had not one good word to say about the whole affair.
That was my sole exposure to him, and it killed any desire to read his works.
Sorry, I get enough of that "all war is bad especially mine" here in N. Cal.
Pass.
Cobalt| 5.25.12 @ 2:07PM
What if someone had an obelisk, and a velvet painting of Elvis in their home? Would they then be ostracized by both the upper and lower class?
Anon| 5.25.12 @ 3:17PM
Paul Fussell was a nasty old queen (even when he was young) and it showed in his writing. "Bad" and "Wartime" are two of the worst books ever written by an author who was so often praised as a brilliant essayist.
sweeterjan| 5.25.12 @ 10:51PM
. He was even the villain of My Kitchen Wars, in which his author-exwife details bearing http://www.vendreshox.com/nike-shox-tl1-c-12.html put-downs from her literary-figure husband as she pursued a writing career, entertaining patronizing professors as a faculty spouse, and catching her partner in marriage partnering with a student.
POST American| 5.26.12 @ 10:08PM
Fussell --a fine scholar who, alas, NEVER
broke ranks with the capstone decreed
'topics' assignments.
HOW he could have slept through the
CFR handover of the country to Globalism
and the USURER 'managed' RED China
--'mere--ick--cull' -----is beyond us!
Such a waste!
POST American| 5.26.12 @ 10:14PM
P.S.
"-----SAVE yourself!
-------------while there's still --time!"
-Jakob Marley
(last words)
Just a little REALITY BYTE for the
yet --somewhat-- alive. . .
This is the 11th hour.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.26.12 @ 10:33PM
Why, POST, you scared the Dickens out of me with that line.
Mary| 5.26.12 @ 10:17PM
I'm sorry Mr. Fussell is dead; I loved his book Class. It's one of six I own. I do believe ducky, that you completely miss the point of the book. There is a class system in Amerika: stupid, stupider and the fools who put Obama in office.
Roberts Howard| 5.27.12 @ 8:03PM
Hell hath no fury like an author of middling success writing the obit of an author who had been greeted with greater success.
Fussell was opinionated, unfair, certainly unkind and always produced an enjoyable, and often thought provoking, read.
1389AD | 5.30.12 @ 6:34AM
If I recall, Paul Fussell pointed out that "Class" was intended as satire, and he expressed surprise that people were taking it as a serious guide on how to become more "classy".