Leslie Fiedler discusses his book What Was Literature?: Class Culture and Mass Society, which describes literature, popular culture, and critical standards in the United States. He addresses the literary canon as created historically in American universities and the social and ideological implications of those choices. The place of ethical and aesthetic standards is discussed, with examples from nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and cinema.
At the time of this recording, Fiedler was professor of English at State University of New York at Buffalo.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
