
Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything
Not All Propaganda is Art 2: Outsider Influence
Jan 30, 2024
New Yorker writer Dwight Macdonald investigated covert propaganda while joining Encounter magazine in 1956. Colin Wilson, an Existentialist, became England's answer to Jean-Paul Sartre. Discover the covert propaganda behind Operation Free Youth Action and Operation Anti-Sartre, as well as its influence on Macdonald's critique of Mass and Middlebrow Culture.
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Quick takeaways
- The British Influencers turned Colin Wilson into England's answer to Jean-Paul Sartre, but his fame quickly diminished and he was labeled a fraud.
- Dwight McDonald's encounter with Colin Wilson highlighted the dangers of 'mid-cult,' combining the pretentiousness of high culture and the vulgarity of mass culture.
Deep dives
The Rise and Fall of Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson rose to fame in May of 1956 as England's answer to Jean-Paul Sartre, an apolitical existentialist writer. However, his popularity quickly waned, and he was labeled a fraud by December of the same year.
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