poshlust

[poshlust is] corny trash, vulgar clichés, philistinism in all its phases, imitations of imitations, bogus profundities, crude, moronic and dishonest pseudo-literature--these are obvious examples. now if we want to pin down poshlust in contemporary writing we must look for it in freudian symbolism, moth-eaten mythologies, social comment, humanistic messages, political allegories, overconcern with class or race, and the journalistic generalities we all know.

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it is not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive.--vladimir nabokov, strong opinions & nikolai gogol