Highbrow vs. Lowbrow

As it's the second week of class, and i am just starting my blog.. here's my take on Highbrow vs. Lowbrow:

As wikipedia so eloquently puts it, "The opposite of Highbrow is Lowbrow, and in between is Middlebrow." Well, now that that is taken care of, as has already been said and re-said in everyone's blogs, the difference between Highbrow and Lowbrow, in my opinion seems to come down to how the author conveys his message to his/her reader. (i.e. the language, tone, style, word choice, etc. one uses). James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake", although considered to be highbrow, is an anomaly to me. I'm taking a creative writing class this semester (trying to finish my English minor...possibly regretting English as a minor now) and it is all based on Poetry. Generally, as reading material i try and avoid poetry. Although not all is the same, i get tired of looking for a deeper meaning, constantly having to reread everything because as my brain gets tired my eyes begin to skip words. This continually happens to me while reading Joyce. 70 different languages, gibberish? And this is highbrow literature?

If liking lowbrow is considered as a vice of the underclasses than consider me a pauper. Straight, direct, perhaps a little artistic flavor thrown in-those are the books i like. Joyce will most likely plague my semester and hover over me like a dark storm cloud. Never the less i will give him a chance and hope that i can break into FW somehow.

I am assuming Rushdie's book will be considered lowbrow simply because of the fact that it remains an immensely easy read and deals with a subject matter in a way that is simple and easy for the reader to follow. It doesn't take much to understand this book, but it remains a vastly entertaining read and one that i will no doubt enjoy reading and re-reading.

When considering highbrow to be "high class" and low brow to be the opposite, i will hopefully find middle ground in which to enjoy each read in this class.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible. But not simpler" - Albert Einstein

"Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify!... Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose" - Henry David Thoreau