Mittelmaß und Wahn was published by Suhrkamp in 1988, with selected essays appearing in English as Mediocrity and Delusion: Collected Diversions. The collection ranges across politics, culture, media, and intellectual history, united by Enzensberger’s characteristic method: the application of fierce analytical intelligence to subjects that other intellectuals treat with either reverence or indifference.
The essay on “The Industrialization of the Mind” — perhaps Enzensberger’s single most influential piece — argues that the consciousness industry (television, advertising, public relations, journalism) is the key industry of the modern world, more powerful than manufacturing or agriculture because it shapes the very categories through which people perceive reality. The media do not merely report the world; they constitute it.
Other essays attack the West German left for its provincial self-righteousness, the tourist industry for its destruction of authentic experience, the publishing industry for its transformation of literature into commodity, and the intellectual class for its eagerness to be used by power. Enzensberger spares no one — his position is that of the independent intelligence, attached to no party, institution, or movement, and therefore free to criticize them all.
Collecting Mediocrity and Delusion
First German edition (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1988): Paperback.
Market values:
- First German edition: $10–$25
- English selections (Verso, 1992): $10–$30