Public intellectuals as policy makers: the democratization of culture and Sean O'Faolain's Arts Council, 1956-1959

摘要

This article examines the brief tenure of the writer Sean O'Faolain as Director of the Arts Council of Ireland. The article notes the generational similarities and shared outlook between O'Faolain and Andre Malraux, the Minister of Culture for France from 1959 to 1969. However, O'Faolain's tenure in office was shorter, less successful, and marked by a bitter dispute with the administration and artists of the Royal Hibernian Academy. This dispute serves as a useful case study for examining competing conceptions of national culture, the purpose of cultural policy, and the role of the cultural elite as arbiters of taste.