As the Spanish philosopher, sociologist and essayist José Ortega y Gasset wrote, “from culture in the modern world there is only a slight aroma outgoing and already elusive.” A civilization based on consumption and selfish hedonism breeds the degradation of social and cultural ideals, the degeneration of art. At the same time, Gasset tries to find a special aesthetic of decay, which he sees in modernity. This topic is continued by Maurice Blanchot, a French writer, essayist thinker, trying to find the antithesis of popular culture. The works of Gasset and Blanchot are distinguished not only by their philosophical depth and content, but also by their excellent literary style, which has always attracted reader interest to them.