As the Spanish philosopher, sociologist and essayist José Ortega y Gasset wrote, “all that remains of culture in the modern world is a slight aroma, fading and already elusive.” A civilization based on consumption and selfish hedonism gives rise to the degradation of social and cultural ideals and the degeneration of art. At the same time, Gasset is trying to find a special aesthetics of decay, which he sees in modernity. This theme is continued by Maurice Blanchot, a French writer, thinker and essayist, trying to find the antithesis of mass 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.