![]() ![]() Initially, however, this is a book inspired by, and dedicated to, literature. The two great events, foreign and domestic, that shaped the writing of Arnold’s passionate argument for self-improvement through culture were, first, the European revolutions of 1866-70, especially the rise of Prussia and second, the great reform bill of 1867, together with the London riots that preceded it. Like many Victorian masterpieces, Culture and Anarchy began as a magazine series, and an important part of its appeal is as a tour de force of magazine journalism, a genre Arnold himself defined as “literature in a hurry”. ![]() ![]() Arnold was acutely conscious of the threat of “ignorant armies” during 1866-69, the years in which he incubated this classic of social and literary criticism. ![]()
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