Culture and anarchy

Culture and Anarchy, by Matthew Arnold (published in 1869 and very influential in the middle of the twentieth century), has been described by Michael Tanner (2000: 23) as ‘that shallow and influential pamphlet’. Perhaps that is not an unfair depiction of the book but, if only in its title, Arnold bequeathed a provocative juxtaposition of terms of value to us here. ‘Culture’ and ‘anarchy’: placed against each other, the two terms open a space for explorations helpful to our present inquiry.