ABSTRACT
During the 1850s, journals like the British Conversationalist and Literary Magazine devote themselves entirely to the question of how to write appropriately in distinct disciplines such as religion, philosophy, history, politics, social economy and the periodical essay. As Chris Baldick has put it, Arnold "was to create a new kind of critical discourse which could, by its display of careful extrication from controversy, speak from a privileged standpoint, all other discourses being in some way compromised by partial or partisan considerations. In "Genius and Discipline in Literature" Masson describes the problem of style as one of striking a balance between "the natural powers" of the writer, and "the discipline to which he subjects these powers. Ruskin's conception of "Truth" is familiar from Modern Painters where Turner's methods of representing "Nature" are championed over those of the Old Masters.
