To Relish the Sublime? Culture and Self-Realization in Postmodern Times

More than 130 years on from Matthew Arnold's pronouncement that human beings 'must be compelled to relish the sublime', education in the humanities still relies on a more or less Arnoldian ideal of 'culture' as the means of intellectual development. In this distinctive and original work, Martin Ryle and Kate Soper reflect critically on this enduring ideal, exploring the tensions and contradictions between it and the contemporary world of work, pleasure and consumption. Book jacket.

Martin Ryle is Senior Lecturer in Continuing Education at the University of Sussex Kate Soper teaches philosophy and cultural theory at the University of North London