
John Ruskin Taught Victorian Readers and Travelers the Art of Cultivation - samclemens
https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2017/winter/feature/john-ruskin-taught-victorian-readers-and-travelers-the-art-cultivation
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cafard
It is curious that you should post this, for Mark Twain in _Innocents Abroad_
shows signs of reacting against Ruskin's preference for the pre-Raphaelites.
And I suspect Lewis Carroll of taking Ruskin at a bit less than the standard
valuation, given the lines from "Hiawatha's Photographing":

Next the Son, the Stunning-Cantab: He suggested curves of beauty, Curves
pervading all his figure, Which the eye might follow onward, Till they
centered in the breast-pin, Centered in the golden breast-pin. He had learnt
it all from Ruskin (Author of 'The Stones of Venice,' 'Seven Lamps of
Architecture,' 'Modern Painters,' and some others); And perhaps he had not
fully Understood his author's meaning; But, whatever was the reason All was
fruitless, as the picture Ended in an utter failure.

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bshimmin
It always makes me a little sad that no discussion of Ruskin can occur without
at least some mention of his first wife's pubic hair (allegedly, no doubt
apocryphally, the discovery of which on Ruskin's part led to their marriage
never being consummated) or the wretched story of Rose La Touche. _Unto This
Last_ is probably one of the more important books I've ever read (and I wish
I'd thought more deeply and more often about the words "There is no wealth but
life" during the fifteen years or so since I first read it), but it seems
impossible to advocate or encourage reading him when the more prurient aspects
of Ruskin are all anyone seems to care about now.

If you're ever up in the Lake District in the north west of England, Ruskin's
house, Brantwood, is well worth a visit.

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panglott
This comment about his wife's pubic hair prompted me to read the original
article; but alas, pubic hair is not mentioned there, but brought up only in
this comment.

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bshimmin
This article is fairly typical on the subject:
[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2014/jul/...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2014/jul/06/john-
ruskin-repulsed-by-wifes-pubic-hair)

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clock_tower
Anyone interested in Ruskin will be more interested in William Cobbett and
William Morris -- especially Cobbett, whose advice on farming and small-scale
productivity is very intriguing reading today.

Chesterton, Belloc, Lewis, and Tolkien inherited Cobbett's, Morris', and
Ruskin's prejudices, but there was no longer an English peasantry to defend in
their day; so they had more of an air of crotchety carping old-timers than
Cobbett, Morris, or Ruskin ever did.

