John Cowper Powys could never be straightforward or orthodox but here he sets off with a useful purpose. ''The aim of this book,'' he declares, ''is to narrow down a vague and somewhat evasive conception, which hitherto, like ''''aristocracy'''' or ''''liberty'''', has come to imply a number of contradictory and even paradoxical elements, and to give it, not, of course, a purely logical form, but a concrete, particular, recognizable form, malleable and yielding enough and relative enough, but with a definite and quite unambiguous temper, tone, quality, atmosphere, of its own.'' The book is in two parts: Analysis of Culture which deals with, in separate chapters, Philosophy, Literature, Poetry, Painting and Religion: Application of Culture which covers Happiness, Love, Nature, The Art of Reading, Human Relations, Destiny and Obstacles to Culture.
John Cowper Powys hoped ''that the fine word ''''culture'''' . . . might lend itself to an easy, humane and liberal discussion - a s
