Thursday, September 6, 2012

ruskin addresses a working man's constitutional association

The above is of course a parody, published in Punch in 1880, by which time JR had become so much of a household name that the comic paper could count on regular comic mileage from invoking him. But Punch, which JR always admired and enjoyed, was also a smart comic paper, and as parodies go this is pretty decent.

A possible exercise: Given that every sentiment in the above letter is more or less congruent with sentiments expressed in Ruskin's works over the years, what are the signals that unmistakeably identify the letter as a parody rather than authentic?

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