Confessions of a Would-Be Non-Provincial--Or, the English Teacher and Matthew Arnold's Ghost.

Although Matthew Arnold may appear to be the representative of an increasingly irrelevant elitist vision by advocating a culture ultimately dependent on the exclusion of all but the very best in thought and expression, in fact he remains the writer who reminds us of the necessity for a social vision of ourselves superior to any mere provincialism. Various critics of the Arnoldian concept of culture, including Walt Whitman, G. John Roush, and Louis Kampf, have attempted to explain the separation of the Arnoldian ideal from ordinary reality, in his day and ours. However, Arnold's concept that the provincial spirit--the ordinary self--opposes the ideal of the potential best self--led not by a class spirit but by a general humane spirit--is suprisingly applicable to Americans today. Arnold shows most clearly how imperfect and inhumane our destiny will be if Americans cannot transcend their trend toward provinciality. (JM)