The 'two cultures' controversy: C. P. Snow, F. R. Leavis, and cultural politics in post-war Britain

This dissertation presents a cultural history of the "two cultures" debate in postwar Britain. At the dawn of the 1960s, the scientist-turned-novelist C. P. Snow clashed with the literary critic F. R. Leavis over the relative merits of science and literature, and the ensuing controversy propelled the "two cultures" to its current status as a touchstone in discussions of the sciences and the humanities. Yet it is not clear how an issue that had been discussed since the Victorians ignited such ferocious controversy in the mid-twentieth century. This dissertation argues that the familiar public dispute was actually animated by political rivalries. It therefore takes a new approach to the episode, using it as a lens through which to explore tensions between advocates and critics of modern civilization---tensions previously obscured by language of the "two cultures," but which are shown to have animated seemingly disparate disputes over the mission of the university, the methodology of social history, and the meaning of national "decline." By excavating the political dimensions of the "two cultures," then, this dissertation explores the stakes of post-war cultural politics more generally, while recasting the meaning of a term that continues to be invoked to interpret British and American culture to this day.