During the half-century from 1870 to 1918 national life was cumulatively revolutionised through new forms of energy, electricity and petro-chemicals, new forms of transport, motor vehicles and the aeroplane, and new forms of communication, the telephone, wireless, and cinema. A companion cultural revolution occurred too, the emergence of a mass reading public. Literary life metamorphosed as a result. The first generation to receive elementary education under the terms of the 1870 Act reached adulthood in the 1890s; at the same time gas-lighting finally reached many working-class homes, real wages and leisure time were progressively enlarged, and new printing and marketing technology facilitated economies of scale in the production and distribution costs of newspapers, magazines and books.…
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Citation: Waller, Philip John. "Professional Authorship in Britain 1870-1918". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5813, accessed 27 November 2024.]
