Looking Back on the 1930s without Being Anti-Communist: Cornford, Orwell, Spender, Sommerfield.

• Autores: Nick Hubble
• Localización: Literature and history, ISSN 0306-1973, Vol. 24, Nº 1, 2015, págs. 57-72
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper explores the possibility of looking back favourably on the 1930s without dismissing the anti-Communist arguments of those like George Orwell and Stephen Spender. The representation and reception of John Cornford's participation and death in the Spanish Civil War are treated as a case study for examining the differences and similarities in outlook between Orwell, Spender and their rather less anti-Communist contemporary, John Sommerfield. The analysis suggests that all four shared the aims of defeating Fascism and opening up a transformed future society that characterised a 1930s intersubjective constellation, which is best understood by moving beyond the Communist/anti-Communist binary that has structured the period's reception.