Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic
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Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
1967
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu15544640852924522021-08-03T07:09:58Z Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic Gibbons, Robert British and Irish Literature Christopher St. John Sprigg, who published his serious works under the pseudonym of Christopher Caudwell, is little read and less esteemed outside of Marxist circles. This muchneglected man of letters acquired during his lifetime a journalist's reputation as a writer of detective thrillers and popular books on aviation. His four serious Marxist studies, all posthumously published--Illusion and Reality, Studies in a Dying Culture, The Crisis in Physics, and Further Studies in a Dying Culture--caused him to be labeled a Marxist critic and to be dismissed by many who do not wholly understand him. This study was undertaken with the primary aim of giving an overview of the man and his work. There were two inunediate purposes: first, to provide an analysis of Caudwell's serious work in its entirety; and, second, to give a fuller view of Sprigg than has yet been presented in the several sketchy biographical accounts that preface his books and are found in Leftist periodicals. The analysis of Caudwell's serious works, all of which were written during the last two years of his life, revealed that a logical pattern emerges if they are considered in the following order: The Crisis in Physics, Studies in a Dying Culture, Further Studies in a Dying Culture, and Illusion and Reality. The Crisis in Physics established the subject-object dichotomy as the fundamental error in bourgeois philosophy and informed the bourgeois philosopher and scientist of the philosophical instability of bourgeois society. Studies and Further Studies demonstrated to the bourgeois historian, psychologist, scientist, artist, and philosopher the manifestations of the collapse of bourgeois society. Studies, less technical and less difficult than Further Studies, showed how the subject-object dichotomy has led the bourgeois to a mistaken notion of freedom; and Further Studies completed the task begun by Studies, the tracing of the contradictions in bourgeois ideology which arise from the subject-object dichotomy. Illusion and Reality was an attempt, both successful and unsuccessful: "to integrate all the branches of ideology into one consistent Marxian world-view and, at the same time, an appeal to the bourgeois ideologists and intellectuals of every discipline, but especially to the artists, to become leaders in the tanks of the proletariat.The analysis also revealed four themes which were central to Caudwell's ideological works: the bourgeois illusion that freedom is the absence of necessity, the consequent decadence of bourgeois culture, the necessity for bourgeois intellectuals to desert their class and become leaders of the proletarian revolt, and the inseparableness of art and science. The conclusions drawn from the analysis were (1) that Caudwell is more reliable as a theorist than as a critic and (2) that his poetics, which is based on a synthesis of Marxism and bourgeois idealism, offers genuine and significant insights into the nature of poetry. The biographical first chapter was undertaken after some of Sprigg's fiction and his published poetry had been studied; and brief evaluations of both were included in the chapter. Correspondence with Sprigg's brother and his relatives made the biographical sketch more complete than any of the several existing ones. An attempt to place Caudwell in the context of twentieth-century Marxist criticism concluded the study. 1967 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554464085292452 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554464085292452 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
British and Irish Literature |
| spellingShingle |
British and Irish Literature Gibbons, Robert Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic |
| author |
Gibbons, Robert |
| author_facet |
Gibbons, Robert |
| author_sort |
Gibbons, Robert |
| title |
Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic |
| title_short |
Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic |
| title_full |
Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic |
| title_fullStr |
Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Christopher Caudwell, Marxist, Apologist and Critic |
| title_sort |
christopher caudwell, marxist, apologist and critic |
| publisher |
Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
1967 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554464085292452 |
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AT gibbonsrobert christophercaudwellmarxistapologistandcritic |
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