British writers and the approach of World War II

262 Pages·2014·2.98 MB·English

by  Ellis

BRITISH WRITERS AND THE APPROACH
OF WORLD WAR II
ThisstudyconsiderstheliteraryconfigurationofwhatE.M.Forster
called‘the1939State’,namelythestateofanxietyandanticipation
ofWorldWarIIbetweentheMunichcrisisof1938andtheendof
the‘phoneywar’inSpring1940.Itinvestigatesnotonlyresponses
toimminentwar,butthevariouspeaceaimsandplansforpost-war
reconstructionoutlinedbykeywriters,includingT.S.Eliot,H.G.
Wells, J. B. Priestley, George Orwell, E.M. Forster, Leonard and
Virginia Woolf and many others. It argues that the work of these
writers at this time is illuminated in fresh ways by the detailed
historical context provided, while surprising lines of connection
between writers who are rarely considered together are enabled to
emerge.Theresultisanovelandexcitingyearstudyofthe‘long1939’
whichwilltransformourunderstandingoftheliteraryhistoryofthe
eve-of-warperiod.
steve ellisisProfessorofEnglishLiteratureattheUniversityof
Birmingham,andhaspublished on awiderangeofboth medieval
and modern literature. His previous books include Dante and
English Poetry: Shelley to T.S. Eliot (1983); The English Eliot:
Design, Language and Landscape in ‘Four Quartets’ (1991); Chaucer
atLarge:ThePoetintheModernImagination(2000);VirginiaWoolf
andtheVictorians(2007)andT.S. Eliot:A Guidefor thePerplexed
(2009).HehaseditedseveralvolumesincludingChaucer:AnOxford
Guide (2005), and is a poet and translator, having published three
volumesofpoetryandanacclaimedtranslationofDante’sInferno.

BRITISH WRITERS
AND THE APPROACH
OF WORLD WAR II
STEVE ELLIS
UniversityofBirmingham
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107054585
©SteveEllis2015
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2015
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Ellis,Steve,1952–
BritishWritersandtheApproachofWorldWarII/SteveEllis,
UniversityofBirmingham.
pages cm
isbn978-1-107-05458-5(hardback)
1. Englishliterature–20thcentury–Historyandcriticism. 2. Warandliterature–Great
Britain–History–20thcentury. 3. Nineteenthirty-nine,A.D. I. Title.
pr471.e45 2014
820.9000912–dc23 2014009767
isbn978-1-107-05458-5Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
urlsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
For Joanna

Contents
List of illustrations page viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: The 1939 State 1
1. Post-Munich I: T. S. Eliot and the Spiritual Revival 17
2. Post-Munich II: Literature of the Crisis 66
3. H. G. Wells and the New World Order 109
4. Orwell, Forster and the Role of the Writer 147
5. Virginia Woolf and the Theatre of War 188
Conclusion: Ends and Beginnings? 234
Index 245
vii
Illustrations
1 1 1939 335 23
. Advertisement, Spectator, September , p. . page
2 ‘ ’
. Arthur Wragg, Recall to Religion , from Thy
1939 24
Kingdom Come (Selwyn and Blount, ).
3 ‘ ’
. Edmund Blunden, Exorcised and Latin translation,
8 15 1938 633 662 25
TLS, October and October , pp. , .
4
. Photograph from J.B. Priestley, Johnson Over Jordan:
The Play and All About It (an Essay) (Heinemann,
1939 33
).
5 ’
. Advertisements for Arthur Wragg s Thy Kingdom
ComeandSanatogenonfacingpagesofNewStatesman
23 1939 936–7 78
and Nation, December , pp. .
6 ’ 2 1940
. Publisher sadvertisement,Spectator, August ,
125 95
p. .
7
. Dust-jacket for H.G. Wells, The Fate of Homo
1939 115
Sapiens (Secker and Warburg, ).
8 1 1939 168
. Cover of Radio Times, September .
9 1939
. Virginia Woolf in June , photograph by Gisèle
208
Freund.
10 22 1939 201 210
. Cartoon from Punch, February , p. .
viii