Under Siege: Literary Life In London 1939-45 By Robert Hewison

Under Siege: Literary Life In London 1939-45 By Robert Hewison

Hardcover

Publisher: Readers Union Group of Book Clubs 1978

Used - Very Good. This book is in very good condition. The DJ has some wear especially on the edges and spine areas. The book pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. The book is now protected with a Cellophane cover which hold the DJ together beautifully.

This impressive and tightly-written study is the best analytical survey of literature and the arts in London during the war years (it does consider art, music & theatre). The general thrust is to plot critical debates, shifting allegances and evolving literary themes, focusing on that continual jocking between literary groups and factions which is well handled (in this the book virtually dovetails with Michael Shelden's Friends of Promise: Cyril Connolly and the World of Horizon ). Hewison excells as a big picture man. His broad brush coverage of poetry is illuminating, and the author is balanced. He does point out the prevalence of weak verse.

Very strong in this book are Hewison's clear-sighted overviews of distinct movements across the arts, showing for instance how the themes associated with the literary New Apocalypse also were manifested in visual art, theatre and music. The author has a gift at sifting out palpable links between poets and painters, which is quite an achievement. And he also deftly shows where tradition will hidden beneath a veneer of modernity (works dwelling on blitzed buildings are shown in many cases to be updated versions of Gothic ruins). This is the essential introduction to British culture during the turbulent war years.