Studies and Further Studies in a Dying Culture Vols. 1 & 2

Introduction by Sol Yurick

In 1938, a year after his death in Spain at the age of twenty-nine, Christopher Caudwell’s Studies in a Dying Culture was published, to be followed eleven years later by a second volume, Further Studies in a Dying Culture. This volume makes available both important works by one of the foremost Marxist critics of the thirties.

The first book consists of eight essays: on George Bernard Shaw, T.E. Lawrence, D. H. Lawrence, H. G. Wells, Sigmund Freud, and on pacifism and violence, love, and liberty.

The second is divided into five essays: “The Breath of Discontent: A Study in Bourgeois Religion,” “Beauty: A Study in Bourgeois Aesthetics,” “Men and Nature: A Study in Bourgeois History,” “Consciousness: A Study in Bourgeois Psychology,” and “Reality: A Study in Bourgeois Philosophy.”

John Strachey said of Caudwell’s work as exemplified by these essays: “He shows a width of perception, a generosity of sympathy, a capacity to understand motive forces that move the minds of men. He shows an ability to use his Marxian insight into impersonal social forces in order to gain an understanding of the tragedies of individual men.”

Christopher St. John Sprigg (Christopher Caudwell) was born in Putney, England, in 1907. After working as a reporter, editor, and publisher, in 1934 he began devoting himself to freelance writing. Under his pseudonym he wrote his major works, Illusion and Reality, The Crisis in Physics, and the two works included here. In December 1936, he joined the International Brigade to fight fascism in Spain. He was killed on February 12, 1937.