Dreams of a Totalitarian Utopia
Literary Modernism and Politics
Description
While these authors' political inclinations are well known and much discussed, previous studies have failed to adequately analyse the surrounding political circumstances that informed the specific utopian aspirations in each writer's works. Balancing a thorough knowledge of their works with an understanding of the political climate of the early twentieth century, Leon Surette provides new insights into the motivations and development of each writer's respective political postures. Dreams of a Totalitarian Utopia examines their political commentary and their correspondence with each other from 1910s to the 1950s. Contextualizing their political thought in a world troubled by two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Bolshevik Revolution, Surette traces their shared concerns and the divergent responses of each of these figures in the historical moment to the risk they perceived of democracies becoming the pawns of commercial and industrial elites, leading to war and mindless consumerism. They all leaned toward autocratic solutions, though Pound and Lewis eventually admitted their error.
Reviews
"Dreams of a Totalitarian Utopia is an impressive work that brings together three major figures of modern literature. Its careful account of the political writings of Pound, Eliot, and Lewis contrasts with those in numerous works that attack their social and political positions without a thorough knowledge of their works or an understanding of the political climate before and after the world wars. It will be valuable to anyone interested in literary modernism or the social and cultural history of the twentieth century." Timothy Materer, University of Missouri