Journals 1939-1983

by Stephen Spender, John Goldsmith

A central figure in the political and cultural life of our time for over fifty years, Sir Stephen Spender has witnessed and participated in some of this century's most significant events and has known many of its most interesting and gifted individuals. Having kept journals
intermittently for most of this time, Spender has recorded his vivid observations and reflections on the scenes he has witnessed, portrayed his friends and acquaintances--including W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Christopher Isherwood, Igor Stravinsky, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, and many others--and set
down his ideas, hopes, aims, and regrets.
This first paperback edition of Stephen Spender's journals makes for constantly entertaining and illuminating reading. One comes away from this fascinating inside look at one man's extraordinary life full of admiration for his vitality, his enduring interest in others, and his remarkable
honesty about himself.

Genres: Biography

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Sir Stephen Harold Spender (1909–1995), English poet, translator, literary critic and editor, was born in London and educated at the University of Oxford, where he first became associated with such other outspoken British literary figures as W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, C. Day Lewis and Louis MacNeice. His book The Thirties and After (1979) recalls these figures and others prominent in the arts and politics and his Journals 1939–1983, published in 1986 and edited by John Goldsmith, are a detailed account of his times and contemporaries.

His passionate and lyrical verse, filled with images of the modern industrial world yet intensely personal, is collected in such volumes as Twenty Poems (1930), The Still Centre (1939), Poems of Dedication (1946), Collected Poems, 1928–1985 (1986).

World Within World, Stephen Spender's autobiography, contains vivid portraits of Virginia Woolf, W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Lady Ottoline Morrell, W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood and many other prominent literary figures. First published in 1951 and still in print, World Within World is recognised as one of the most illuminating literary autobiographies to come out of the 1930s and 1940s. There can be few better portrayals of the political and social atmosphere of the 1930s.

The Destructive Element (1935), The Creative Element (1953), The Making of a Poem (1962) and Love-Hate Relations: English and American Sensibilities (1974), about literary exchanges between Britain and the United States, contain literary and social criticism. Stephen Spender's other works include short stories, novels such as The Backward Son and the heavily autobiographical The Temple (set in Germany on the 1930s) and translations of the poetry of Lorca, Altolaguerra, Rilke, Hölderlin, Stefan George and Schiller. From 1939 to 1941 he co-edited Horizon magazine with Cyril Connolly and was editor of Encounter magazine from 1953 to 1967.

Stephen Spender owed his own early recognition and publication as a poet to T. S. Eliot. In turn Spender was always a generous champion of young talent, from his raising a fund for the struggling 19-year-old Dylan Thomas, to a lifelong commitment to helping promote the publication of newcomers. In 1972, with his passionate concern for the rights of banned and silenced writers to free expression, he was the chief founder of Index on Censorship, in response to an appeal on behalf of victimised authors worldwide by the Russian dissident Litvinov.

Reviews

[Eduardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent diary written in a humorous, insightful, and self-effacing style. Spender gives the reader a glimpse of his many friendships from W H Auden to Virginia Woolf to David Hockney. He lived a long and creative life. One of my favorite writers from the so called Auden Generation.

[Elise Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Researching A Time to Cast Away Stones was an adventure I treasure. I ventured into a little-frequented area at Strand's bookstore on a trip to NYC in 1999, just as I was outlining my book. I found ONE old (dusty!) volume of Spender's classic Journals. That volume was, serendipitously: The Year of the Young Rebels, 1968; Journals, The Thirties and After.

[Eduardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful record of inner thoughts, travel, friendship with a now dead literary word, written in a clear and humorous style. An excellent writer and a thoughtful individual which comes across in these journals. Spender seemed to be in the right place at the right time both with the "truly great" to quote him but others too, his interactions with people from London, to NYC, to Nashville, Japan, and other places make it a great read as it spans so many decades. There is also his friendships with literary greats Auden, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Louis MacNeice, and others.