"Hard as the metal of my gun" : John Cornford's Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.137Abstract
John Cornford, who died on the Cordoba front in December 1936, is most frequently seen, by both enthusiasts and detractors, as a loyal Communist cadre, subscribing unequivocally to the Party line on the situation in Spain. Yet in his most powerful poem, “Full Moon at Tierz: Before the Storming of Huesca”, there is a significant hesitation, focused by a reference to the Seventh Congress of the Comintern. A close scrutiny of this poem, of letters and a “Political Report” he wrote from Spain, and an examination of some of his pre-Spain political writings, indicate a more complex picture, and suggest that he had considerable reservations about Party policy, particularly in relation to the “Popular Front” strategy, and to Communist dealings with other movements in the Republican camp.
Downloads
References
Auden, W. H. 1936. Look, Stranger! London: Faber and Faber.
Auden, W. H. 1937. Spain. London: Faber and Faber.
Auden, W. H. 1955. “Authority in America.” Griffin (March 4).
Birkett, Jennifer and Stan Smith, eds. 2007. “Revolving Commitment: France and Britain 1929-1950.” E-REA: revue d’études Anglophones 4 (1) (e-rea.org).
Cunningham, Valentine, ed. 1980. The Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War Verse. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Cunningham, Valentine. 1982. “Saville’s Row with the Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War Verse.” Socialist Register 19: 269-83.
Dimitrov, Georgi. 1935. “The Unity of the Working Class against Fascism.” http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/unity.htm
[Fausset, Hugh l’Anson]. 1939. “Left Wing Poets and Spain.” Times Literary Supplement (March 4): 131.
Galassi, Jonathan, ed. 1976. Understand the Weapon Understand the Wound: Selected Writings of John Cornford. Manchester: Carcanet.
Isherwood, Christopher. 1979 (1938). Lions and Shadows. London: Methuen.
Lehmann, John. 1955. The Whispering Gallery. London: Longmans, Green.
Lehmann, John and Stephen Spender, eds. 1939. Poems for Spain. London: Gollancz.
Lewis, John, ed. 1935. Christianity and the Social Revolution. London: Gollancz.
Preston, Paul. 2006. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: Harper Perennial.
Saville, John. 1981. “Valentine Cunningham and the Poetry of the Spanish Civil War.” Socialist Register 18: 270-84.
Smith, Stan. 2007. “From ‘Class Against Class’ to the Hitler-Stalin Pact: Some Reflections on the Unwavering Line.” Revolving Commitment: France and Britain 1929-1950. Eds. Jennifer Birkett and Stan Smith. Special Issue of the e-journal E-REA: revue d’études Anglophones 4 (1). 3-16.
Spender, Stephen. 1934. Poems. London: Faber and Faber.
Spender, Stephen. 1951. World Within World. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Spender, Stephen. 1992. “Diary.” London Review of Books (April 9): 25.
Stansky, Peter and William Abrahams. 1966. Journey to the Frontier: Two Roads to the Spanish Civil War. London: Constable.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors retain copyright of articles and authorize Journal of English Studies the first publication. They are free to share, redistribute, and/or reprint the article without obtaining permission from the publisher as long as they give appropriate credit to the editor and the journal.
Self-archiving is allowed too. In fact, it is recommendable to deposit a PDF version of the paper in academic and/or institutional repositories.
It is recommended to include the DOI number.
This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
