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This book contains Christopher Caudwell's 1937 treatise, "Illusion and Reality". It is a work of Marxist literary criticism that develops the idea that each individual era of British poetry stems from a novel economical paradigm in bourgeois society. Christopher St John Sprigg (1907-1937), more commonly known by his pseudonym 'Christopher Caudwell', was a British Marxist poet and thinker. In early life, he made his way to Marxism and set about rethinking everything in light of it, from poetry to philosophy to physics, and became a staunch member of the 'Communist Party of Great Britain'. Many vintage texts such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now, in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
About the author
Christopher Caudwell (1907-1937) was the pen-name of Christopher St. John Sprigg, a British Marxist poet, writer and thinker. He joined the Communist Party in 1935, and soon became a dedicated grassroots activist, continuing his writing, even though none of his Marxist works were printed during his lifetime. In 1936, he left for Spain to join the International Brigades in the anti-fascist struggle against Franco. He was killed in the valley of Jarama, February 12th 1937, during his first day of battle. He is the author of the writings compiled in Culture as Politics (Pluto, 2017).
