During
his lifetime, Herbert Read (1893--1968) acquired a
considerable international reputation. Poet and
anarchist, novelist and biographer, critic of art,
literature, and life, aesthetic philosopher and
revolutionary theorist of education, Read was in a
unique place as an interpreter of his time, for few
writers have probed so deeply into the nature of the
prevailing culture, and none brought together the
insights of modern philosophers and critics, poets
and artists, psychologists and social scientists, as
Read did.
Best
known as an art critic, as a follower of the theories
of Carl Jung, Read was a pioneer in the
English-speaking world in the use of psychoanalysis
as a tool for art and literary criticism. Although
knighted by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1953
for "services to literature," Read regarded
himself, politically, as an anarchist.
This
work, by fellow anarchist George Woodcock, is a
critical study of the intellectual career of Herbert
Read, as well as a thorough study of Read's
criticism, creative writing, art theory, and
anarchist philosophy. Woodcock does not divide Read's
writings on politics from those on art and culture as
Read saw art, culture, and politics as a single
expression of human consciousness.
Comprehensive
and authoritative, it is an impressive volume that
presents a unified portrait of one of England's most
distinguished twentieth-century critics.
Table of Contents
GEORGE
WOODCOCK (1912-1995)--award-winning poet, author,
essayist and widely known as a literary journalist
and historian--published more than 90 titles on
history, biography, philosophy, poetry and literary
criticism.
304
pages, 6x9, index
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-55164-318-2 $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-55164-319-9 $48.99
Biography &
Autobiography
June
2008
