Studies and Further Studies in a Dying Culture

In 1938, a year after his death in Spain at the age of thirty, Christopher Caudwell's Studies in a Dying Culture was published, to be followed eleven years later by a second volume, Further Studies in a Dying Culture. This volume makes available both important works by one of the foremost Marxist critics of the thirties. The first book consists of eight essays: on George Bernard Shaw, T.E. Lawrence, D. H. Lawrence, H. G. Wells, Sigmund Freud, and on pacifism and violence, love, and liberty. The second is divided into five essays: "The Breath of Discontent: A Study in Bourgeois Religion," "Beauty: A Study in Bourgeois Aesthetics," "Men and Nature: A Study in Bourgeois History," "Consciousness: A Study in Bourgeois Psychology," and "Reality: A Study in Bourgeois Philosophy."

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.