Stephen Spender was a poet, critic, essayist, and literary figure. He has been praised by many as well has been criticized by many. The author’s one of the most critiqued and publicized books was his personal memoir called Journals 1939-1983, edited by John Goldsmith. In order to understand more of Stephen Spender through the reviews of his book and other works is important as it brings forth the Spender from the reader’s eye. Therefore, this essay will summarize two articles written as review articles of Stephen Spender’s book and show how they have helped to characterize the real person behind the book.
The articles which are considered for the study are R.Z. Sheppard’s Books: Confessions of a Public Son, JOURNALS: 1939-1983 (Sheppard) and Alfred Kazin’s Half a Century of Poetry, Politics, and People (Kazin). The articles demonstrate how the writings of Spender actually draw the character of the poet and writer. First, a brief summary of the first article by Sheppard will be given.
Sheppard believes that the journal by Spender is more about an author who is mediocre in capability. That is why, according to Sheppard, Spender describes more of his encounters with literary figures of the time rather than concentrating on writing about himself as a poet. That is why Sheppard states “To judge from his journal and a reissue of his collected verse, Stephen Spender, 76, remains a minor poet and a major luncher” (Sheppard). In another instance, Sheppard calls Spender a “benevolent” man, who he believes has worked more as a “cultural emissary” than as a poet in his travels across the Atlantic and socializing with the literary and famous people of the time. The review article poses its surprise towards Spender’s “no outrage or a deep sense of betrayal at having been an unwitting partisan in the cold war” (Sheppard), rather Sir Spender states in his book that he is surprised at CIA’s secretive conduct. However, Sheppard feels amused at Sir Spender’s naïve attitude as he mentions “it is, after all, the agency’s job to be secretive” (Sheppard). When Sheppard talks of the poem The Public Son of a Public Man, he categorically brings forth the statement made by Sir Spender in which he said that he wanted to be “a really great writer,” and not a “fake great man”. From this Sheppard concludes that Sir Spender was closer to W.H Auden than his father.
In the review article by Kazin, he states that Sir Spender in his journal brought about a collection of who’s who in the literary world, but the book lacks “in malice as it is in good cheer” (Kazin). Kazin points out that Sir Spender’s journal is full of quotes that were aimed at him as critiques, thus showing humility that presides on this man. Thus to quote Kazin: “A theme running through the journals substantiates the long famous remark made to him by Auden when they were at Oxford – ”You will be a poet because you will always be humiliated.” Kazin draws similarities between the two friends – Spender and Auden, who according to him had personalities and talent on two different poles but had the likeness for Weimar Germany and poetry that brought forward the “gritty industrial landscape of the 1930s into poetry” (Kazin).
Both the article demonstrates Sir Spender’s political consciousness and the different facets of his political life. But the articles differ in their final verdict about the Journal. According to Sir Sheppard has only collected arrays of his socio-political encounters and typically calls it a luncheon story while Kazin states “The sharp feeling of this is the best instance in the book of the mixture of politics and literature that has dominated Mr. Spender’s writing and that gives documentary value to both the journals and the poems.” (Kazin)
Reference
Kazin, Alfred. “Half a Century of Poetry, Politics, and People.” 1986. The New York Times. 2009. Web.
Sheppard, R.Z. “Books: Confessions of a Public Son, JOURNALS: 1939-1983.” 2005. Time. Web.