Wyndham Lewis Criticism
Wyndham Lewis, a Canadian-born English writer and painter, stands as a provocative and influential figure in early 20th-century modernism. Known for his satirical clarity and distinctive prose style, Lewis co-founded the Vorticism art movement, seeking to replace Romanticism with a focus on impersonal, geometric forms reflective of modern urban life. His role in the "Men of 1914," alongside literary giants like Ezra Pound and James Joyce, cemented his position in the avant-garde movements of his time. As explored in Wyndham Lewis, Blast, and Popular Culture, Vorticism was a unique blend of Cubism and Futurism that challenged prevailing artistic conventions.
Lewis's literary works often exhibit a tension between intellect and emotion, explored through his innovative prose. His early collection, The Wild Body, showcases his satirical voice and is praised for its psychological depth by critics like Timothy Materer. Geoffrey Wagner's essay further delves into Lewis's exploration of the "savage body" versus the intellect. His novel Tarr critiques societal norms and champions individualism, a theme dissected by Paul Peppis, who examines nationality's role in personal identity.
Politically, Lewis's works from the interwar period reveal a complex stance, initially marked by an admiration for authoritarianism and later a renunciation of Fascism. His controversial political views, including accusations of anti-Semitism and misogyny tackled by Sharon Stockton, have complicated his legacy. Despite these controversies, works like The Revenge for Love demonstrate a more compassionate tone, exploring themes of tragedy, as discussed in Proletarian Tragedy: Wyndham Lewis' Revenge for Love.
Lewis's later literary output, including his acclaimed trilogy The Human Age, reinforces his standing as a significant, albeit contentious, figure in modernism. His philosophical influences, such as Nietzsche and Spengler, manifest in works that critique conformity and celebrate individualism, as explored by Sue Ellen Campbell. Despite debates over his philosophical coherence, as outlined by Vincent Sherry, Lewis's contributions to art and literature remain impactful, with Anne Quema highlighting his enduring influence in her essay.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Lewis, Wyndham (Short Story Criticism)
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Some Modern Pessimists
(summary)
In the following excerpt from an early review, Taylor finds the "noise and fury" of Lewis's satire in The Wild Body distasteful.
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Wyndham Lewis
(summary)
In the following review of The Wild Body, originally published in the New York Post in 1928, Aiken admires what he considers Lewis's first-rate narration in his psychological short stories, but finds that the writer's self-conscious theorizing mars his otherwise brilliant work.
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Foreword to Rotting Hill
(summary)
In the following essay, the foreword to his volume of stories Rotting Hill, Lewis characterizes his work in the collection as showcasing the "universal wreckage and decay" prevalent in politics and social life in post-World War II, socialist Britain.
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The Wild Body: A Sanguine of the Enemy
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In the following essay, Wagner argues that the collection of stories The Wild Body embodies Lewis's theory and practice of satire, explaining that his political thinking and comic sense have their roots in the conflict between the savage body and the cultivated intellect, and further that satire is at the heart of Lewis's realism.
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Tarr into Cantelman
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In the following excerpt, Kenner contends that the protagonist of Lewis's short story "Cantelman 's Spring-Mate" is a fusion of two characters, Tarr and Kreisler, from his novel Tarr, and embodies Lewis's interest in the interrelated conflicts between mind and body, logic and emotion, intellect and animal nature.
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Self Condemned: Last Wills and Testaments
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In the following excerpt from a book-length study of Lewis's life and work, Pritchard considers Lewis's collection of stories Rotting Hill an artistic failure, noting that the collection's lack of vitality and imagination mirrors the grey austereness of socialist Britain that was the target of Lewis's reproach in the stories.
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The Short Stories of Wyndham Lewis
(summary)
In the following essay, Materer discusses Lewis's comic theory and sense of irony in The Wild Body, arguing that the narrator of the sequence of stories, Ker-Orr, like Lewis, views the world from a detached but not disinterested perspective and sees comedy as springing from the discrepancies between human beings' physical bodies and intellectual aspirations.
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Introduction to Unlucky for Pringle: Unpublished and Other Stories
(summary)
In the following introduction to a collection of Lewis's short fiction, Fox and Chapman provide an overview of Lewis's work in the genre and touch on some major elements that mark his short stories, including their peculiar sense of dark comedy; rootedness in the politics and culture of the day; unsympathetic portrayal of women; interest in violence; and recurrence of the figure of the Impostor.
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Natures, Puppets and Wars
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In the following essay, Chapman examines the development of Lewis's style and themes in his early stories and their later revision in The Wild Body, pointing out that Lewis's early socio-psychological concerns were later abandoned for a greater interest in more abstract philosophical ideas.
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Afterword, to The Complete Wild Body
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In the following afterword to a collection of Lewis's stories, Lafourcade, following Lewis's own example, catalogues the six basic "Attributes" of the Wild Body stories, which are "a real presence," "fascination," "comedy," "tragedy," "The grotesque," and "The absurd."
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Getting Even with Uncle Ez: Wyndham Lewis's 'Doppelgänger'
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In the following excerpt, Anspaugh argues that the protagonist of Lewis's story 'The Doppelgänger' can be seen to represent Lewis's friend Ezra Pound, while the 'Stranger' who in the tale proves to be the protagonist's alter ego and superior as a poet, scholar, and man, is a symbol for Lewis himself.
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Some Modern Pessimists
(summary)
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Lewis, Wyndham (Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism)
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Proletarian Tragedy: Wyndham Lewis' Revenge for Love
(summary)
In the following essay, Russell examines elements of tragedy in Lewis's novel, Revenge for Love.
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Wyndham Lewis, Blast, and Popular Culture
(summary)
In the following essay, Tuma discusses Vorticist tenets as evidenced by the material Lewis wrote or accepted for the journal Blast.
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The Enemy Versus the Zeitgeist: Cultural Criticism
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In the following essay, Campbell identifies key philosophical influences on Lewis's critical theories, fiction, and nonfiction, including Oswald Spengler, Albert Einstein, and Julien Benda.
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The Experiment of Vorticist Drama: Wyndham Lewis and Enemy of the Stars
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In the following excerpt, Klein places Lewis within the early twentieth-century's avant-garde, and declares Lewis's play, The Enemy of the Stars, an important example of Vorticist art.
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Wyndham Lewis in the Modernist Canon: Dissent, Division, and Displacement
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In the following excerpt, Schenker declares that Lewis's politics and morality prevent him from receiving acknowledgement as a major cultural figure.
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Who Was Wyndham Lewis?
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In the following excerpt, Cassidy presents biographical details of Lewis's childhood to explain his later inability to focus his art.
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Wyndham Lewis: Fascism, Modernism, and the Politics of Homosexuality
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In the following excerpt, Hewitt responds to Fredric Jameson's conclusions in Fables of Aggression: Wyndham Lewis as Fascist, and explores Lewis's attitudes toward nazis and homosexuals.
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Wyndham Lewis: L'Entre Deux Guerres
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Sherry examines Lewis's visual art as well as his body of written work to support his claim that Lewis failed to present a philosophically cohesive, unified body of work.
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The Molten Column Within: Wyndham Lewis
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In the following excerpt, Lowenstein presents a detailed analysis of Lewis's body of work to identify Lewis as a misogynist, nazi, and homophobe.
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Blasting the Bombardier: Another Look at Lewis, Joyce, and Woolf
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In the following excerpt, Anspaugh examines Lewis's critical reaction to the writings of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.
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Anti-Individualism and the Fictions of National Character in Wyndham Lewis’ Tarr
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In the following excerpt, Peppis identifies themes and motifs in Lewis's novel Tarr, emphasizing the central role that nationality plays in the text and how characters contemplate their national characteristics.
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Aesthetics, Politics, and the Staging of the World: Wyndham Lewis and the Renaissance
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In the following excerpt, Stockton traces Lewis's political and philosophical development.
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Wyndham Lewis's Narrative of Origins: ‘The Death of the Ankou’
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In the following excerpt, Edwards declares Lewis more successful as a visual artist, and explores Lewis's short story “The Death of the Ankou.”
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Introduction: Modernism Reclaimed
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In the following excerpt, Quema identifies Lewis as an unfairly neglected master of modernist literature.
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Proletarian Tragedy: Wyndham Lewis' Revenge for Love
(summary)
- Further Reading