Abstract
This chapter is about how four twentieth-century writers looked hard at their present circumstances, took stock of how desperate the times were and offered some routes out of the crisis. The writers are: W. H. Auden (1907–1973), Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) and Raymond Williams (1921–1988). It seems a fairly random selection, covering a century of British and US experience. However, they have certain common characteristics relevant to my aim of investigating how they advance their arguments and make an appeal to audiences then and now. All, for instance could be described as ‘public intellectuals’, highly attuned to their times, rigorous researchers and critics, exponents of a variety of progressive causes and successful writers across a variety of documentary and fictional genres.
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References
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© 2013 Rosalind Brunt
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Brunt, R. (2013). ‘Show an Affirming Flame’: Writers and Readers in Modern Dark Times. In: Philips, D., Shaw, K. (eds) Literary Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137270146_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137270146_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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