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Christopher Caudwell

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Christopher Caudwell portrait

Christopher Caudwell (1907-1937). Courtesy Wikipedia.

Christopher Caudwell was the pseudonym of Christopher St. John Sprigg (20 October 1907 - 12 February 1937), an English poet and mystery writer, and a Marxist writer and thinker.

Life[]

Caudwell was born into a Catholic family living at 53 Montserrat Road, Putney district, south-west London.

Educated at the Benedictine Ealing Priory School, Caudwell's formal education ended at the age of 15 when his father, Stanhope Sprigg, lost his job as literary editor of the Daily Express. Caudwell moved with his father to Bradford and began work as a journalist for the Yorkshire Observer. He found his own way to Marxism and set about rethinking everything in light of it, from poetry to philosophy to physics.

He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in Poplar in the East End of London.

In December 1936 he drove an ambulance to Spain and joined the International Brigades once there, training as a machine-gunner at Albacete before becoming a machine-gun instructor and group political delegate. He also edited a wall newspaper.

Caudwell was killed in action on 12 February 1937 during the 1st day of the battle of the Jarama Valley. His brother Theodore had attempted to have Caudwell recalled by the Communist Party of Great Britain by showing General-Secretary Harry Pollitt the proofs of Illusion and Reality. However, despite the myth that a recall telegram was sent but arrived after Caudwell's death, no telegram or other recall instruction was ever sent, which was an enduring source of bitterness for Theo.

His Marxist works were published posthumously. The first was Illusion and Reality (1937), an analysis of poetry.

Publications[]

as Christopher Caudwell[]

Poetry[]

  • Poems. London: John Lane, Bodley Head, 1939; Lawrence & Wishart, 1965
  • Collected Poems (edited with an introduction by Alan Young), Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1986.

Novel[]

  • This My Hand. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1936.

Non-fiction[]

  • Illusion and Reality. London: Macmillan, 1937;
    • (with biographical note by George Thomson). Berlin: Seven Seas; New York: International Publishers; London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1973.
  • Studies in a Dying Culture (with introduction by John Strachey). London: John Lane, Bodley Head, 1938.
  • The Crisis in Physics (edited with introduction by Hyman Levy). London: John Lane, Bodley Head, 1939.
  • Further Studies in a Dying Culture (edited with preface by Edgell Rickword). London: John Lane, Bodley Head, 1949.
  • The Concept of Freedom (selected chapters from Studies & Further Studies in a Dying Culture and The Crisis in Physics). London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1965.
  • Romance and Realism (edited with introduction by Samuel Hynes). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970.
  • Studies and Further Studies in a Dying Culture (with introduction by Sol Yurick, and previous introductions by John Stracey & Edgell Rickword). New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971.
  • Scenes and Actions (edited with introduction by Jean Duparc & David Margolies). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.

as Christopher St. John Sprigg[]

Poetry[]

  • 'Once I did think' (The ecstasy). The Dial LXXXII, (March 1927)

Novels[]

  • Crime in Kensington. London: Eldon Press, 1933.
    • published in U.S. as Pass the Body. New York: Dial Press, 1933.
  • Fatality in Fleet Street. London: Eldon Press, 1933.
  • The Perfect Alibi. London: Eldon Press, 1934.
  • Death of an Airman. London: Hutchinson, 1934.
  • The Corpse with the Sunburnt Face. London: Thomas Nelson, 1935.
  • Death of a Queen. London: Thomas Nelson, 1935.
  • The Six Queer Things. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1937.

Non-fiction[]

  • The Airship: Its Design, History, Operation and Future. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co, 1931.
  • Fly with Me: An Elementary Textbook on the Art of Piloting (with Henry Davis). London: John Hamilton, 1932.
  • British Airways. London: Thomas Nelson, 1934.
  • Great Flights. London: Thomas Nelson, 1935.
  • Let's Learn to Fly. London: Thomas Nelson, 1937.

Edited[]

  • Uncanny Stories. London: Thomas Nelson, 1936.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Dublin City University.[1]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Prof. Helena Sheehan, Christopher Caudwell bibliography of works, Dublin City University, DCU.ie, Web, Apr. 27, 2012.

External links[]

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Books
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