Customer Reviews

Stephen Spender: A Literary Life

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A figure who flourished in the Thirties, Stephen Spender is mostly forgotten today. Yet he possessed sufficient tension in his life - cultural, familial, sexual - to make him an appealing biographical figure. John Sutherland's account succeeds in identifying the man's essential qualities, especially his integrity as good friend and skilled artist; his tenacity in the face of hardship; and his ability to balance earning a living with writing brilliantly. But the book's enviable success comes at a cost. Written without much distinction of phrase and without the gift of brevity, unshapely in its organization, and sometimes badly edited, the book loses vitality as it slowly unfolds. Here's an example from page 170: "She was a colleague of Humphrey's and Margaret Low's (Humphrey's future wife) best friend at the Architectural Association." Sentences like it are not uncommon. Still, if one is willing to skim the dullest portions, the book's extensive research illuminates Spender's gifts and exalts his fierce commitment to a literary life. In many ways the choices Spender made seem very modern.