The Thirties - Writers of the Thirties

During this period of time, the literary movement goes back to Realism and we find
ourselves with a critical obscurity and the elitism of Modernist writers called for a
more politically aware and communicative approach. In fact, all writers were politically
engaged, being Marxists and Communists. The exception is George Orwell, who first
described himself as an anarchist and later on a socialist, however he attacked the
aspects of socialism that he didn’t like.

Virginia Woolf was a Modernist in the 30s, and believed that people had to
know about politics, the world and also regimes.

In 1929, the collapse of Wall Street and the following economic depression in the US,
deeply affected British affairs. By 1931, the Pound had been devaluated and the rising
unemployment culminated in hunger marches and riots. This crisis forced writers and
people in England to be aware of what was going on in the world. The writers of the
30s were trapped between the 2 WW and they were affected by the circumstances.
And, of course, both wars shaped their imagination always close to reality and history,
especially in times of crisis. These writers shared two catastrophic historical tragedies:
World Wars and economic crisis.

Most writers came from the upper class, and went to “public” schools like Eton, Oxford
and Cambridge. No writing of importance came from the working class, they found
other ways of expression and didn’t have much time to write. They were too busy
working in factories in terrible conditions. The writers of the 30s tried to respond to
these crises through novels and poems. This would help face the disasters since the
writer or poet makes the reader aware of them. They felt that art should perform a
social and moral role. In addition, the writers knew WW2 was coming and they really
thought that they could stop it with their art. They were eager to make the readers
understand that action was urgent. At this time, in schools boys learned to drill and to
march, while girls learned to bandage. For boys the great consolation was experiencing
the “glory” of the trenches. This was a war in which the traditional values of public
schools could be transferred to the battlefield; values such as courage, self-sacrifice,
honour and duty. But when the war was over, this young boys’ great opportunity had
been missed and they didn’t become heroes. Writers had ambivalent feelings about
WW1. On the one hand they were disgusted by the brutalities but on the other hand,
they felt guilty and envied the ones who fought.

As previously mentioned, writers believed that their poems and novels could change
history. After WW1 they were sure that WW2 was coming. From about 1928 is that
people think of themselves as Post-war generation, and they began to feel that they
were living in a time preceding another war. These writers were aware of the pressure
of the history of public life upon private life. This is why many poets asked themselves
about their role in a time of crisis and what kind of poems they should write.

In 1936, the writers were concerned with the Spanish Civil War for the following
reasons:

1. They saw there evidence of an intensifying conflict between the left and the
right, fascist vs. communists and this would lead to WW2.
2. This was the first battle and apocalyptic struggle that the generation had
predicted and actually came true.
The literary response was immediate and many writers wrote about it. The first texts
were rhetorical and propagandistic because they presented the war as a cause worth
fighting for; a crusade. As the war went on, this vision changed for many English
writers and it was not a matter of changing loyalties, but a matter of seeing the conflict
in more realistic terms.
The Russians came in to a position of power; the “good” war came to be soiled by
betrayal. The communists were betraying the ideas of the revolution and created a
new cast. This was witnessed by the writers when they came to Spain, like George
Orwell in Barcelona talking about the POUM. What is more, many British (and
communist) writers came to fight for the Republican side and/or to observe as
journalists. Writers were exposed to the realities of the war, but these realities were
quite different: on the one hand it was a foreign war in a foreign country; a foreigners’
Civil War, and on the other hand, although it was ugly and destructive, it was a war
worth fighting for. The Spanish Civil War allowed English writers to enter the war and
“take the test” their grandfathers had passed with WW1. This war was important
because it meant that the choice between art and action had become real and they
knew what they wanted to do. British writers realized that there was a great gap
between beautiful words such as “freedom”, “courage” “revolution”, etc. and the
actual reality which was blood and death. But they still believed in the cause though,
and this gap was reflected in their works.
By 1937 there was an obvious retreat from the political commitment because most
English intellectuals knew there was no other choice but to wait for WW2. In addition,
other factors of the foreseeable war were the success of fascism in Europe and the
great acknowledge of the totalitarian method by Communism. And as time was
passing, the writers grew older, got married, had children and had other
responsibilities.
1939 was the beginning of WW2 and it was a period of waiting for the end and the
preliminary ending. Faith ended with the pact between Russia and Germany and when
Czechoslovakia was no longer independent. The English literary world hit a time of
ending since the publication of journals were suspended and editors realised that the
literary period was over because people were now preoccupied with other matters.
People turned away from the present and turned into nostalgia and forward into
apocalypse not trying to escape from the present, but to prepare for the war that was
coming. Before, it was about finding something worth keeping forward when
preparing for WW2.
In 1939, apart from the death of Yeats, two of the most important writers left England
for the US and writers accepted that art can’t change history and that their efforts
were in vain, and with these changes of heart, the 30s ended. Writers were in shock,
depressed and felt abandoned by history, and so they lacked motivation. However,
most people expected them to become war poets and were quite disappointed, but
the writers had already fought their own war and had lost. The right response for
these writers was silence and an analysis of what happened since all their hopes were
destroyed and couldn’t write about it.