Problems of society and mind in British cultural studies, 1919-61 : the early work of I A Richards and F R Leavis and Raymond Williams

• Main Author: West, D. W.
• Published: Birkbeck (University of London) 1997
• Subjects: 800; Literature
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.265995

I trace the history of a particular and distinctive period in British cultural studies, one which began in 1919 and ended in 1961. The chief dilemma which occupied cultural theorists in Britain during this period was, what effect does "society" have upon the human mind? and, then, what effect does this effect have upon "culture"? I separate the period into three broad phases, with each of my three Parts focusing upon the work of a particular theorist during a particular phase: in Part I, the 1919-29 phase and the work of I. A. Richards; in Part II, the 1928-33 phase and the work ofQ.D. and F.R. Leavis; and, in Part ill, the 1948-61 phase and the work of Raymond Williams. I concentrate primarily upon the early and theoretical work of each cultural theorist because it was there that the society-mind dilemma was of particular intensity, and because it was there that a new stage in thinking about the dilemma was initiated or reached. My methodology can be described as "intellectual biography". In each of my ten chapters I carry out a detailed analysis of a particular text, looking at the similarities and dissimilarities between that text and those that preceded or succeeded it. I then investigate the intellectual and material circumstances which led a cultural theorist to write that particular text at that particular moment. My thesis is original in two ways. First, because it is the only account which looks at the work of Richards, the Leavises and Williams together. Second, because it is the only account which explains each theorist's work in the light of contemporary developments in the science of mind.