Stephen Spender’s Political Writings and View’s of the Twentieth Century Stephen Spender was truly an influential writer of the twentieth century. The greatest part of Spender’s life was spent voicing his political opinions through his literary works. Stephen Spender’s political views have changed through out his life. During the time he was a young adult, Spender’s political opinions were radically liberal, however he gradually migrated his viewpoint to become more moderate in nature. Stephen Spender was labeled as a political writer and was credited with “bridging the gap of between pre-WWII modernism and all that came after”. (Sternlicht P.115) Much of Spender’s works took a personalistic approach as he documented his political ideas and theories. Politics took center stage in many of Spender’s writings. Political views and events are illustrated in the following works. “Stephen Spender earned the reputation of a radical writer of concern, addressing the polically conscience-striken Left of his time (Sternlicht P.127). “In Forward From Liberalism, Stephen spender records the uncertainties in his attempt to find and support a position left of liberalism, the political creed he was born into” (Sternlicht P. 115). He also discusses his theories on political group dynamics with regards to the different political agendas existing in individual loyalty, which differentiates the dynamics groups. According to Sanford Sterlicht, a critic of the political writings of Steven Spender, Spender’s book The God That Failed was proclaimed to be one of the most Kennedy 2important books of the cold war. The novel describes the journey of six intellectuals into communism, and their return. The four gentleman were searching for a better humanity, however; what they found was personal agony, revulsion, and disillusionment, which affected their p...
