Conservative modernists: literature and Tory politics in Britain, 1900-1920

257 Pages·2018·2.93 MB·English

by  Hadjiyiannis, Christos

CONSERVATIVE MODERNISTS
Despite sustained scholarly interest in the politics of modernism,
astonishingly little attention has been paid to its relationship to
Conservatism. Yet modernist writing was imbricated with Tory
rhetoric and ideology from when it emerged in the Edwardian
era. By investigating the many intersections between Anglophone
modernism and Tory politics, Conservative Modernists offers
new ways to read major figures such as T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound,
T. E. Hulme, and Ford Madox Ford. It also highlights the contri-
bution to modernism of lesser-known writers, including Edward
Storer, J. M. Kennedy, and A. M. Ludovici. These are the figures to
whom it most frequently returns, but, cutting through disciplinary
delineations, the book simultaneously reveals the input to modern-
ism of a broad range of political writers, philosophers, art histori-
ans, and crowd psychologists: from Pascal, Burke, and Disraeli, to
Nietzsche, Le Bon, Wallas, Worringer, Ribot, Bergson, and Scheler.
Christos Hadjiyiannis was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, and is
currently a Research Fellow in English Literature at Wolfson College,
University of Oxford. He has published widely on modernism,
including essays on T. E. Hulme and Edward Storer; Ezra Pound;
J. M. Kennedy; Imagism; the avant-garde; and affect theory, phe-
nomenology, and the literature of the First World War. He has writ-
ten various encyclopaedia entries and reviews non-fiction books
regularly.

CONSERVATIVE
MODERNISTS
Literature and Tory Politics in Britain, 1900–1920
CHRISTOS HADJIYIANNIS
University of Oxford
University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi – 110025, India
79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of educa-
tion, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108426367
DOI: 10.1017/9781108550895
© Christos Hadjiyiannis 2018
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2018
Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-108-42636-7 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-108-44403-3 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred
to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on
such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
For my parents, for everything
vii
Contents
Acknowledgements page viii
Introduction: Modernists against Modernity x
1 Conservative Party Crisis: Tory Propaganda, Imagist Poetics 1
2 Bringing Poetry and Politics Back to Earth: Tory
Ideology and Classical Modernism 31
3 The Writer as Conservative Statesman:
Modernist Theories of Inspiration 65
4 Against Representation: Conservatism and Abstract Art 98
5 War, Duty, Sacrifice: Anti-pacifism and Objective Ethics 124

Afterword: Afterlives 165
Note on Texts Used 171
Notes 172
Index 227
vii
Acknowledgements
Writing a book may be a solitary (and often lonely) affair, but it is impos-
sible to write alone.
I started thinking about this book as a Research Fellow in English
Literature at Wolfson College, Oxford, where I was immediately wel-
comed into a community of intellectuals (foxes and hedgehogs). I am
thankful to everyone at Wolfson, especially its then President, Dame
Hermione Lee, whose vision, generosity, and grace I will always find
unmatched.
For their precious feedback, advice, and encouragement at differ-
ent stages of the project, I would like to thank Laura Marcus, Rebecca
Beasley, Tim Armstrong, Rachel Potter, Michèle Mendelssohn, Stefano
Evangelista, David James, Olga Taxidou, and Vassiliki Kolocotroni.
Many thanks also to Julie Taylor, Matthew Creasy, and Samuel and Sarah
Shaw, who read portions of the book and made helpful comments, and
to Valeria Petrocchi, Robert Ferguson, Ronald Schuchard, Ron Bush, and
John Gery, who so generously shared their expertise with me. Further, I
am deeply grateful to Jim McCue for his shrewd observations and sug-
gestions on the typescript, and to Fiona Whelan for helping me gather
genealogical information about Kennedy and Storer.
It was a pleasure to work with Ray Ryan, Edgar Mendez, and Lisa
Sinclair at Cambridge University Press, and the book was made immeas-
urably better by the responses of the two anonymous readers of the press.
I would like to acknowledge Faber and Faber for granting me permission
to quote from The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot and I would also like to
express my gratitude to the kind librarians and archivists at the British
Library, the Bodleian, the National Library of Scotland, Keele University
Archives, the Harry Ransom Center at Austin, Texas, the McMaster
University Library, Hull University Archives, and Tate Library and
Archive.
viii
Acknowledgements ix
The first – and best – teacher to inspire me was Peter Howarth, whose
undergraduate lectures were the reason I took an interest in the politics
of modernism in the first place. Peter is the academic I’ll always strive to
be, as is Finn Fordham, on whose friendship, bonhomie, and wisdom I
hope to always be able to call. Whether they realise it or not, I couldn’t
have written this book without their input. I am also hugely indebted
to Alex Thomson. Alex taught me how to read, write, and think anew.
His feedback and faith throughout the years have been transformative; I
cannot thank him enough.
I am lucky to have been able to rely for conversation, comfort, and
advice on Andreas Vrahimis, Yiannis Christofides, Christakis Georgiou,
Jamie Castell, Foteini Dimiroulli, Charlotta Salmi, Jennifer Johnson, Kei
Hiruta, Nick Hall, Cathryn Setz, Anastasia Tolstoy, Christine Fouirnaies,
Michelle Kelly, John Scholar, Edward and Renée Doegar, Margaret
Scarborough, Hannah Joll, Sylvia Villa, and William Charrington. Elina
Aletrari, Antonis Theocharides, Costas Michaelides, Jo Simon, and my
fellow-strollers Danilo Raponi and Florian Nigsch, were there for me
when I asked for their help – but also when I didn’t. My brother Yangos
and my sister Demetra have always looked after me; for that, and for
everything else, I thank them dearly. I am exceptionally grateful to Henry
Mead, Mark Bolsover, Jarad Zimbler, Alexandra Manglis, and, of course,
Lina Protopapa. Meeting Lina has been life’s great triumph. She read
through the typescript painstakingly and meticulously, made helpful sug-
gestions, offered guidance and purpose, and kept me going: I am fortu-
nate, and privileged, to have her in my life and to be able to count on her
love and intellect.
I wrote the majority of this book at kxoffee project café in Nicosia,
Cyprus. I would like to thank Christos and Maria for their steady supply
of short blacks, and Marios Petrondas, who used not to interrupt.
Every opportunity I have had in my life I owe to my parents Theo
and Georgia – to whom this book is dedicated, with infinite love and
gratitude.