The Struggle Of The Modern

The Struggle of the Modern (1963) by Stephen Spender – Crappy Old Books

Stephen Spender’s The Struggle of the Modern is a high-minded, mid-century trawl through the conflicting currents of modernism, written with all the earnestness you’d expect from a poet-critic trying to make sense of art, politics, and culture in a world that won’t sit still. Published in 1963 by Hamish Hamilton, this book wrestles with the roles of the writer and intellectual in the 20th century, navigating the awkward terrain between moral responsibility and aesthetic ambition. Spender brings in everyone from Eliot to Orwell, Marx to Picasso, in his grand effort to pin down the ever-shifting idea of the "modern."

Our copy? Worn, well-loved, and possibly used as a coaster at some point — but all pages are present, and the ideas are as chewy as ever. Perfect for readers who enjoy intellectual gymnastics and don’t mind a few musty pages along the way.

Available now at Crappy Old Books – because the future is overrated.

Ex-library book from Suffolk Libraries.

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