The Fourth ‘R’ is Rooted Belief’: Rex Warner and the Politics of Revisionist Classicism
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-14-2019
Abstract
This article traces the historical devaluation of classicism within British academic and intellectual circles in the interwar years. I argue that the political tensions of the 1930s contributed to the movement away from a traditional classical approach and towards one informed by political and civic responsibility. In his novels and essays, Rex Warner’s focus on pedagogy repeatedly suggests that Latin or Greek tutelage, without the necessary focus on the liberal democratic values, can inadvertently bolster right-wing fascistic thought. Concern about classicism’s value within modern democracies is mirrored in interwar debates amongst contemporaneous educational reformers, whose concerns about classicism’s exclusivity would lead to the post-war dissolution of classical entrance exams and the complete reformation of the classics.
Repository Citation
Faragher, M.
(2019). The Fourth ‘R’ is Rooted Belief’: Rex Warner and the Politics of Revisionist Classicism. Literature & History, 28 (2).
https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/english/401
DOI
10.1177/0306197319870377
