Politicized Literature Movements and Common Readers in 1930 -1960

Abstract

English Literature education has been politicized since the beginning of the twentieth century. In this article, we will first show how literature education became politicized from 1930 to 1940. During that period, one of the most influential educational movements was the Scrutiny Movement led by F. R. Leavis who published the journal“Scrutiny”. He attempted to apply his work to grammar schools because he wanted to maintain high standards of knowledge and literature in the face of 20th century popular culture. In addition, Leavis longed to develop the 18th century reader, called the“Common Reader” by Samuel Johnson. Leavis believed that the Common Reader represented the high cultural traditions and standards of taste in literature in the 18th century, and that it should also inform the education of elites in the 20th century. For Leavis, an elite minority was essential for the conservation and transmission of culture. 　His successor Brian Cox and writers in what was called the“Movement Literature” established the journal“Critical Quarterly.” They organized one of the most remarkable educational movements in the politicization of Literature Education, the Black Paper Movement of the 1960s. This movement focussed on current problems in schools and had been developing throughout the 1950s; its publications instigated a major shift in attitude to educational problems. Cox, his colleagues from Cambridge and the Movement writers brought together teachers who had never met but who shared similar anxieties about education. Editing his journal and conducting Literature seminars, Cox became deeply sensitive to the needs of teachers. Although Cox insisted that the purpose of his journal was different from that of the Scrutiny of Leavis of the 1930s, this paper will show some of their common elements viewed from the standpoint of literacy education. One common element is related to the social structure in the UK because Leavis, Cox and most of the Movement writers were originally from the lowermiddle class, or“working class”. Although they became famous intelligentsia, their social position had been“declassed” or“transclass”, representing an ambiguous and marginalized condition in that society. Therefore, they shared a complicated“in between” social space. Despite this, they became well- known among the middle and lower classes for refusing to accept the mass education of the 1950s. Based on the Common Reader of the 20th century, they tried to maintain high educational standards in order to foster a minority elite in the society. 　This paper analyses in three sections how English Literature education as been politicized. Firstly, it shows how traditional literature education was reorganized by Leavis, and discusses how Leavis used his exalted position in the literary hierarchy to promote his own literary ideals through the education of young elites. Secondly, it traces the development of this traditional literary education in the 1950s and shows how the Movement literature writers were influenced by Leavis. Thirdly, it analyses how Cox promoted the Black Paper movement through his journal and seminars based upon the thoughts of Leavis. Thus, we show how the literature movement was politicized in the 1960s.