MAKERS OF THE NEW: The Revolution in Literature, 1914-1939

The prolific British critic, biographer (see above), and mystery-writer now explores the onslaught of literary modernism through a firm biographical critique of four prime purveyors--Wyndham Lewis, T.S. Eliot, Pound, and Joyce--with snappy glances at lesser lights, including cummings, Faulkner, Stein, etc. Given Symons' loyalty to the traditional narrative of the mystery, it's no wonder that his respect for these pioneers is often barbed (e.g., of William Carlos Williams' Imagist poems, ""At best they may be thought trivial, at worst null"") and tempered, as he corrals Eliot and Lewis, who recognized the limitations of experiment, away from Pound and Joyce, who did not (Finnegan's Wake: ""a signpost to nowhere""). Overall: a punchy and iconoclastic foray.