Understand the Weapon, Understand the Wound by John Cornford

Understand the Weapon, Understand the Wound by John Cornford

Understand the weapon, understand the wound:What shapeless past was hammered to action by his deeds,Only in constant action was his constant certainty found.He will throw a longer shadow as time recedes.from 'Sergei Mironovitch Kirov'John Cornford (1915-1936) has long been held in high estimation as the outstanding English writer who fell to the Fascists in Spain. This collection of writings from Cornford's thirteenth to his twenty-first year, when he died of wounds received in action, is a revealing autobiography, showing the sources of his political and literary commitments. In this authoritative survey of Cornford's poems, essays and letters, Jonathan Galassi gives access to material not available elsewhere; his introduction and notes, together with two new afterwords by Jane Bernal and Richard Baxell, situate the work in its political and personal contexts. As Galassi suggests in his introduction, the republication of Cornford's writings eighty years after his death 'celebrates the gem-like intensity of one young man's prodigious desire and need to change the world.'

'Cornford's life speaks for itself in a way that burns the imaginationThe fact that Cornford lived is an important lesson to the leaders of democracies. It shows that people will live and die and fight for democracy if it gives them the justice and freedom which are worth fighting for.' - Stephen Spender

Rupert John Cornford (1915 - 1936) was an English poet, communist and Charles Darwin's great-grandson. He was a member of the International Brigades and died while fighting fascism during the Spanish Civil War. Born in Cambridge, Cornford was educated at Stowe School and Trinity College. As an undergraduate he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and from 1933 was directly involved in Communist Party work in London. At the start of the Spanish Civil War he briefly served with the POUM militia and then with a machine-gun unit of the Commune de Paris Battalion, and fought in defence of Madrid. He was killed in uncertain circumstances at Lopera, near Cordoba in 1936. A memorial volume to Cornford was published in 1938. Jonathan Galassi born in Seattle, is the President and Publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of the eight major publishers in New York. He is a translator and poet and his honours include a 1989 Guggenheim Fellowship and being an honorary chairman of the Academy of American Poets.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781784102487
ISBN 10	1784102482
Title	Understand the Weapon, Understand the Wound
Author	John Cornford
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Carcanet Press Ltd
Year published	2016-03-31
Number of pages	204
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.