About the Book
Scrutiny was first issued quarterly from Cambridge between 1932 and 1953, the principal editor throughout being Dr Leavis. It is now recognized as a formative influence on English intellectual and cultural life worthy to rank with the great reviews of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This reissue is of the 1963 combined set, including a final volume containing an important Retrospect by Dr Leavis and a substantial analytical index. Scrutiny offers an almost complete critical history of English literature from Chaucer to the mid-twentieth century. Medieval literature, Shakespeare, the seventeenth-century poets, Pope, Dryden, Johnson, the great romantics, the Victorians, and nearly all the important modern writers are seriously examined. Many of the articles have become classics, and resulted in revisions of previously accepted views. An important feature of Scrutiny, still of great interest, is the book review section, where many of the important books of the time, and some of the pretentious ones too, were reviewed as they appeared.
Table of Contents:
Volume 9 No. 1 June 1940: The American Cultural Scene (IV): The Novel H. B. Parkes; 'As You Like It,' James Smith; Tradition and Innovation To-Day Olaf Stapleton; Music and the Dramatic W. H. Mellers; Revaluations (XIII): Coleridge in Criticism F. R. Leavis; Comments and Reviews; 'New Writing' in the 1930's, Folios of New Writing, Spring, 1940, reviewed by R. G. Cox; The Bard and the Prep-School, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog and The Backward Son reviewed by W. H. Mellers; What Boys and Girls Read, What Do Boys and Girls Read? reviewed by T. R. Barnes; Greek Tragedy, Greek Tragedy reviewed by J. C. Maxwell; Remy de Gourmont – Precursor, Remy de Gourmont – Essai de Biographie Intellectuelle reviewed by G. D. Klingopulos; Folk-Song in its Cultural Setting, The Blue Grove: the Poetry of the Uraons reviewed by D.W. Harding; Volume 9 No. 2 September 1940:Education and the University: Sketch for an English School F. R. Leavis; Rubbra's No. 3 W. H. Mellers; The Significance of Manzoni's 'Promessi Sposi,' D. A. Traversi; Prince Hamlet L. C. Knights; Comments and Reviews; A Statement of Positives, The Pool of Vishnu, reviewed by D. W. Harding; Marxists and History, The English Revolution, 1640, and The Role of the Individual in History, reviewed by L. C. Knights; The Literary Life Respectable, reviews of Edwin Muir and George Orwell by Q. D. Leavis; Pelicans, reviews of Pelican Books by G.W., W.H. Mellers and F.R.Leavis; Art History and/or Art Criticism, Modern French Painters, reviewed by Geoffrey Walton; Machiavelli, The Statecraft of Machiavelli, reviewed by D. A. Traversi; Scottish Literature, The Scots Literary Tradition, reviewed by J. C. Maxwell; Petulant Peacock, Letters on Poetry from W. B. Yeats to Dorothy Wellesley, reviewed. W. H. Auden, reviewed by F.R. Leavis; Volume 9 No. 3 December 1940: The Custom of War and the Notion of Peace D. W. Harding; Crime and Punishment in Ben Jonson D. J. Enright; Postscript on Verlaine Martin Turnell; Education and the University: Criticism and Comment F. R. Leavis; 'Greats,' J. C. Maxwell; Comments and Reviews; Marxism: a Post-mortem reviewed by Christopher Hill; A Scientist on Propaganda, Political Propaganda reviewed by D.W. Harding; Milton and his Critics; Folios of New Writing, Autumn, 1940 reviewed by R. G. Cox; Cats in Air-pumps, or Poets in 1940, reviews by W. H. Mellers of Richard Eberhart, T. S. Eliot, William Empson and Poets of Tomorrow: Cambridge Poetry 1940 Marvell, Andrew Marvell reviewed by L. C. Knights; No. 4 March 1941: Education and the University (III) Literary Studies F. R. Leavis; The Politeness of Racine R. C. Knight; The Theme of 'The Ancient Mariner,' D. W. Harding; Mahler as Key-Figure W. H. Mellers; Henry the Fifth D. A. Traversi; Comments and Reviews; Poets in Wartime, reviews by T. R. Barnes; A Book on Yeats, The Poetry of W. B. Yeats, reviewed by W. H. Mellers; Note; Proust, Introduction to Proust, reviewed by Martin Turnell; Essays on Culture and Civilisation, Topics, reviewed by J. C. Maxwell; Musical Conditions in the XVIIIth Century, The Orchestra in the XVIIIth Century, reviewed by Eric Blom; Science in War, reviewed by C. E. Lucas; Knowledge and Experience, The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge, reviewed by R. O. C. Winkler.
