Literature and the Left

Marilyn Butler

• English Literature in History: 1730-80: An Equal, Wide Survey edited by Raymond Williams, by John Barrell
  Hutchinson, 228 pp, £13.50, March 1983, ISBN 0 09 149820 1
• English Literature in History: 1350-1400: Medieval Readers and Writers edited by Raymond Williams, by Janet Coleman
  Hutchinson, 337 pp, £12.00, July 1981, ISBN 0 09 144100 5
• English Literature in History: 1780-1830: Pastoral and Politics edited by Raymond Williams, by Roger Sales
  Hutchinson, 247 pp, £13.50, March 1983, ISBN 0 09 149830 9
• The Cambridge Guide to English Literature by Michael Stapleton
  Cambridge/Newnes Books, 992 pp, £15.00, April 1983, ISBN 0 521 25647 X

It is a surprise to find Raymond Williams, in the year of his retirement as Professor of Drama at Cambridge, editing a series called ‘Literature in History’. In a writing career that almost spans the post-war period, he has established himself as this country’s leading critic within academic English of the very concept of ‘Literature’. So much so, that he would have preferred to see English Literature replaced as a core subject in our school and university curriculum by the study of Culture and of Communications.