Propaganda, Pacifism and Periodicals: Conflicted Anti-Fascism in Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Spanish Civil War Writing

Abstract

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Spanish Civil War writing reveals the complexity of her anti-fascism as it related to questions surrounding the role of propaganda and violence in resisting fascism. By analysing contributions Warner made to Left Review, this article argues that she both wrote propaganda in support of the Spanish Republic’s war effort and critiqued the war (and its propaganda) for the human suffering it inflicted. It also suggests that, by critiquing the war in the form of lyric poetry, Warner was able to avoid the risk of rejection by a publication that strongly supported the Republic’s war effort.