European modernism underwent a massive change from 1930 to 1960, as war altered the cultural landscape. This account of artists and writers in France and England explores how modernism survived under authoritarianism, whether Fascism, National Socialism, or Stalinism, and how these artists endured by balancing complicity and resistance.
"This book explores the connection between experimental aesthetics and reactionary politics through the work of individual artists and writers examining the exchange between modernism and political action linking modernism and authoritarianism in Europe between 1930 and 1960. It links modernism with politics and the possible complicity between forms of political totalitarianism and realignment of the modernist project. Nadel has written a useful and very readable book about an era of modernism that has not hitherto attracted sufficient scholarly curiosity." - Alec Marsh, Muhlenberg College, USA