THE CONSERVATIVE IMAGINATION

This engaging and provocative book seeks to contend the widely held view that 'the conservative imagination' is an oxymoron. Writing fluently and with wit, Philip Thody elucidates the definition of 'conservative thought'. Attitudes towards revolution, liberty and democracy are examined through the work of writers in political and literary genres ranging from Burke and de Tocqueville to Evelyn Waugh and Tom Stoppard. Most controversially, it is contended that within the context of his definition of the term, both Orwell and Camus can be perceived as conservative thinkers. However, whilst professing himself a conservative, the author is not ignorant of the short-comings of conservative thought, as reflected in the wide range of sources he quotes and examines. It is this, coupled with his ability occasionally to ridicule his own position, which prevents an unashamedly personal view from becoming a polemical tract, and which makes the book such illuminating reading for anyone interested in philosophical debate, whether from the right or the left of the spectrum.

Philip Thody has been Professor of French Literature at Leeds since 1965.