Wyndham Lewis: legacy, criticism, research prospects

The article offers a review of the oeuvre of a little-known English writer, artist, and critic Wyndham Lewis; the reasons why disregard for his works has given place to increasing attention from scholars are analyzed; the key trends in the vast criticism concerning Lewis are presented; the most promising directions for future research are proposed. Lewis's marginal position in literary history, which can be explained by his stance as «the Enemy» of all dominant movements in both popular and highbrow cultures and by a number of compromising political statements, has been reconsidered in recent decades in connection with the expansion of modernist studies and the adequacy of Lewis's legacy to the interests of «New Modernist Studies». In Lewis studies, attention to the positive content behind the author's aggressive pose and authoritative beliefs has given way to a renewed interest in the formal features of his style and to posthumanist interpretations. The most promising approaches to Lewis seem to be the intermedial and narratological ones, as well as those which are aimed at further placement of Lewis's oeuvre into the context of European modernism.