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Chapter 16 - Rebecca West

Trials and Retribution

from Part III - 1945–1975

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2024

By
Allan Hepburn
Edited by
Rachel Potter  and
Matthew Taunton
Rachel Potter
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Matthew Taunton
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

Rebecca West’s novel of ideas, The Birds Fall Down, responds to the intense debate around capital punishment that took place in the UK after the Second World War. Partly motivated by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, which West attended as a journalist, this debate led to the introduction of the Criminal Justice Bill in 1947 and the establishment of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment in 1949. Alongside other public intellectuals, West acted as an honorary member of the National Campaign for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, founded in 1955. In such non-fictional works as Black Lamb, Grey Falcon and A Train of Powder, West reflects on the meaning of justice and the appropriateness of punishment for murder, assassination, and crimes against humanity. In The Birds Fall Down, she extends her reflections to the political utility of assassination and the wisdom required to pass judgment on crimes and criminals.

Keywords

assassinationcapital punishmenttreasonrevolutionreactionariesstatewar crimesjusticeRebecca West
Type
Chapter
Information
The British Novel of Ideas
George Eliot to Zadie Smith
 , pp. 274 - 291
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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