Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

 The May 13, 1915 (Vol. 17, Issue 2) edition of "The New Age" was the first issue to run after the sinking of the Lusitania.  The outrage over this event is considered by many to be one of the foremost causes for American involvement in World War I.  More than a cause, it was the catalyst that could not be ignored.  J.M. Kennedy, writing under the pseudonym S. Verdad (es verdad meaning "it is true" in Spanish), was responsible for the war-concerned column entitled "Foreign Affairs", and in this particular issue of "The New Age", he uses this column to discuss the Lusitania incident.

Being that "The New Age" was a London-based publication, the tone of the piece (also reflecting "The New Age" pro-war stance) was of disbelief over American inaction.  This is not to say that Verdad was commenting on the American public.  Rather, he was incredulous over the failure of the American government to address the German violations of The Hague and Geneva Conventions.

 Being that the advertising in "The New Age" was more or less non-existent after the outbreak of World War I, I chose a random pre-war issue to see what conclusions could be drawn from the typography of the early ads.  Volume 5, Issue 4, dated May 20, 1909 features an ad for "Socialist Cigarette Makers"in which bold typographic text is used to emphasize certain aspects of the ad.  Aside from words like "Virginia", "Turkish" and "Exceptional Value", "New Age" is also in bold, rhetorically linking the advertisement back to the publication in which it is advertising.

Other points of humor include the description of the actual cigarette as "non-injurious" and "democratically priced".

 This being the first time I have ever "blogged", I found the process far more confusing than I suppose most others in the class did.  I found the timelining, and content creation to be simple enough, but I found myself stressing over the website/timeline as a whole in terms of overall organization.  Though it should not have frustrated me that there were misleading keywords or categories that overlapped, or were lower-case, etc. I suppose it made me question the value of internet sources--- where/who they came from? what was reliable?  In the end, it really motivated me to keep my own posts as objective, and when applicable, as factually correct as possible.  In terms of the actual timeline, I found it interesting to note when certain writers who I was now more familiar with, were writing.  Also, it is a good reference for works of art by a specific artist, whose contributions were now organized by keyword.

The first issue of The Tyro is a short one so must have been read cover to cover when first published. When reading it on a computer, however, the small print causes one to have to magnify to the point of seeing only small sections of each page. I tried browsing through the magazine while looking at it showing the full page and noticed that I paused for the more interesting titles. "The Romantic Englishman, The Comic Spirit and the Function of Critism" by T.S. Eliot caught my eye. The gist of what Eliot is saying in the essay is that the audience of characters in the Romantic Period could not take it seriously or they would realize the performance or piece was actually a critism of themselves. Knowing now that Eliot was not only a writer but also a widely published critic, it is fun to see a piece of his work in this little magazine.

The title that by far is the most eye catching in the whole magazine is "Cafe Cannibale" by John Adams. Wikipedia only lists one poet by the name of John Adams and he was dead almost 200 years before this magazine was published. Both presidents that were named John Adams were dead before this was published as well, but obviously the name of the author struck me or I would not have searched for it. After the title and the author, the poem sucks you in in a similar fashion to the woman that is the subject. The poem seems to be a shorter version of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by (once again) T.S. Eliot. The man in the poem is drawn to this woman yet completely uncomfortable with her. The pressure to continually keep her entertained seems to be eating him alive. In lines 6-9 the speaker describes the womans laughter as something primitive that she "raptoursly giv[es] herself altogether to" and "becomes an orgiastic figure of abandon." The language of the poem invites it to be read over and over again. The hyperbolic description of the man's discomfort is at first laughable, but becomes more open to empathy with each read. I could be biased because I liked "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" so much and I see a lot of it in this poem, but this poem is my favorite find for the semester.

The timeline in its current form allows for a variety of different uses. One of the most interesting is the ability to see certain subject matters, like advertisements, in a chronological sphere. Without this two dimensional tool, it can be quite difficult visualizing when events happened and their impact on history. For instance, the advertisement tags on our timeline indicate that during 1915, there were a plethora of advertisements targeting the woman shopper. Considering that women didn’t have the right to vote in Britain until 1928 (although there was limited suffrage before 1928, it was not universal until 1928) and the US until 1920, the targeting of women as a consumer group tells a great deal.
Although it may be helpful in the future to have a few key historical dates depicted in the timeline in order to facilitate better contextual viewing, as of now it is still quite helpful. In addition, the filter feature allows the user not to be overwhelmed by data. Information overload is often a problem in whatever database one uses and it is a pleasure to be able to filter so easily. Another feature that could be helpful in the future, when there is more data entered, is the magazine filter. Right now, one can visually get a sense of where the class concentrated their energies in instantaneously from this feature. In the future when more articles are reviewed and more timeline entries are made, the timeline will become even more of a useful scholarly tool.
 

There is much to discuss when looking at T.S. Eliot’s article, “The Lesson of Baudelaire.” One could comment on the way The Tyro breaks the page into vertical sections with its own columns rather than a continuation of the columns throughout the entirety of the page as The New Age does. In addition, the typeface that the editor uses is less serious than The New Age’s typeface. It has certain lightheartedness to it, versus The New Age, which seems to be stuffy and serious. Eliot’s article reflects this gaiety of font, in which Eliot makes a rather far-reaching claim, “Undoubtedly the French man of letters is much better read in French literature than the English man of letters is in any literature” (4). In addition, the page that this article is on and the next page where an illustration is displayed, there are no page numbers. Based upon looking only at the typeface and the pictures that accompany the articles in this magazine, one could make the overall statement that The Tyro is more of an entertainment periodical than The New Age.
The arguments that Eliot relays are by no means invalid, but the attempt to keep the discussion on literature, in comparison with The New Age, strikes the reader that this is not a heavy journal. In fact, the rhetorical devices that Eliot deploys are common in contemporary times. This could be contrasted with The New Age, where many authors use a variety of fields to prove their original point. If the article concerns metaphysics, it would not be unusual to find in The New Age an author attempting to verify their point using a purely scientific theory. It is interesting to witness Eliot’s writing in the original format versus viewing it through a reprint of some contemporary publisher.
 

In the New Age, an article titled, “Foreign Affairs” by S. Verdad, is interesting on many different levels. First and foremost is the fact that the article primarily deals with Sino-Japanese relations during this tumultuous time in Europe. There is an analogy made between the situation of China and Belgium. At the time of WWI, Belgium was under the occupation of German troops and this article makes a parallel between the two countries, “China stands in the same relation to Japan as Belgium to Germany” (5).  Secondly, the article exposes China’s subservience to Japan and it’s reliance on foreign loans, which understates the difference between the China of the early twentieth century and the China of today. 
In today’s marketplace, China holds a significant portion of not only the United States debt, but many other foreign governments as well. After taking a trip to China this past winter, it is hard to imagine that most of what I witnessed, in terms of the infrastructure, was not even a thought of the Chinese government during the time of this article. In fact, only in the last 20-30 years has there been a mass urbanization like none ever seen in history before. The article is quite emphatic on it’s opinion that Belgium’s economy will rebound because “Belgium has always differed from China in being a country that paid its way” (5). Although Belgium today is a country with a healthy GDP it is not even I in comparison to the juggernaut that which is China’s economy. This article lets the contemporary reader have a historical snapshot of Britain’s and possibly the world’s viewpoint on the status of China during the time of WWI.
 

In Poetry Vol 6, No. 3 the reoccurring them of several poets was the gift of silence and hope. With in the poem After Vespers by Ajan Syrian http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1201885160734375.jpg on page 112, the narrator describes a woman sitting in a chapel where she sits alone with silence. Silence overcomes her with her blessings and prayes and gives her hope and desire to continue. The same effect of silence was seen in the poem Noon by Bliss Carman on page 117 - 118 http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1201885181718750.jpg , http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1201885185890625.jpg the narrator describes a battle field in the mist of noon during the month of June high up in the mountain. The soldiers tents are laid down but are hushed by the journey of the end. God stands in the presence of the courage less warriors as he tries to lifted them up once more. Both poems use silence as a sign of spiritual healing when dealing with their surroundings. With in Syrian’s poem silence was a symbol of a holy spirit which overtook the characters problems and worries with blessings and peace. Silence once again was a facto of God in Carman’s poem Noon. Even after the battles were lost and hope was gone then silence over came the battle field and hope was once again regained because of a spiritual presence. The need for spirituality and hope can be seen in both poems. Due to the unknowing factors of the war and faith of ones country and future hope was needed to get through not only the battle field but the everyday battle one went through at home. Both the home front and the front lines used spirituality as an escape from death and dispar.

<!--StartFragment-->The post-war Owl was still rather dark and somber in its mood. There was a sense that the redemption of humanity might be on the horizon but the war was still very strongly present in its contents. Throughout the 1923 publication there are very dark sketches such as “The Shire Horse” and rather sad poems such as a “Winter Remembered” by John Crowe Ransom, which directly references the war.

In a “Winter Remembered” Ransom speaks about a winter at war. He says “better to walk forth in murderous air and wash my wound in the snows… because my heart would throb less painful there”. The winter imagery contributes to how horrible the war was and it’s lingering effects on society. The Owl’s choice of including this poem speaks to the lasting problems those faced with the after match of a traumatic event such as war continue to deal with.

Like wise the sketches in the post-war Owl also add to a sense of despair. "The Shire Horse" looks very dark and ominous. He is somewhat reminiscent of one of the four horseman of the apocalypse. Upon closer examination on can see a small man hanging onto the reign. He, however, looks small and insignificant next to this huge menacing looking horse. The colors used are also dark further giving a sense of despair. This sketch speaks volumes to how society was feeling shortly after the war. This negative sentiment is lightened a bit with a series of sketches by Vincent Brook, which depicts what seems to be a man under a rock. He then begins to move up through the rock until he is finally standing next to rock with a content look on his face. This can be seen as a somewhat symbolic sentiment that at this time people still very much feel effected by the war but are looking forward to eventually moving away from the horrors of the war. 

The overall post-war sentiment of The Owl has been rather dark with some hints of hope for the near future.

Due: Project 4

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 An interesting instance of commercial typography appears in the March 1916 issue of Scribner’s Magazine. The advertisement is  marketing a “new handy volume” of the Encyclopedia <!--StartFragment-->Britannica.<!--EndFragment-->  The advertisement is marketing a “new handy volume” of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The page is bordered on three sides by the likes of some very distinguished gentlemen such as Charles M. Schwab and Andrew D. White while the center contains a text which states the following:

These successful men – and 75,000 other, - paid three times as much to get the Encyclopedia Britannica as you need pa now for the new “Handy Volume” issue with exactly the same content but in a more convenient form.

The short text is meant to inform the reader of the product but the typography calls attention to it’s most important attribute which is the price. “These” is set in a slightly larger font while “paid three times as much” is bolded making the eye go directly to the phrase “These paid three times as much” which is meant to make the reader feel as if they could outsmart these fabulous business men by getting a great steal. The typography of this add is meant to send a not all too subtle subliminal message that this product is a great buy and if you buy it would not only join the intellectual ranks of Charles M. Schwab but would even be somewhat better because you got the same product he did but at a fraction of the coast. A very clever use of commercial typography.<!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment-->

Due: 6/18 Blog Entry

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