Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

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.
 

 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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Rosanna Cinquemani

Created as a "miscelleny", literary magazine The Owl addresses no particular sect or movement of Modernism, nor does it claim to take any political view. The contents of each of its three issues are organized in a relatively similar fashion: the first half generally contained a great deal of poetry, followed by a story, and a play of sorts. The issues are dispersed with illustrations, some with handwritten poetry or fables written out beneath them. The Owl possesses a sense of imagery that is somewhat cartoonish and imaginative. The illustrations seem to observe people in an exaggerrated, but genuine state, almost emphasizing the world and life as would be observed by a child, or youth. These articles contain flowery, loopy typescript that appears to be handwritten, and pages are headed with small drawings of paper scrolls and flourishes. Each issue displays the written names of the authors therein on the cover, beneath a bold illustration of an Owl, all possessing strong dark lines that mimic the writing of the contents, and each contains various portraits of people in an unusual, enlivened state. Careless Lady, in the May 1915 edition, as well as Vain Man, in the October 1919 issue, both contain illustrations of high spirited people, acting in a childlike sense; in addition, both pictures are followed by a short, almost Mother Goose type rhyme about these adults acting in an enigmatic, youthful fashion. The poetry of the magazine has a tendency to discuss light hearted topics such as nature, and love. A sense of freedom, happiness, and a certain ignorance of sadness is prominent throughout. The magazine almost seems geared towards forgetting, and holding life and carelessness to a high standard, much obliged by the illustrative titles and covers of the text throughout The Owl.

Finding advertisements or commercial typography was somewhat difficult since most of the magazines published during WWI did not include advertisemets or commercial typography. Many of the magazines published just included works of literature with an occasional sprinkle of art. While reviewing the different magazines published during WWI, I noticed that the Scribner's magazine had the most visual advertisements. By most visual I mean to say that the advertisements in this particular magazine had writings as well as illustrations. Almost each page that tries to sell a particular product has a picture of the item or has the particular items' name in big bold letters. I noticed that all of the advertisements throughout the different volumes are somewhat similar - they all try to sell the same products every month. In addition, all of the advertisements appear in the beginning and the end of every issue.

While I was scrolling through the entire magazine in the thumbnails version, I noticed that there really wasn't a lot of differences between the advertisements and the actual writings. For instance, the different articles throughout the magazine include pictures and maps. It seems to me that the articles are trying to sell something as well. Of course the pictures throughout the articles do not represent items being sold, rather they are generally pictures of people, landscapes, or both. Since every editor has an agenda, I believe that the editor of Scribner's magazine wanted his readers to have a desire to travel to the places that were published. Scribner's magazine published many different types of works, many dealt with travels and the Panama Canal construction. I think that in choosing a similar layout between the advertisements and the articles published the editors agenda was to sell, not only items such as Bonbon's Chocolates but also the snowy mountains.

The typography in advertisements in The New Age is consistent with that used for the magazine's articles.  There are a few exceptions for products like Ruskin Fabrics and Fry Cocoa, where logos appear to disrupt the overall text-heavy look of the magazine itself, but even within these advertisements, the actual substantive (textual) portion of the ad matches the magazine's typeface.  The result is a certain subjugation of the advertisement: by forcing the ads for certain products to conform to the magazine's own aesthetic, the importance of the ad becomes relative to the magazine's content.

On another note, the ads are clearly written to cater to readers of The New Age, by appealing to their assumed "superiority" of intellect/interests.  An ad for Hovis Bread proclaims that the product is "NOT an ordinary bread, but a highly specialized article," and Fry's Cocoa purports to be "real food" which promotes "a clear brain and steady nerves."  An ostensible attempt to lessen the cheapening necessity/effect of advertisements, it's as if the ads in The New Age aren't proper ads so much as they are tasteful suggestions for a discerning reader/consumer.  Ads for other publications like The Daily News appeal outright to the oppositional groups presumed to be reading the magazine: in one ad, a brief blurb against the degenerate sport of horse-racing/betting is titled "A Woman's Question" and takes up nearly 3/4 of the ad itself; the title of the magazine appears almost as an afterthought.