Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

<!--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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Just by casually browsing through Scribner's in the database, it is easy to see that the magazine was very concerned with the war. Every cover boasts an article to be found within that touches on the war. Even the magazines advertisements promote books on the war such as this page (12c) found in Vol. 60, No. 3. All six books promoted here are either about the war or are related to the nations that are participating in the war. Scribner's was a New York based magazine and this issues was published a year before the United States joined in the war effort and seems to show that the American people were curious about the war and the people fighting in the war, especially the French.

There is an interesting moment in a short piece of fiction called "Baytop" by Armisead C. Gordon published in Vol. 57, No. 5, on pages 561-574. The story takes place on a plantation "fifteen years after the close of he war - the only war that ever was or ever could be for the oldtimers of Kingsmill" (561). The author is obviously refering to he Civil War and on first read it could seem a controversial statment to make about recently freed slaves, especially in a story published while another war was raging on. Does the author mean that no feed slave would care about any other war before or after the Civil War? It could also simply be read as the author establishing age and setting of his characters, but in a very interesting way.

          Rosanna Cinquemani    

          In The New Age magazine on September 29th 1921, scientists expressed their opinions on "weapons" used in war such as posionious gas. Sir T. Edward Thorpe states on page 258 of the article entitled "Our Generation" that "Posion gas is no merely contary to european military tradition; it is repugnant to the right feeling of civilized humanity. It in no wise displaces or supplants existing instruments of war, but creates a new kind of weapon, of limitless power and deadliness." He is stating how it's against the right way we should be feeling or going about the war. It is no longer a war with just weapons and the most skillfull wins but has become a war where posion gas is used against civilized humanity to kill people; it is the opposite of traditional war weapons.

              This whole article speaks about how war is something evil and works against all morals. Edward Moore, the author of this article, states people aren't against war because of the simple fact that it goes against anything we call "human", like the existence of living or the commandement which states, "love thy neighbor". People have become repulsed by the thought of war because it is something more deeper then this, it is the fact that war is a "terrible" crime that goes against the 'spirit of man". In other words, it is and never was a fair fight nor is it a form of civilized compromise. It is killing of perhaps innocent people so that people gain more power or money for themselves. People, Edward Moore states, are killing one another for reasons that are immoral and disgusting. Scientists also believe that the tactics that are being used to kill have become harsh and "evil".   

     In this article by Edward Moore, he discusses how life was like for the generation living in America after World War One had ended. This article can be found in the September 15, 1921 isssue of The New Age. This article was particulary interesting to me, because when I was first browsing through the articles in this issue, I skimmed through an article on Foreign Affairs and then an article on World Affairs. Both of the previous articles dealt with freedom and the financial situations of Europe. When I came across "Our Generation", it spoke about America and the unemployment rate and situation that we faced right after the war. I think that he titled this artilce "Our Generation" to show how a new generation has formed that Moore is disgusted with. He wants to show how this generation that formed is not like the one that he grew up in, and that this genertion of people is one that he wishes he wasn't a part of, based on their poor decisions and lack of intelligent governing.

     Research tells me that the year 1921, was one of the worst years to find employment in America. The rate of unemployment during this year skyrocketed as a result of end of war production, as well as the influx of labor from returning troops. Global trade also contributed to this financial crisis; America had a wartime inflation caused by the borrowing and printing of money to fund the war effort. Moore quotes "The Condition of the unemployed is becomming worse and worse; and the withdrawal of the unemployment dole from thousands of human beings shows more clearly than most of us can endure how inadequate is our current amount of goodness and intelligence to deal with tragedy." Some women had also managed to hold onto the jobs they had aquired during the war, making it even harder for men to find work. The frustration of the removal of the unemployment dole shines through in this article, making America seem unintelligent and inadequate to make logical decisions during a time of need. The removal of the unemployment dole basically took away applications from those who were willing and able to work after the war.   

by Michal Mechlovitz, Kim Velez, and T. Noelle Williams

Under Construction

The commencement of World War I possessed great influence over national sympathies around the world. From 1914, through the duration of the war in 1919, people's nationalistic identities were strongly affected due to the circumstance of crisis and turmoil that proved rampant throughout the international strata. Not only were feelings swayed in regard to people's own native lands, but they were respectively moved when considering foreign cultures, and the races therein as well. Whether positive, negative, or indifferent, nationalistic and race oriented views became evident throughout the literary and artistic world, which hold true to be apparent in Blast, The New Age, The Owl, Poetry, Scribner's, and Wheels magazines. Each of these literary magazines had published issues at some point during the war itself, (some had existed before and after the fact as well,) and each possess context that, while unique to the individual, parallels the inner thought process of authors and artists of the era in regard to the subjects of Nationalism and Race in a time when international tensions and weariness of cultural identity thrived.

Prior to the start of the World War I feeling of nationalism could be seen within mangy publications. Within the First issue of Blast the one is exposed to the extreme thoughts of the Manifesto I of Vorticism. The writers combine their thoughts on all countries together and bring their readers their opinions on the how one country compare to another. At first glance the writer seems to criticizes England and France on pages 11-14  describing how naive and they were and set in their ways which did not allow other to succeed in their own light. The narrator disagrees with the Victorian outlook of he English people as vampires who suck the life out of others and police the world so others would not over ride them in any shape or form. England was a machine, which others must obey, if not cursed thoughts that went against it. Once England was blasted for its position of power France was then criticized for set ways as well.

“Complacent young man,
so much respect for Papa
and his son ! –Oh ! Papa
is wonderful: but all papas
are! (pg 13)

The respect for ones country was described through the comparison of a son to his father. The thought process of the French and English people was no country was greater than theirs. The narrator depicts the feeling of nationalism the people held for their countries. Even though he described them as naïve and empty, the land, which they reside, is never wrong in their action only those who surround them are at fault.

Within the Second Manifesto within Blast’s fist issue a combination of writers described how battles are fought on the basis of which side one is on. http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1143210060500013.jpg 

“We fight first on one side, then on the other
but always for the same cause, which is
neither side or both sides and ours” (pg 30).

The narrator describes the use of nationalism once again for the reason one fights for any cause within time of war or focal point in that matter. Even with the success of developing new views and strives for equality and peace primitive thoughts still lived on. The cause is not revaluate in many cases due to the face that the cause can not be seen by thoughts who fought. “ Our cause is NO Man’s (pg 35). He then goes on describing how England produces the greatest artist due to the style compare to that of the Americas or Russia ect.. The sense of Nationalism is felt through out the Manifesto when describing the success of the modern world. http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1143210160781264.jpg . The Englishmen where thought to have own influenced the European world in modern technology as France on did to the world of Art. The Modern world was the product of Anglo Saxon genius and the success of others could never be compared. 

With in The New Age the reader was overcome with many different aspects of the war and what it brought to the home front. With in the weekly section "Notes of The Week" many of its main focal point was an incite on government issues including nationalism and the conflicts on foreign policy. With in the Feb Issue of "The New Age" 1918 the editor The editor includes a quote which sets the tone for the whole issue. He states “ It is difficult, of course, for good – nature Englishmen such as we will allow our pacifists to be, to conceive that there can exist in modern civilized State  like Prussia a ruling class rhar does not mean weill in their sense of the world” ( Vol XXII No. 17 pg 331). The sense of pride and superiority of Great Britain was felt the thought of was continuation of the article in when discussing the socialist government and the independence of the Ukraine.

  With in the article Land Power or Sea Power Ramiro de Maeztu  in the February 18,1918 issue of New Age the debate between the effectiveness of German army to the armies of Britain, Japan and The United States. The feel of nationalism with in this article is seen when the Maeztu begins to discuss how the aim of the Allies is to prevent Germany from making use of the people of other nations such as the Slav race. Even with the fact that Germany as a result of war expanded and expanded their influence over the slave nations its land power dose not compare to the power brought by the Sea. The Northern armies remained convinced that these armies were able to arrive in time because sailing vessels to move at the speeds five or six times greater than armies which proceeded at the place of an infantry march. Even with Germany’s influence over the Slavic nations and their home front advantage Maeztu still proved his argument of the effectiveness of the English sea power. He praised their tactics and embraced the greatness of  the Allies and Great Britain.
   
The literary magazine Poetry was first published by author and poet Harriet Monroe in 1911. Based out of Chicago, Poetry put hundreds of poetry works into print, with issues published monthly, through the duration of World War I. The magazine appears to take a somewhat pacifist approach towards the war, despite the national cry for disunion from foreign correspondence. In several of the works published in the war's earlier years, the concept of feeling the nationalistic need to separate from foreign races is not only defied, but is somewhat portrayed as ignorant arrogance. In Amy Lowell's poem "The Foreigner", the poet depicts a battle scene from the perspective of a soldier from the opposing end of the war. He discusses how he was ill spoken of by the white natives, but still is certain of his own profound human qualities. The narrator is confident and certain of his cunning, as well as his superiority to the negativity he finds himself the target of. Indeed, he rises above because he is certain he will have the last word: "You Apes! You Jack-Fools!/ You can show me the door,/ And jeer at my ways,/ But you're pinked to the core./ And before I have done,/ I will prick my name in,/ With the front of my steel,/ And your lily- white skin/ Shall be print with me./ For I've come here to win!" Lowell includes a description of the foreigner's unusual attire, as well as his awkward hair, stature, and the shape of his nose. It is clear that she does not see this character as a lesser human being whatsoever, and that she does not necessarily hold a firm belief in the cause of the war, if she should say the opposing end has more courage and advantage.

In the next month's issue, Harriet Monroe includes an editorial commentary titled "The Enemies We Have Made." A note to her fervent subscriber's four years after the first publication of the magazine, and well into the early months of World War I, Monroe's commentary discussed the vitality of friends from various cultures. Monroe discusses her wide international readership base with a grateful tone, one that reads success to her cause. She writes: "From France, Italy, and England, from India, China, and New Zealand, and even from our next-door neighbors, these salutations have come; from poets laurelled and obscure, from editors and critics, classicists and radicals. To all who send them, much thanks; their greetings have power to change paper and ink into flesh and blood." Such an outlook is one that is truly humanist; a sympathizer to all humanity, Monroe puts forth these issues with the need to reach beyond a national level. It is evident in her contribution to Poetry that despite the war, communications and interactions with other cultures and races remain a vital aspect of what makes Poetry thrive. While the war may have affected the contents of the medium of poetry, the intention of it remains universal and cosmopolitan.

The Owl is another literary magazine based out of London from around the same era; however, only three were ever printed, and each of the three printed in a different season four years apart. The first issue was published in 1915, a good year into the war. It is difficult to derive what kind of emotional charge The Owl had towards other races. The magazine itself is filled with poetry of a light-hearted nature, mostly clever bits of optimism, or rhyming, sing song like poems on general topics such as love and nature. It seems as though it's opinion is somewhat ambivalent; in fact, it is stated that the aim of the magazine was not to be political, nor was it geared to any particular Modernist movement. Its purpose was a simple one: to publish and share art. Due to the minimal number of issues, very few works can be found that have any relevance to the issue of race. It is not a particularly well founded theme of The Owl. Still several unusual drawings can be found; one a watercolor called "The Indian", and the other a drawing titled "Gyp." Both works are portraits of people that would seem out of the norm, or somewhat exotic to a youthful poetic magazine from London. Both works possess aspects of these people being foreign; however, neither are viewed in a delicate sense. Both drawings seem only to be studies, an ambiguous observance of a different life than one familiar to artists.

The copies of Scribner's that we have available to us through the MJP fall on interesting dates. The first magazine, dated January 1915, is a year after WWI started and the last issue, dated December 1916, is a year before the US entered combat and three years before the end of the war. From the first issue available the war is a popular issue for the magazine. After wading through many many advertisments - the first and last third of each issue seems to be ads - the reader will find six articles in the first issue alone that deal with the war. One story in this issue, "Coals of Fire" by Mary R.S. Andrew, disscusses the issues of Nationalism verses the Suffragist cause. The main character stands at a suffrage rally agruing for the women to put aside the cause to stand up for the English men who are dying. When an older lady states that the war is not thier cause, she replies "Aren't we English before anything else?" The story illustrates discussions that must have been going on at the time. While some suffragettes believed that England came before the movement others felt they were women above all else. It is an interesting discussion in Nationalism verses the individual.

The magazine Wheels was mainly a way for a few poet friends to publish their work. The magazine was first published just three years before the end of the war and stops running three years after the end. During the war Wheels mentions the war very little if at all, yet its influence, the overall dark and disheartened pitch that the world was in during the war is evident in the poetry that is published in it. One would be hard pressed to find a happy poem in Wheels. For instance the poem, "The Mother" by Edith Sitwell, begins very sweetly, yet with a single line at the end of the second stanza the caring is sucked out of the poem. The poem has waves of sweetness - the care that goes into creating and raising a child - and bitterness - "They live to curse us; and they die." This dark look at motherhood is born out of a world that is losing its sense of humanity which is what many people saw in WWI. Wheels also takes on the war after its end in the issue that is dedicated to Wilfred Owen, a poet who died in battle. The poetry in this issue is full of thoughts against the war and there is no blame placed on any nation nor is there a rally cry to help one. To the poets in Wheels the evil seems to be the war itself.

In some instances the writers of the time saw nationalism as a reason to go to war orto put aside other causes during war, yet we also see that a great deal of writers during the time saw the war as an evil towards the entire human race. For every article found praising the war and calling people towards the war effort, there were three denouncing the war, sometimes within the same article. The authors of the time showed that no matter how much a person loved their country, some things were to atrocious to seam reasonable.

In Scribner's Magazine on page 16 , of volume 58, No. 1 dated 1916-01, there is an artcile entitled "The World's Work- In The New Era After The War." In this article there is a lot of useful information regarding where America stands after world war one. Not only does it show concern for the country, but it also reassures the citizens that America has been "rising like a mighty giant as a world money power." Along with this attitude, the article goes on to address issues of commerce and finance. It makes attempts to explain how the government is making strides to prevent spending, claiming that we will soon be spending a lot less than what we are spending now, and also getting more in return when spending less money. Other issues touched upon are aims of the fighting nations and understanding our new foreign relations as well as the strategy of the great war. I feel that this article is beneficial because it gives the American people an insight into what is to come after the great war, and the things they could expect to happen as a result of the war. I think that relevant topics that are discussed in this magazine deal wih those of nationalism, politics and govenment.

A curious case of bibliography in the Poetry Magazine Vol. 1 No. 16, pages 29-32  caught my eye... It was titles "A Servian Epic" and it was indeed not even poetry. This was an editorial that spoke of the power of poetry to influence something as major as war. Although editorials are a fairly reoccurring thing throughout the Poetry magazine this one proved interesting because it spoke of how poetry could actually influence sentiment and in turn real life. We most often think of life influencing art but here the opposite was presented. What if art influenced life? The argument given was that poetry was used to stir nationalism and thus fuel people to go out and fight for their homeland. If the weight of poetry is indeed so heavy then imagine the impact a pen can have on all of us. This entry revealed the influence of poetry even though we often don’t think of poetry as a persuasive genre. Secondly the majority of the themes spoken of here can be seen as almost identical to those we faced in the most recent round of “Servian” wars/ Balkan Madness. Although here the main character provoking the urge to fight is Guslar he is almost identical to the leaders, which followed him in the not so distant future, such as Tito and Milosevic. The following is an excerpt of apiece used to stir nationalist sentiment:

Whoever born of Serbian blood or kin

Comes not to fight the Turk on Kossovo

To him he never son or daughter born,

No child to heir his lands or bear his name!

For him no grape grow red, no corn grow white;

In his hands nothing prosper!

May he live

Alone, unloved! And die unmourned, alone!

This truly touched on my curiosity because I am indeed Serbian and a survivor of the last round of Balkan fighting. The issues spoken of here are ones we’re still struggling with now such as the question of Kosovo and it’s meaning to the Serb people

Due: 6/9 Blog Entry 

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