Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

I found two instances in Dana of advertisements that use the tactic of convincing the reader their product is needed for a certain lifestyle. These are early forms of the advertising that became so popular in 1950s America and created the belief that living the American Dream meant owning certain things.

The first advertisement found in Dana Vol. 1, No. 1 page 33, is from a publishing company. The headline proclaims, "Great Novels That People Must Read." It creates an interesting statement, especially since it is in a literary magazine. One would hope that the editors of Dana would not publish an advertisement that they did not somewhat agree with. However, because this list was compiled not by the editors of Dana but by the people who stand to make money if the books are purchased, the whole thing seems a bit disingenuous. Also, not one of the books mentioned are classics and only Eugene Lee-Hamilton has a Wikipedia page.

The second advertisement appears in Dana Vol.1, No. 2 on page 65. This small advertisement in the center of the page is titled, “In the March of Civilization.” The ad uses a technique that Apple has mastered with its “Mac vs. PC” commercials: “Our product is the hip young product and the other is for older people.” The ad is for curled hair mattresses and begins by stating, “Some years ago our grandmothers prided themselves on their ample feather beds…” This advertisement is the exact kind of advertising that interrupts our favorite television shows today. The ads say: “In order to be young, civilized and fit in you should own this product.”

The Irish periodical Dana was produced a total of twelve times in Dublin in the years 1904 and 1905, and was devoted to the discussion of an emerging and evolving Irish consciousness, as well as to relevant literature of the day.  There was no artwork and, although each issue featured the work of poets, the pieces included in Dana were primarily essays.  As is evident from the magazine’s pages, the cause of the Irish people subject to English imperialist power was particularly important and manifested itself often in discussions of national vs. racial identity and language.  Also regularly emphasized was the importance of open debate pertaining to these issues: billing itself as a magazine of independent thought, the authors included in Dana, such as Frederick Ryan, promoted rigorous discussion of various ideas to encourage this mission.  Another recurring theme, especially in Dana’s poetry, was the significance of nature.  While many articles dealt with the friction between the Irish and the English, nature poetry within Dana’s pages was ostensibly included to celebrate and glorify the bucolic lifestyle of the Irish people. 

Questions of national identity, particularly those pertaining to race, nationalism, and the Gaelic language were of great importance to the editors of Dana.  In his article “Mr. Wyndham on Race and Nationality,” which addresses the introductory speech of English political figure, and Chief Secretary for Ireland, George Wyndham upon his installation as Lord Rector of Glasgow University, P. John Boland criticizes the lack of national feeling among his fellow Irish.  While Wyndham encourages fealty to particular races (or "clans" such as it was within Ireland), Boland retorts that such a suggestion is merely the thinly veiled attempt of an English imperialist to weaken the resistance of nations, such as Ireland, against English imperialist rule.  "Pride of race," according to Boland only promotes in-fighting and division among the Irish, "forbid[ding them] to agree" (Dana 270) and this, the author maintains, is exactly what Wyndham wants: to “let [the Irish] forget that [they are] Irish, that such a place as Ireland exists!” and to instead remember that they belonged to the “great British Empire” (270).  Ultimately, Boland views “want of pride of nationality” as “the curse of “Ireland” (269).  He argues that the development of a national spirit as tantamount to the success of the Irish people, while pride of race can only degrade both the Irish cause and the character of the Irish themselves.  Boland concludes with an indictment of the Empire, as it interferes with the liberty of nations and their people.  He states his belief “That one race or nation should control the actions of any other race or nation is incompatible with the fundamental principles of liberty,” and expresses his hope, synchronous no doubt with his wishes for a nationalist pride movement in Ireland, that “the world will one day perceive what the few perceive,” and work to topple such a system (272).

Questions of Irish identity pertaining to language were also raised in the pages of Dana.  While many Irish strove to reinstate Gaelic as the official language spoken in Ireland, as it was symbolic of Irish cultural freedom from oppressive, imperialist England, others such as frequent Dana contributor Frederick Ryan, believed that the widespread usage of English in Ireland was not only inevitable but could be beneficial to its people.  In his article, "On Language and Political Ideals," Ryan references the economic and cultural freedom of the United States, despite the fact that “it has not a separate language” as a positive example for his cause (275).  He suggests that “theorising” about the language question distracts from a more important goal: namely, “the problem of how to create in Ireland a people, healthy, educated, cultured in the best sense, with sufficient material comfort, developing in their minds and their bodies to the end of maximising life, sensitive to intellectual and moral values, and conducting their life on lines of justice, and freedom, and good faith” (275).  While Ryan does not disparage Gaelic “as a proper and honoured study in any Irish university,” he imagines the effort to force its reinstatement as the national spoken language could be more costly than beneficial, as the influence of English in Ireland was already deep and far-reaching.  To attempt to reverse its effects would be unfairly disruptive to the real people of Ireland, whose lives were conducted already in English.  The author ultimately believes that a language which promotes any kind of “nationality” but does not serve the people of Ireland could only serve a symbolic, and not a practical, good.  A nationalist movement, according to Ryan, therefore, should be secondary to creating an Ireland which provides its people with the greatest opportunities for intellectual, cultural, and economic success.

In a time when Irish tempers flared, the editors of Dana strove to not indulge in sectarianism. They were, however, sympathetic to the nature of debate and ardently encouraged the practice. In another essay, “Criticism and Courage,” Frederick Ryan writes of the importance of discussing the political and religious implications of the times constructively and without fear. Tossing aside the idea that everyone is entitled to their own, quiet opinion, he attacks the government and the churches for trying to squash the discussion in public forums. His essay outlines the exact reasons that Dana magazine was important: it was, as their tagline suggests, a magazine of independent thought in a time when independent thought desperately needed examination.

Ryan begins with the discussion of a club meeting he attended, where they talked about the importance of independent thought in Ireland, but came to the conclusion that "one should have as few opinions as possible, and no expression of them at all," (145). Offended by not only the irony of the debate, but by the ridiculous idea that independent thought should mean independent to one’s self, Ryan goes on to criticize the tendency of religion and politics to try to avoid criticism. Believing that this stems from a fear of finding out that their ideas are wrong, he goes on to scrutinize the motives of the churches’ desire to stay within their lines. “The stage when Catholic and Protestant clergymen held public debates in the Rotunda on the merits of their respective creeds has long been passed. Doubtless it was realised that such performances were more likely to make Freethinkers than converts to either Catholicism or Protestantism,” he offers a third option for those struggling with sects in Ireland: Atheism (147). He suggests that Protestants and Catholics would prefer not to interfere with one another’s flock, lest their collective religious ideals be questioned in the same way that an individual would prefer not to discuss his ideas, lest he be questioned. In doing so he changes the nature of the religious dispute in Ireland, and furthermore the dispute of free thought in Ireland: it is not about church, it is about fear, and it is not about respect for opinions, it is about fear. This is about fear of change. He believes that England would prefer as little discussion as possible pertaining to politics in Ireland, hoping that national apathy would quell the desire of the thinking minority, and in essence stop causing so much trouble. It stands in their favor that people would want thought and solutions in theory, but adopt the philosophy that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, because this implies that nothing should change. But the nation of Ireland needed change more than they needed mutual respect at that point because, as Ryan puts it, “political progress must involve change in political ideals and beliefs,” and if historical hindsight has shown us anything it is that Ireland needed political progress at that time or else the issue of Irish unity would go unsolved for centuries (146).  Ryan concludes that we must not fear debate, we must not fear finding out that we are wrong because “never yet was progress possible without intellectual change, never yet did humanity advance a step without the breaking of old traditions and the discarding of old beliefs. (149)” This emphasis on debate and constructive discussion was a recurring theme throughout Dana’s short run in 1904 and 1905.  This is one reason that Dana magazine existed and is still important today: it provided a platform that had been taken away from a people that were on the verge of distinguishing themselves as a nation. It was not about picking a side, it was about arguing each side, and it did so beautifully.

Finally, the topic of nature, always in association with joy and love, is found often in the poetry of Dana, including a poem titled “Two Songs,” a love poem by Seumas O’Sullivan, and “A Sunday in July,” by Edward Dowden, as well as many others which appear throughout the magazine’s issues. The impartiality of nature, which the lover in O’Sullivan’s poem describes, is perhaps part of the subject’s appeal as a means of unification. The idealization of rural life is also evident in the repetition of nature-themed poems. Nature as a theme may appear disjointed from the political articles in the magazine; however, in a publication which strove to find solutions for political troubles, the inclusion of these idyllic poems may have offered a respite for the reader. “Two Songs,” uses images of nature abundantly to praise the addressee of the poem—while both expressing the insufficiency of words and affection, and promising that his adoration will never cease. The structure of the poem includes two parts, three stanzas each, described as per the title of the piece as “songs.” Within each song, the speaker compares his own powers of praise with those of nature; in the first, nature’s affections are described as more appropriate than the lover’s. It is only the sky’s silence and the grass’s rustling or gentleness that is thought by him to adequately resemble the depth of his love. In the second section, however, it is noted by the speaker of the poem that nature is fickle, and that his affection goes even beyond the perfectly appropriate praise given by nature to his lover. It is also in this second song that the phrase “white brow” is introduced, and repeated twice within the few stanzas, as though this pet name were repeated unconsciously as the man’s admiration of the woman is peaking, alongside his declaration that his love—a product of nature itself, one could say—is in fact more true and constant than the natural world. To say such a thing is indeed high praise for a culture in which rural life is of great value and beauty.

Despite its brief run, the twelve issues of Dana comprise a body of work aptly demonstrative of the magazine’s goal toward engendering independent thought.  By featuring the work of a variety of authors on both sides of key debates, especially those pertaining to Irish identity and the future of the Irish people, Dana is an important artifact of cultural and political climates in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century.  Further, the commitment of the editors’ to promoting Irish literature is also significant, as it affords contemporary audiences a view, not only of specific literature from the era, but also of the effects rendered upon art and literature by those political and cultural debates so carefully considered by the magazine’s essayists, such as the significance of nature in a bucolic nation struggling to preserve its character under imperialist rule.
 

-Elsie Dwyer, Calgary Martin, and Abra Stokowski

Instances of bibliographic coding in Dana #8 (from December 1904):  a sequence of two articles and a poem, which together develop a strong sense of the magazine's own principles and aims.  The first article, "In Praise of the Gaelic League" by Stephen Gwynn, addresses criticisms raised by a "Mr. Ryan" against the League, which was conceived in an effort to preserve the use of the Gaelic language in Ireland.  Following this article is the first half of a short biography of Jane Austen (the second half was published in the following issue), which not only relates details of  Austen's life, but also praises the bucolic character of her novels as they were informed by her own happy distance from "the grim misfeature of the England of collieries and factories" (Dana 8, 251).  Finally, appearing on the last page of this article is a poem by Seumas O'Sullivan, "In the City."  O'Sullivan views the city as a display of the fallen state of humanity, a kind of anti-Eden, where what is natural and good is stifled within its streets, among the "rows of stinking fish and vegetables" (251).  The publication of these three works in sequence supports, in diverse and nuanced ways, Dana's overall interest in questions of Irish culture: Irish culture vs. the presence of England/English in Ireland, the primitive vs. progress, industrialization vs. progress, the country and the city, Edenic nature vs. toxic urbanity.  What first drew me to these pieces together was the inclusion of Austen's biography, nearly a century after her death.  Certainly, such biographies are a dime a dozen and concrete details about Austen's life at this point appear finite: there is very little left to uncover.  However, examining the writing which appears before and after the biography gives clues as to the significance and relevance of Austen's work to the editors of Dana.  By placing her stories firmly at a distance from the dramas of the city and world politics, Austen appeals to the longing for a return to innocence, to a more simple though not simplistic way of life, something purer, unmarred by the corrosive realities of London.  O'Sullivan's poem, in its indictment of the city immediately following, supports the presence of this longing in the pages of Dana itself.  Together, these two pieces provide an interesting context for the article supporting the Gaelic League, which may not necessarily reject English influence on Irish culture, but does seek to preserve a more "natural" Irish character in a time of English/imperial influence.

Due to conflicting schedules, our group worked separately for this project on Dana; Nicholai focused primarily on the literary work in Volume One, while Klarisa and Lori focused heavily on the overall autonomy of the magazine as a separate entity, as well as Volume Twelve.

Version 1

Sean Latham mentioned in the introductory section to Dana, that the magazine was edited by Frederick Ryan and W.K. Magee between May 1904 and April 1905. Dana was printed and published in Dublin, Ireland by Figgis Hodges and Company Limited. Only twelve issues of the magazine were published. According to Latham, Frederick Ryan was an economist, journalist and playwright who lived from 1876-1913. At one point of his life, he was a member of the Irish Socialist Republican Party—he was also very active in politics. Frederick Ryan sometimes went by the pseudonym Irial in his writings. W.K. Magee was an essayist who worked as a librarian at the National Library of Ireland for a period of time in the early 1900s. He subscribed to the notion of romantic individualism, and had the view that art should not be used for political ends. Magee went by the pseudonym John Eglinton. “Both were active participants in the city’s cultural life and shared a deep suspicion of the growing interest in a narrowly conceived vision of Irish culture that looked toward a mythic past obscure warriors and heroes whose deeds were recorded in a language now spoken only by a small, rural minority. Dana sought to bring forth a fundamentally new and regenerative Irish culture”    (Latham ¶ 6).

At the time Dana was written Ireland was under British rule, and there was a growing feeling of Irish nationalism among the people of Ireland. There was also a struggle and schism between various cultural and political factions. “It was precisely into this breach between two civilizations that Eglinton and Ryan stepped with the first number of Dana in 1904. That opening image they evoke, of a culture striking at flints to light the fire of knowledge, explicitly positions the magazine in opposition to a narrowly conceived revivalism attempting to found national identity upon a mythic past” (¶ 16). The magazine sought to appeal to a broad Irish audience with diverse political and cultural views. 

Our group researched and found that 48 different university libraries within the United States house copies of the magazine in various formats; five of the universities are: Adelphi University, Princeton University, Yale University Library, University of Delaware, and Williams College. Due to time constraints we focused on volume number 1 and number 12. Nicholai focused on volume 1 and Klarisa and Lori focused on volume 12.

In volume number 1, the introductory page bares the title, “Dana” in bold print and the subtitle “A magazine of Independent Thought.” The introduction was written by both of the editors. I think the editors wanted to convey the notion that the publication was open to freedom of expression, and was a rebuttal to the manner in which the nationalists were conducting themselves. “The endeavour to achieve through sincere confessions of poets and the strenuous operation of thought the elemental freedom of the human mind, which is really essential of all independent and therefore national literature, has hardly made its appearance in the Irish literary movement. We invite the thinkers, dreamers, and observers dispersed throughout Ireland and elsewhere, who do not despair of humanity in Ireland, to communicate through our pages their thoughts, reveries and observations…” (p. 2-3).

Volume 1 consists of the cover page, table of contents, introductory, five essays, two poems, and a literary notices section which is featured on the last pages of the magazine. Dana appears to be void of substantive commercial advertising. Following the introduction by the editors, is a poem titled “The Sower” written by an author named Edward Dowden. I think the poem depicts the authors feelings concerning the conditions of Ireland that existed at that time. The poem used biblical language and seemed to be religious in nature. Beginning on page 5 of the volume is an essay titled “Moods and Memories” written by George Moore. The essay in my opinion, was very descriptive and eloquent in nature. The author expressed feelings of nostalgia for the pass—he seemed to prefer the English culture of the past, and appeared dismayed by the cultural changes that were taking place at that time. “Park Lane dips in a narrow and old-fashioned way as it enters Piccadilly. Piccadilly has not yet grown vulgar, only a little modern, a little out of keeping with the beauty of the Green Park, of that beautiful dell, about whose mounds I should like to see a comedy of the Restoration acted. I used to stand here, at this very spot, twenty years ago, to watch the moonlight between the trees, and the shadows of the trees floating over the beautiful dell; I used to think of Wycherly’s comedy, ‘Love in St. James Park,’ and I think of it still” (p. 7-8).

After that, there is an essay written by John Eglinton titled “The Breaking of The Ice.” Eglinton was critiquing the writings of a Catholic priest named Father Sheehan. Eglinton was promoting the notion of  individuality and freedom of expression, and rejecting the pre-eminence of organized religion. “We feel in reading Father Sheehan as if the stock of mankind were rotten. [W]e must declare a holy war against books of this cast of pietism, which, under the guise of amenity and culture, enter the camp of the moderns to ‘spy out the land:’ to find flaws, for example, in the sublime intellectual integrity and spiritual ardour of men like Kant and Shelly. A fig for that belief in God which implies as its obverse a disbelief in man” (p12, 16).  A poem titled “ The Omen” written by an author known only by the initial M. appears after the Eglinton piece. I am not sure if I fully understand the message portrayed by the poem, but I think the author was expressing a longing for freedom from British rule. Following the poem is an essay titled “ The Abbe Loisy” written by Ed. Dujardin. The author was also criticizing the Catholic Church. An author named Ossorian wrote about Imperialism. Ossorian was comparing and contrasting the perspectives of imperialists and those under their rule. He explained that the British Empire brought some good to Ireland and probably had good intentions, but its desire to maintain power led to great harm and suffering. “But power is the antithesis to freedom, power means discipline, unquestionable authority, unity, centralization. It means the opposite of everything that freedom means. But the world exists for the individual, not the individual for the world, and power, gained at the cost of human vitality and freedom, is a loss, and the greatest of losses” (p. 26).

The final essay was by Frederic Ryan. He criticized the Catholic Church and some of the political factions for their manipulation of the Irish public. He likened the conduct of the Catholic Church and various political factions to that of the British imperialists. Frederic mirrored the sentiments of Eglinton. “The vices of the dominant faction, ruling without consent and without sympathy, corrupt the whole body politic, so that in such a soil, race and religious passion waxes strong, and political science is at a discount. The Irish people, trampled by alien and unsympathetic rule, have looked with aching eyes to a heaven of bliss, and they have, more or less contentedly, lain down in their chains soothed by the hope of after-reward… We need in Ireland a spirit of intellectual freedom, and a recognition of the supremacy of humanity” (p. 27, 31).

Based on the reading of volume 1, I wonder if the mythic past to which Latham referred was religion. It appears to me that the authors were advocating a movement away from deep religious believes to an embracing of science.

Version 2

Dana: An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought was a small magazine, self explanatory in its’ title, and published in the early twentieth century. Only twelve issues were published in Dublin from May 1904 to April 1905; the twelfth and final issue focused primarily on the same types of ideology as the first issue. The publishers were Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd and David Nutt. Dana had two editors, Frederick Ryan and William Kirkpatrick Magee, whom was better known by the pseudonym John Eglinton. Frederick Ryan was an economist, journalist, and playwright. He was politically active working as a part of the Irish Socialist Republican Party, then in 1909 becoming the secretary of the Socialist Part of Ireland. Ryan occasionally used the pseudonym Irial to write in Dana as well as Arthur Griffith's nationalist paper, Sinn Féin. William Kirkpatrick Magee was a literary journalist who worked as a librarian. Many of his essays appeared in Dana.

During our first quick observation of Dana we noticed that there was no art or advertising in any of the issues. We also noticed something quite peculiar when we were skimming through each volume as a whole; the first and the last two pages looked different; darker and more vintage unlike the thirty something pages in the middle that are bright white, easily read, and just plain text.  Upon further investigation, we realized that all twelve issues had the same trait of having the first and the last two pages authentic.  Our suspicions were aroused regarding the scanning of the original magazine; it was quite obvious that the Modern Journal Project at some point had in their possession the authentic Dana magazine but chose to scan a very limited amount of it.  We were perplexed by the decision that the Modern Journal Project made not to scan the entire authentic Dana magazine, which in hand led us on a quest to get a hold of the original magazine.

After several unsuccessful search attempts including the Brooklyn College Library and the New York City Public Library, we’ve located a published reproduction of Dana in a book published in 1970 containing Issues 1-12.  It is located in St. Mary’s University, in Halifax, Canada.  In addition, based on www.worldcat.org search, there are over 40 various forms of the magazine in the United States: As an example, New York University Library has Issues 1-12 on a Bobst Microform.  Thankfully we were able to obtain a copy of the 1970 published book of Dana: An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought, Volume 1, May 1904 to April 1905.  Upon inspection of the text we quickly realized that the Modern Journal Project used this or a very similar text to scan into their database.  The evidence of this was quite remarkably apparent in the way the pages are numbered and the overall layout of the book. In the book text it clearly states that this is “an unabridged republication of the periodicals complete run published in Dublin”.

It is our belief that in 1970 what was meant by that statement is that the actual literary text content was untouched, but the possible surrounding aesthetic of the magazine might be missing.  We are basing that theory on the fact that the entire book is very monotone in appearance, and the few examples of the authentic text in the beginning and at the end of each volume seem to vary in font size and layout.  With this information, we are quite concerned whether or not we’re getting the full true feel and understanding of Dana. The original magazine seen in its’ intended form might change our opinions and the meaning behind it.  Sadly, due to the time constraints, we are unable to vouch one way or the other of the authenticity of which way Dana was originally published in 1904-1905.

As a footnote, the contents pages in the book are quite helpful in locating the exact pages for a particular poem, essay, sonnet or replies in the entire magazine, and we would highly recommend for the Modern Journal Project to include this helpful information.  

Similar to The New Age, Dana did not portray only one side of an issue. Instead, it was a medium that fostered “cultural and literary debates”. It was written to appeal to an Irish audience that shared different philosophical, political, and cultural views. According to the Introduction, “[t]o open the first issue of Dana in this way, therefore, was immediately to court controversy by suggesting that Irish culture must be born in the crucible of the present- and, significantly in the medium of English-rather than in a utopian Gaelic past.”(Introduction)  Dana attempted to appeal to more then just the narrow-minded, stereotypically mystical idea of what an Irish man is.  It wanted to embody everything Irish, including but not limited to the educated, opinionated, artistic and vocal individuals that have built Ireland.  

To truly understand Dana, one needs to understand a small bit of Irish history and nationalism which would undoubtedly include a quick biography of one named Charles Stewart Parnell who was “an Anglo –Irishman who had effectively forged the Irish members of the British Parliament into a powerful voting block that had all but secured the long sought goal of the home rule”.  Parnell’s failure in getting successful independence for Ireland in 1891 was a national letdown for a country that has been under British oppression for over two hundred years. (Introduction)  Although Parnell was unsuccessful, the core belief of an independent Ireland state was the backbone for Dana. 

The very last issue of Dana continued to be heavily focused on the concept of an independent state.  It was quite visible in an essay by Lionel Vane Wanted: A Democratic Spirit, where he mentions the “Parnell split” (No.12 pg. 353) as the turning point in Ireland.  He insinuated that the recent “new movements” might not want independence but instead want to “capture the old orthodoxy”. (No.12 pg. 354)  Lionel Vane believed in a democratic state which values humanity and a better, more humane way of life. Some may view his opinions to be borderlining Communist ideas based on his strong allegiance with the working class and poor.  He is also openly critical of the British ruling mass.

Unlike other bourgeois periodicals during the early 1900’s, Dana focused primarily on the ordinary man and his everyday life.  Although there were many poems and essays that depicted life and politics in the 12 volumes of Dana, a wonderful example of simplicity and beauty of an ordinary man’s journey in Ireland can be read in a short story by Jane Barlow called “Michael , a Meditator”.  This ordinary man named Michael Doherty lived his entire life meditating and pondering everything small and grand.  He taught for 30 years until he was ousted under new management.  Being a very complacent man, he left without a fight.  He loved the lavish secluded nature of Ireland and adored reading.  By all means Michael Doherty was an educated Irish man without expectations of grandeur; “he led a fairly contended and suitable sort of existence” (No.12 pg. 360). Though the ending of the story was quite anti-climactic, the meaning behind the ordinary might be the strongest in the final sentence, “In fact, one way or the other, he had as many opportunities for discourse as he desired” (No.12 pg. 363). That statement alone could be a metaphor for how the author saw the demise of Irish society and culture.  Though educated and wise, with hidden beauty, not passionate enough to fight.

In conclusion, outing of bigotry of race, the knocking down of outdated views of Ireland, and creating a new venue to help develop a new national culture separate from Britain yet not be cut off from England and Europe were some of the main driving forces behind Dana: An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought magazine.  To paraphrase the ending of an essay by R.W. Lynd The Nation and the Man of Letters, if Ireland does everything by British standards, they would never have their own national identity, art, and culture. (No. 12 pg. 376)