Clothing

For me, one of the most interesting quotes of the novel would have to be “It's funny, he said, have you ever thought that a girl's clothes cost more than the girl inside them?”. Clothing in the novel seems to be a big thing, where some of the girls described are judged based upon some of the gowns that they are wearing. The pictures that I chose are more upscale gowns that would be worn for a night out. 

Stockings in the 1920's

Stockings are talked about a few times throughout the book. The second time we read about stockings is when Anna is buying stockings at the store with Maudie, Walter, and Walter's friend. Anna says ¨I said I wanted two pairs- lisle thread with clocks up the sides- and took time choosing them. The man I had been walking with offered to pay for them and I let him."(11). Walter references the stocking shopping in the first letter that he sends to Anna. One of the things that she buys with the money from Walter is a pair of silk stockings.
I couldn't find an ad for Lisle thread stockings, but there were many advertisements for both silk and non-silk stockings. Stockings were a very important part of a woman's wardrobe in the 20's, and the kind that one wore showed status. The silk stockings are aimed at upper-class women, and women who are glamorous and have sex appeal. Non-silk stockings were for the everyday housewife and middle and lower class woman

Sentimental Prints

"There were stags' heads stuck up all over the dining-room of the hotel. The one over our table was as big as a cow's. Its enormous glass eyes stared past us. In the bedroom there were prints-'The Sailor's Farewell', 'The Sailor's Return', 'Reading the Will', and 'Conjugal Affection'. They had a calm, sleepy look, as if they were drawings of stuffed figures-the women very tall and plump and smiling and tidy and the men with long legs and bushy whiskers; but the placid shapes of the trees made you feel that that time must have been a good time" (77). 

Throughout the novel, Anna misses her home in the West Indies and is treated poorly by men. She finds herself drifting, and her days are made up of streets, bars, and rooms in hotels, many of which have drawings on the walls. In this scene, Walter has brought her to the country and she is observing the drawings hanging in the bedroom. I think being able to see these pictures and understand what they are of better helps us read the character of Anna. With the exception of Reading the Will, all of the pictures are rather intimate portrayals of either lovers or a family; all things which Anna longs for. So having these pictures be the ones that are hanging in her bedroom and what she sees may help us to better understand what she is going through. 

The Sailor's Farewell was produced in 1790 by British landscape and genre painter George Morland.  Young lovers are shown bidding farewell on the seashore, with their forms set against a dramatic background. 

The Sailor's Return was produced by Thomas Stothard and the engraver on the piece was William Ward in 1798. 

Reading the Will was produced by Sir David Wilkie in 1819. 

Conjugal Affection was produced by Robert Smirke in 1799. 

                                                                                                                                                                                 

The Sailors Farewell, c. 1790

Conjugal Affection, c. 1799.

The Sailor's Return, c. 1799

Reading the Will, c. 1819

Voyage in the Dark and the Book of Dirty Pictures

In Voyage of the Dark, there is a time near the end when Anna stayed with Laurie for several days around the time of her abortion. Several men visit them during this time, including a French man named d'Adhémar who Laurie refers to as Daddy around this time. He tells Laurie that he has "a marvellous book of dirty pictures" (170). However when they actually look through it, Laurie says, "I'm disappointed . . . I don't call that hot stuff. Is that book really worth a lot of money? All I say is, some people don't know what to do with their money" (170). 

Upon looking up Aubrey Beardsley, whom the book of dirty pictures is by, I found that his works were not necessarily supposed to be dirty so much as a parody of Victorian art. Although most of the images are extremely vulgar and inappropriate, it is simply because of the body parts which are visible, not because it actually showed many sexual acts or scenes. One of these such books was called A Book of Fifty Drawings and came out in 1897. It featured grotesque erotic and enormous genitalia, along with images of mythology and demons.

One of the drawings the girls might have looked at and thought that it was not "hot stuff" is called Mysterious Rose Garden. It features a naked woman and a man in flowery robes and winged shoes. However, the art style seems to be making the woman a somewhat strange shape, not entirely realistic, which decreases her attractiveness. It reminds me of Greek mythology because of the man's robes and shoes and Hermes was said to wear winged sandals. 

Many of these drawings showed problems with society so Anna and Laurie looking at them was ironic, because of the fact that they could have been seen as some of the women in these drawings. Anna became pregnant from having coitus before marriage, which is a possibility for this young woman as well, as you can assume that she and the man had sexual intercourse in the "mysterious rose garden."

Anna's Recollection of a Biscuit Advertisement (Huntley & Palmers Co)

Anna is lying in bed and thinking of an advertisement featuring “Biscuits Like Mother Makes, as Fresh in the Tropics as in the Motherland.” She proceeds to give a very detailed description of how this advertisement looked. Her recollection was very precise, direct and accomplished the goal it was set out to do. The visual imagery created from this scene was very effective. The children and how they were dressed, the surrounding environment, the colors of the clothes and nature in general, every feature, even down to the little boy looking over his shoulder…she did not fail to cover every minute detail. The reader cannot see the actual tangible picture, but through her description, the reader is able to achieve the parallel and linear connection she is attempting to form. Anna then makes sure to point out the wall and the darkness it represents. The representation is then further taken to stand for England itself and how she saw the country. She does not see herself as native or part of the country, in fact the wall (England) is the barrier that precludes her from really embracing her true identity. The picture gives this one perception of infinite possibilities where the sky is the limit; however it carries this double meaning where your limits are only as far as the motherland allows and your identity is really not your own.

One major biscuit company in Britain was known as The Huntley & Palmers Co. They started in 1822 as a small bakery in London Street, Reading. By 1900 it was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world, employing over 5,000. Reading became known as the “biscuit town.” By 1903 it was producing over 400 different varieties. This would suggest that the taste of the British people was in a constant state of change and the company made sure to keep up with the demand. They even went international (you will see this displayed from the Chinese advertisement). By the 1930’s they were advertising on the radios and they even had pocket calendars, diaries and envelopes (see below for images). They were very aggressive advertisers. It was no wonder that Anna recalled this image. They were everywhere. They legacy is still around today but under a different name. They are no longer a Reading company. In 2004 the brand was re-launched after being sold by Danone to a new company.

Voyage in the Dark, Jean Rhys, pgs. 148-149 

http://www.huntleyandpalmers.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=file&p=huntley&f=huntley.htm

Picture 1 - Pocket Calendar in French

Picture 2 - Advertisement in Chinese

Picture 3 - Advertisement in English

Picture 4 - Advertisement Leaflet

Picture 5 - Pocket Calendar in English

Longman Magazine and other things

Jean Rhys' character Anna Morgan when having a meal with her step-mother, Hester, observes a stack of magazines. Rhys writes, “There was a chest in the corner where the drinks were kept and a sideboard ranged with glasses. And the bookshelf with Walter Scott and a lot of old Longmans’ Magazines, so old that the pages were yellow” (70).It is significant that Rhys mentions these magazines. Longmans Magazine is a magazine that ran monthly beginning in 1882 by C.J. Longman and ended in 1905. The magazine was under the publication of Longman, Green and Co. of London. (wikipedia). The Magazine heavily published men such as Thomas Hardy, James Payn and featured Andrew Lang. The one notable female contributed that they published was Margaret Oliphant, a Scottish writer characterized as a domestic realism. Overall the Magazine featured a lot of writers influenced by Romanticism and other literary movements that pre-dates modernism. I believe that it is significant that Rhys is making note of Longmans Magazine because it is a magazine that heavily are relent on members of pase literary movements compared to Rhys' time and that are heavily controlled by men. The two things in Morgans’ life that seems to be oppressing her. Additionally Rhys make note of Walter Scott, and late 18th-century Scottish writer. In Rhys referring to these writers that are outside the mainland Britian she is hinting to the alienation of Morgans. Finally, when Rhys adds the detail that they are yellow, Rhys demonstrates the traditional nature of patriarchy, movements like realism and romanticism along with alienation of a non-mainland British citizen still experiences. 

Oddenino's and Melvin Giddeon

Oddenino's was a hotel and restaurant located at 62 Regent Street, London. From the looks of it it was pretty fancy and upscale. I found a reference to this on page 118 in Voyage in the Dark, where it says "We met Carl and Joe at Oddenino's. Melvin Giddeon was at the piano; he was singing rather well."
Finding the images of the hotel restaurant gives me an idea of just how fancy some of these places were that Anna was getting gentlemen to take her to. It honestly gives me a slightly different opinion of her. Before looking up the images, I kind of felt sorry for her, she really seems very depressed. Admittedly I feel less sorry for her after seeing where these guys are taking her.

Melvin Giddeon was an American ragtime musician who composed music for Broadway musicals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melville_Gideon). There is a youtube clip of him from 1933 right before he died that I will attempt to embed at the bottom. Gideon had an upbeat jazzy sound, which also gives me a slightly different impression of Anna. Hearing the music this character was listening to, creates an image all its own. This is a trendy, hip, restaurant bringing over this star from America. I am now more picturing Lorelei Lee from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes- who was truly a stereotypical gold digger of the same era only in America. I guess I am now seeing Anna as less pathetic and more of a gold digger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oK_XvCO7Ak

Cries of London

     Part Three of Jean Rhys' Voyage in the Dark begins with the protagonist Anna visiting Miss Ethel Matthews. The section of the book begins "There were the Cries of London in the dining room. I remember the way they hung, and the bowl of water in front of the gas-fire, and always a plate of oranges in the middle of the table, and two armchairs with chintz cushions..." (139). In her memory of Ethels' house Anna remembers the Cries of London hanging on the wall which were a series of prints published between 1792 and 1796 (http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/cries/) by William Marshall Craig and later engraved by Edward Edwards (http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-cries-of-london). The subjects of these prints were street traders/venders in London who were pictured "hawking" cherries, mackerel, oranges, strawberries, matches, roses, chair mending services, and knife sharpening. The prints are called the "cries" because the venders would typically sing out songs about the product they were selling in an attempt to attact buyers (http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/cries/chairs.html). I think this is very interesting as our discussion of Voyage in the Dark has centered on the ideas of material culture, commodification, and the exchange of money. I can imagine that Anna’s necessary fixation of her next endeavor to earn money would cause her to pay special attention to prints that represent economic exchange. Since these prints were fairly common as reproduced engravings one can imagine that Anna would have experienced these images numerous times which parallels her fixation of the acquisition of wealth. Also, in the novel Anna quickly acknowledges the paintings of people earning an honest living before refocusing her attention on the conversation with Ethel about finding a job as a masseuse. I believe there could be some commentary on the fact that the thought of earning a living on her own merit, rather than sleeping with men for money, seems unattainable to Anna which causes her to switch her attention to a new topic so quickly.  Rhys presents the ideas of professions of street vending and massaging in the same page which seems to overwhelm Anna. 

        

Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys

Anna Morgans obsession with wanting to be black, I believe stems from her being from the West Indies and immediately being “othered” once she lives in the mainland British. Anna tries to find if she has a little bit of black in her by claiming that her mother was black. Voyage in The Dark with having his aspect in the story very much remains me of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre character Bertha.  

            Voyage in the Dark clearly speaks  the alienation that one feels once they become a part of the mainland British Empire. The novel speaks this idea because Anne much like Bertha is placed in the mainland British Empire, used by the men there and then in the end, is placed as a sexual outcast. We see the begins of Anna’s alienation when women call her a “Hottentot” which refers to the name give to Africans. However, because Anna was referred to as a Hottentot because she is women it conjures up the idea of the “Hottentot Venus”, a African woman that was put on displayed during this time period and very much stereotyped as a sexual being and later denounce in British culture. Therefore, it is not hard to understand why Anna became a “whore”. In essence, Anna because of her alienation her adheres to her friends’ belief of what a relationship and becomes that in essence. In the end, Voyage in the Dark is not a simple romantic novel, like Jane Eyre has been originally interpreted as, it is a novel about imperialism much like Jane Eyre. 

On the back of the copy of Voyage in the Dark that I have, one critic says "...so remote from mainstream idiom of English social fiction that it seems miraculous that they should be able to write like that and be British too. Jean Rhys is such a writer."

This in particular stood out to me because I could not agree more. Thus far, we have not experienced a character that has grown up in a colony and moved to England, only to face their demise. However, in Rhys' novel, that is exactly what we get. The title of the novel, Voyage in the Dark, to me, seems very reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness that we read earlier in the semester. However, instead of traveling from England to the dark and savagely described colonies, Anna Morgan travels through darkness and despair in England. The colonies in the West Indies where she grew up are described in a light and innocent way while England is described in a foreign and depressing way.

Anna's character represents the tension in the relationship between wanting to be integrated into modern, English society and wanting to maintain ones own identity. Anna is clearly caught between two worlds: finding herself isolation emotionally and socially from those around her, making it difficult for her to reconcile her heritage in both the West Indies and England. The way the novel is narrated, through first person, bring together both the past and the present in Anna's world. In addition, Anna's interior thoughts and narration convey a sort of dreamlike stream, which both detaches and destabilizes the narrative. In turn, putting an emphasis on Anna's detachment from English society.

Anna and self expression

Anna narrates her story in a linear fashion from the beginning, when she meets Walter, to the end when she has an abortion and falls ill. However, Anna interrupts the progression with recollections of the past, usually from her own thoughts, but also from her conversation with Hester in Part 1, Chapter 6. These interruptions fill in some of the holes in Anna’s past and give the reader a better sense of the experience of Constance Estate as Anna and Hester remember it differently. The recollections and breaks into the past are described with a syntax that resembles Virginia Woolf’s style of writing. For example, on page 41, Anna begins thinking about her home in a series of run-on sentences and fragmented descriptions and dialogues that represent a personal description. The same occurs in Part 3, Chapter 2 when Anna recollects the road to Constance Estate. The descriptions are narrated almost “colloquially”, as far as literature can be considered colloquial, which is interesting because Anna’s participation in dialogue with other characters is more formal and not nearly as descriptive. During her conversation with Walter about Constance Estate in Part 1 Chapter 5, Walter concedes, "I'm sure it's beautiful", to which Anna responds simply, "Yes," and then changes the subject, "On the other hand, if England is beautiful, it's not beautiful. It's some other world. It all depends, doesn't it?" (52). Anna not only changes the subject from the Estate to England, but is not very clear about what she wants to say. In her narrative descriptions, however, Anna is more descriptive. She remembers the moss on the Estate house, as well as the roses, orchids and honeysuckle. She even remembers a specific slave's name, "Maillotte Boyd, aged 18, mulatto, house servant", but only reckons to Walter that "I saw an old slave list at Constance once", and "All those names written down, It's funny, I've never forgotten it". It is almost as if she has these thoughts constantly running through her mind, which the reader has limited access to through her narration, and which the other characters have even less access to because of her cautiousness and self-conscious behavior in formal conversation. This is precisely the case in the fourth and final part of the book, when Anna’s thoughts and observations are lengthy and italicized, but all she can manage to say to her peers is “I’m giddy” and “I fell”.

I’m wondering how the way Anna struggles to put her thoughts into words and therefore her inability to turn her words into actions can be attributed to her being a woman, psychologically, socially, geographically, etc.?

Disorientation in Voyage in the Dark

I didn't think anything could possibly be more confusing than Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. I was wrong. The streams of consciousness here mixed with conversations in the present tense are really disorienting. In the beginning of chapter 5 Rhys starts off with "Next evening we got back to Green Street about eleven o'clock" --I had no idea who she was talking about at first.  She had left off chapter 4 with Anna talking to Maudie. Rather than set the reader up for a piece of the story or the next plot move, Rhys dives right into it and leaves the reader to piece it together. It feels a bit like a cubist painting - fragmented and disorienting. What interests me most about that though is the way it makes the character seem very real.  Anna as a character is not a perfect person. She's not good, and I feel sort of sorry for her, and sort of not - she just seems real. People think she is lazy and using men, but I think she is just doing what she has to do. There is also a disorientation to the wealth Anna seems to have come from - though Hester tells her Morgan's Rest was a money pit, and the degraded station in life she is forced into in England.  Even though she was working- it was clear that it was work for the lowest of the low. So often it seems that novels are about young girls rising in class not lowering in class. This novel seems to take a nose-dive into this dark depressing poverty that goes out of control with the pregnancy and abortion and the drinking. In the last part of the novel so much of it feels like a drunken haze to me. 

Who is Anna?

      Anna would seem like a woman who is using whatever means necessary to obtain what she needs, especially by way of men. But my concern comes in when society paints the woman as the major culprit and does not place any responsibility on the man. It is a pandemic that has plagued the world since Adam blamed Eve in the garden. Although she has her part to play in her situation and is solely responsible for her actions as an adult, for it only to be seen as her and not the men who are actively participating as well and not tagging their reputations and scarring their names is something that is an ever growing problem. Both parties are equally accountable for the choices they make and should be held as such. I am not saying that Anna should not have made better decisions. There is always a better way of doing things. At first Anna had real genuine feelings for Walter. When things fell off and her friends started talking to her about how she should deal with men, she changed her perspective. Some people are more easily influenced and more susceptible to suggestion and Anna was one of these individuals. After being heartbroken, her friends advice sounded like wisdom and she learned to operate under this premise. Anna is a woman who finds herself in a situation that is bleak and dire. Her acting career is not taking off like she wants it too, her love life has taken a dive and now she yearns for what she is missing. The easiest way to do it was through the tactics suggested by her friends, which ended up in an unwanted pregnancy, of which she took care of by way of abortion. The doctor even went as far as to tell her that it was not the end of life for her and that she would be able to pick herself up and move past it. Anna's story is like the typical lifetime movie special on a Sunday Night.

Skilless or Lazy?

When we first meed Anna she is touring with a theater company. At first she seems like a girl who is working hard to make a life for herself, but that view of her quickly changes. Once she meets Walter she becomes almost like a leech. She decides not to go back on tour because she has Walter to pay for everything. Her land ladies throughout the novel seem to always complain about her and often eventually kick her out for one reason or another. Often they don't agree with Anna's lifestyle, the way that she treats her landladies like servants, or how she keeps her room. Anna seems to take this in stride, not really caring and just finding a  new place to live. She is happy as long as she has a man paying her way, but once she is on her own she sulks. She complains about being tired all the time, stays in bed late, and makes no effort to pay her own way. Often she doesn't even find her new man on her own. Usually one of her friends introduces them. Even once Anna is living with Ethel ans supposed to be helping with the business she does as little as she can, and again Ethel gets fed up and she is sent away yet again. Once she is pregnant she continues to leech off of others. She stays with Laurie, who finds her the woman to perform the abortion, she gets the money from her first man, Walter and his brother. The last part was slightly confusing, and I had to re-read it, but one thing that was clear was that right up to the end of the book she is relying on others to help her.

Mistresses in Novels

If it hadn't been for the recent look at some modernist journals, I would have thought that this novel told a very risqué story for the time period in which it was written. However, the journals made me realize that people from the past were far more accepting than we think today.

The book also gave insight into the life of a mistress. I have read several books in the past that include and/or mention mistresses, but I don't think I've ever read a book from the point of view of one of those mistresses. This novel sheds light on the woes of the many women who were seen as upper class women in sense of status, but money-wise, they were at the bottom. Women like this who are pretty enough would sometimes manage to snag a husband who had enough money or a decent paying job, but otherwise, women were often tossed around among the unmarried upper class until they got pregnant, found some sort of decent job or house to latch onto, or maybe died.

Considering the circumstances, it might have been a good idea to try to get pregnant in order to guarantee money from a guy, however men would not always acknowledge their child which would put the mother in an even worse spot than she had been before. Overall, Anna Morgan was quite lucky in her endeavors, all things considered, although they might have been hinting that she was dying at the end which would not have been good.

Economic exchanges in Voyage in the Dark

As the world renown artist Kanye West once said “ I ain’t saying she a gold digger, but she ain’t messing with no broke *man*”.  I could not help but to think of West’s lyrics when reading Jean Rhys’ Voyage in the Dark as Anna and her friend Laurie navigate the world of getting men to pay for everything in their entire lives. It seems as if the characters in the novel have some level of acceptance for the idea that young women like Anna and Laurie don’t have personal skills or abilities that can support their lives so they must turn to sleeping with wealthy (likely married) men who can take care of their finances. One early example comes in the beginning of the novel when Anna’s friend Maudie recommends “ I don’t want to interfere, kid, but you really ought. The more you swank the better. If you don’t swank a bit nothing’s any use. If he;s a rich man and he’s keeping you, you ought to make him get you a nice flat up West somewhere and furnish it for you. Then you’d have something.” (45).  Maudie expects that Anna will follow her life path that consists of dressing up well to attract the most affluent “suitors” (for lack of a better work) and then squeezing them for every penny she could. In economic and materialistic terms the novel pervades the idea that one as a human (especially the female characters) are literally able to be bought and possessed by men if only they have the proper amount of money.  As page 46 mentions “You can get a very nice girl for five pounds, a very nice girl indeed…People are much cheaper than things” (46).  In the novel there is some convoluted understanding of “love” and “relationship” in which the men pay the women for their company (mainly sex) and the women rely on the men until “he got sick of me and chucked me. I wish I were dead” (115). Here Anna shows one of the downsides to her lifestyle which typically involved limitless money being that the men would often use the girls until they got bored and moved on. Not only would the women be rejected in the terms of any feelings they had developed for the men, but they also would have to find a new source of income. 

BLAST! and Format

The Scholes and Wulfman article nicely maps out an easy approach to read a modern magazine. One of the approaches I find to be very helpful is Format. In this, it is important to note key changes among different issues of the magazine.

The modern magazine BLAST was a short lived magazine, with only two issues, dedicated to Vorticism. In the first issue of BLAST, the Vorticists are attacking futurists for being too sentimental. The first edition predates WWI by two months. The cover is bright pink with BLAST written diagonally across. The first few pages are very dynamic in their use of space. It is very eye catching but also straight forward. The first issue includes artwork by Edward Wadsworth and Wyndham Lewis, to only name a few. The artwork is very abstract and looks very mechanical and industrial. A particular piece by Lewis titled " Plan of War" is very interesting because the war had not begun yet. However, it gives an abstract representation of how a war moves. It also suggests the war against establishment, which being a magazine dedicated to Vorticism would make sense because Vorticists wanted to set themselves apart from everyone else.

The second issue of BLAST is dedicated to supporting the war. The artwork on the cover is by Lewis and is reminiscent of some of the his art seen in the first issue of BLAST; very industrial and mechanical. The opening few pages attack the Germans for their ideas on Romanticism. The second issue is very aggressive, violent, and primitive. The articles, poems, art, etc. in the second edition speak to war, humanity, and art. This shows the change in purpose among the two editions. The first edition was working to set themselves apart, seen in the blast, bless, and curse lists while the second edition is working to show support for the war. Something that stays similar among the two issues is that there is no use of color and the art remains abstract.

This change among the two issues of BLAST, I believe, is due to the message each issue was trying to convey.

BLAST and Format

            I have made observations of the short-lived Modernist Magazine BLAST by using Robert Scholes and Clifford Wulfman’s sixth point of observation in their article “How to Study a Modern Magazine”, which is “Format”. In addition to observing dimensions, page numbers, and visual material of the magazine, Scholes and Wulfman also suggests to make observations of how these aspects change over time, or from issue to issue. Because BLAST lasted for only two issues, it was easy to see some of the most striking changes in the magazine. The changes in format between issues 1 and 2 of BLAST are quite drastic given the short lifetime of the magazine from 1914-1915. As we talked about in class, the start of World War I may have had a lot to do with the content of the magazine, but may have also had an impact on the decisions made while formatting the magazine.

The dimensions of BLAST can be compared to the dimensions of a contemporary magazine we might come across today. Issue 1 of BLAST has 212 pages while Issue 2 has only 112. In both issues, however, the page count could have easily been reduced by eliminating or utilizing blank space. The images in this magazine have their own individual pages, even if the size of the image takes up less than half of the space on the page. Each image page is followed by a completely blank page, and each section is separated by a blank page.

The artwork intersects some stories and sections of poetry, but seem to have little to do with the stories and poems themselves. The images represent the type of art the Vorticism movement would have been interested in or approving of. The images are in black and white and appear as though they were prints of the original drawings or paintings. The only color used in the magazine is on the cover of Issue 1, which is shocking pink with the title BLAST seemingly stamped on it in bold, black letters. Although Issue 2 lacks the bright pink flare of the first issue, the pink color seems to be replaced with one of Wyndham Lewis’ drawings to illustrate the magazine’s affinity for Vorticism with their Cubist and Imagist foundations.

BLAST and its Content

        I chose to look at the content of BLAST. The first thing I did was go through each issue and tally up the various types of work in them. I has seven categories; the introduction,poetry, plays, short fiction, opinion pieces, art, and advertisements. Then I totaled up the number of pages for each section and the total number of pages and found the percent that each category took up.
            In BLAST issue one the introduction, in this case the manifesto was 31 pages and made up 19% of the entire issue. Only 6 pages have poems on them for a total of 12 pages, only 3.5% of the issue. Advertisements also make up only 3.5% of the issue. The one play in the first issue is 27 pages and is 16%  of the issue. There are only two short stories in the issue, making up 18% of the issue. There are 23 art pieces in the first issue, making up 13%of the issue. the category that has the most space is the opinion pieces  at 46%. Most of these pieces were short papers about various topics the authors felt strongly about. 
          The second issue of BLAST is similar to the first in terms of composition even though it is much shorter than the first issue, but there are some major differences as well.The opinion pieces make up 57% of the second issue. Unlike the first issue the introduction in issue two is just a three page editorial. Poetry makes up more of the second issue- 16%, but there are no plays and only one two page short story.  Both issues clearly show the political and artistic beliefs of those involved in the making of BLAST. Each has many pieces that are just give the author's opinion on a certain topic or place. They are critical and unapologetic. The fact that these pieces make up so much of each issue shows the strong political opinions of those in charge of BLAST, opinions that they clearly want their readers to know about. This aggressiveness in their opinions being the right ones could be why BLAST only lasted two issues.

Scholes, Wulfman, and BLAST

The chapter on how to read a modernist magazine is actually very helpful for modern day readers who are trying to understand what the context of the magazines actually are. While reading modernist literature, this would always be useful to keep nearby, so the same will go when you read BLAST. 

By using some of the techniques that are demonstrated by Scholes and Wulfman, you can easily describe the short, 2 issue run of BLAST. By using the implied reader method, it does not take long to realize that this magazine was written with an intended audience of intellectuals. The magazine often makes references to romantic artists from other countries, something that the average person would probably not understand. For the content portion of the breakdown, you can quickly tell that this magazine relies heavily on the political values of the contributors, as well as their views on way of life. Lastly, the format of the magazine is actually quite different. The first magazine is a bright pinkish color and a pretty large size. However, the format of the pages is what seems to be the most interesting characteristic of the magazine. Especially on the "Blast" pages, the use of empty space is very prevelant, taking up almost as much room as the text itself.

Blast and Reading a Modern Magazine #6

For Blast, I believe one of the more significant parts of the magazine that can be studied involves number 6, the format. Examining the first issue closely, the size of Blast seems very large and thick compared to modern magazines but I believe that most magazines from the day were approximately the same size. The length of the edition is hard to judge because the actual journal says 160 but there are many blank pages at the beginning and end of it which may have been advertisements or just blanks pages. However, the size of the font changes drastically depending on which piece you look at. The font sometimes changes too; not in the middle of a story but when you compare the different ones to each other.

As far as visual art goes there are many drawings, especially abstract ones, within the first edition. There is only one photograph of an abstract sculpture on page xvii, titled Stags in the magazine but towards the end there are a few drawings that are not abstract but what look like water-color paintings of society.

There does not seem to be any sort of order in which the pictures are displayed and they appear many times in the middle of the different stories. For example, in the middle of The Saddest Story, there are several abstract drawings of head and other things which do not relate to the story at all. The images all seem to be independent of the various stories and without them the journal would not really be much better or worse in my opinion.  The images are not in color but the cover of the actual magazine is bright pink with black writing.

Because of the length of time that Blast was being produced and the number of editions, there are not really any major changes that I can see other than the increase in what can only be described as war propaganda. There is much more in the second edition than the first as WWI becomes more and more inevitable.

Looking at the Content of Blast

             One of the suggestions that Scholes and Wulfman make when looking at a journal like Blast, is to look specifically at what kind of contents are in the journal. The first edition of Blast has 23 drawings, prints or other illustrations. It also includes a handful of poems by Ezra Pound, 2 short stories, 1 play and 1 book review. Then the bulk of the other pages with words on them, I am not even sure how to categorize. Those other pages contain a lot of short fragments of opinions and beliefs. The only advertisements in the journal are the advertisements at the end for the publisher, and the books that are new from that company. Even though there are far more pages with words on them, I think the focus of this journal is the art. I say this in part because there is so much of it, and in part because the book review is a book by Kandinsky who was a contemporary artist. And on many of the uncategorized typed pages, the words themselves are arranged artistically and talk about art, art forms, what the vorticists believe and/or are criticisms of other art forms. Wyndham Lewis is presenting his movement and the majority of the journal is examples (in one way or another) of what he is calling Vorticism.

               The journal changes from the first edition to the second edition. In the second edition there are only 17 drawings, prints or other illustrations, and where there were only a few categorized works in the first edition there are significantly more in the second edition. The second edition is only half as many total pages and there are a lot more poems – 15 I think.  The randomness of Wyndham Lewis also seems to be categorized into short essays a little bit more organized and a little less artsy in look than the first edition. While there is still a huge emphasis on art, as well as a review of contemporary art, by the second edition the journal definitely addresses the war. The writers make comments about war, the drawings and prints have war themes. It is clear that the war is a big part of everyone’s life. However, I still think that the journal’s main interest is art and its audience intellectual, artistic people.

History of Blast

         Robert Scholes and Clifford Wulfman wrote an interesting perspective on how to “tackle” a modernist magazine. These periodicals were written over a hundred years ago during a time of political unrest, national ideologies and movements and certain individuals did not mind publishing how they felt about it. “Blast” was a set of manifestos which supported art and literature. It would blast everything from the Victorian age to France, including other targets; and in the same breath, turn round and “bless” many of the same targets. One point that I thought was important that the authors brought out was knowing the history behind the magazine, well as much history as you can possibly ascertain. Sometimes this information can be hard to find when the data is over a century old, but whatever can be gathered will aid in the understanding of the publication.

            Blast was published only twice: July 1914 and July 1915. Britain declared war on Germany in August, 1914, so the publication, along with it being a very outspoken magazine, did not have a long shelf life. One of its main contributors Henri-Gaudier-Brzeska, who was also one of the original Vorticists was killed at the war trenches. Wyndham Lewis was its main editor along with a group of young writers and artist who shared his mentality and sentiments: Richard Aldington, Malcolm Arbuthnot, Lawrence Atkinson, Jessica Dismorr, Cuthbert Hamilton, Ezra Pound, William Roberts, Helen Saunders and Edward Wadsworth; although few of them took on a serious role. Ezra Pound is not included in the ones who took on a less serious role. He was very much involved. It was visually unconventional in its appearance as opposed to other conservative modernist journals of the time such as: “The Egoist, English Review, New Age and Harold Monro’s Poetry Reiew”. Blast was meant to be a “bold intervention in a rapidly changing art world”. There was high hopes for its circulation and influence, but then a Great War broke out and changed the course for the magazine.

 

Sources:

http://modjourn.org/render.php?id=mjp.2005.00.097&view=mjp_object

http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/counterculture/assaultonculture/blast/blast.html

Reading content in Blast 1 and 2

            In chapter six of their book Modernism in the Magazines: An Introduction, Robert Scholes and Wulfman offer specific lenses one can use to more thoroughly read a modernist magazine. Since modernist magazines are a collection of many authors, literary, and artistic works there is a special approach needed to see the magazine as a unified but not really unified text. As readers, we read the magazine as a whole and appreciate the different styles present while looking for some overarching thematic significance. To help readers arrive at a more complete understanding, Scholes and Wulfan offer a checklist of elements of a magazine to specifically examine on page 148.One area that is suggested that I feel is especially  important for reading a modernist magazine is too look at the composition of the different genres included. For example, in Blast there is a very close ratio between literary writing and drawings/pictures which certainly makes sense as Lewis and the other contributors sought to perpetuate the Vorticist artistic movement.  So in terms of numbers, it is evident that art and the discussion of art was the central focus for the authors as seen by the large percentage of entries revolving around art.

Also in terms of the number of times certain content is discussed, one could conclude that the looming (and later current) threat of global war is certainly represented in both Blast 1 and 2. As Scholes and Wulfman discuss, the proportion of war centered articles/art reveals that the idea of war and destruction were at the forefront of national attention. Lewis, Pound, and the other contributors all address (many times over) how the war will impact England and especially how a world war would threaten the development of the artistic movement. If one were to take a tally of how many pages of Blast deal with war/battle/fighting they would likely find that a large percentage of the content (especially in the second edition) deal with the conflict which was soon to change every element of life in England. So as Scholes and Wulfam suggest it is important to look at the content of a modernist magazine to determine what was the backdrop of the creation of the magazine was. To fully understand what is the “main goal” of the magazine is one should pay attention to what ideas are repeatedly discussed and what ideas seem to be outliers. 

Blast

The first thing I noticed in the first edition of Blast was the use of space. In a magazine today, there is not space left anywhere on a page. Space if filled with words or pictures. In Blast, especially in the first few pages, you notice the amount of white space on each page. It is very straight forward and simply, it seems that there is no need to sugar coat or add what is not necessary.

I found the Manifesto interesting because it goes through Blast, Curse, and Bless, and really lays out what this first edition is about and who it is for. In addition, several of the things they blast or curse, they also bless; England, France, humor, etc. I found the Manifesto humorous because it was so straightforward. Wether this was the point or not, I believe that this helps set the reader up, today or during the 1900s, to enjoy reading this magazine. As the reading goes on, I enjoy the fact that the magazine is full of stories, poems, and art as opposed to today's magazines which are full of basic nonsense. Also, the visual art throughout is very abstract. I particularly like "Head" and "Dancers".

The second edition of Blast is quite different than the first. The Editorial discusses the war and positions the magazine in support of the war effort. The majority of the Editorial discusses Germany's romanticism. However, they make sure to discuss it and explain it in full so that the reader does not think they are in alliance or support with Germany. The article "Artists and The War" is interesting to me because it seems to be discussing how artists have no means or reason to make art during the war because they cannot be paid (?). This article is also interesting to me given the amount of visual art throughout both the first and second editions. I really enjoyed the poem "Rhapsody of a Windy Night" by T.S. Elliot. To me, I see this poem as discussing the view of a neighborhood, even a street, by a lamppost. I thought that perhaps this is how an unlikely person, possibly a civilian, may be viewing the war; an outsider looking in. I believe the visual art stayed the same between both editions in terms of abstraction. However, the art titles such as "War Machine" "Progression", and "Combat" seem to be leaning towards the idea of war, which is clearly what the second edition is invested in.

Blast! The Difference in a Year

I think what struck me the most about this, was the difference in the first volume and the second volume. The first volume seems to be very much about explaining what Blast is, who the Vorticists are and who they are not. The second volume is very much about the war. It seemed to me that the first volume was much more pure. There was nothing hindering Blast. Whereas by the second volume they clearly are fighting for readers, as they Lewis notes that there are "a multitude of other Blasts of all sizes and descriptions" (pg 5).  Also in the way that Lewis focuses on explaining what he means by calling the Germans romanticists -- it really seems like he is probably being censured. Much of his editorial at the beginning seems to be alluding to censure.

Likewise, in the first volume, he has Blasts and Curses (though they are not formally named - they are covered under the manifesto I guess) at the beginning, one of the first things you read. These blasts and curses are followed by some blesses, but the focus seems to be on the blasts and curses. In the second volume they are tucked in the end and they are clearly titled Blasts and Blesses- leaving out the curses altogether - focusing on the positive note along side the blasts. And in the first volume, I think it is possible that some people may have found his blasts offensive and unpatriotic. He starts off cursing the weather, but he also slyly slips in a note about sins and vampires and this whole sucking theme- alluding to some aspect of British society sucking life (it seems) from the people and the artists. In volume 2, his blasts and blesses are lists, with no explanation at all- again giving the feeling that he is being censured.

In volume 1 Lewis gives the readers a manifesto (or 2). He lists out a variety of things that Blast believes in and supports.  In volume 2, he gives the readers an editorial which explains a lot of the changes. Then at the end right in front of the blasts and blesses, he writes Wyndam Lewis. Vortex No 1. Art Vortex.  Be Thyself.  This seems similar to his manifesto(s) in Volume 1, but it's tucked in at the end, and with a title that seems to be hoping someone overlooks it.  The first line of that "You must talk with two tongues if you do not wish to cause confusion" seems to be alluding to his attempts to get around censure. I could be way off, but that's how it seems to me. 

In general both Blasts are very interesting. They both are very much geared towards art but Lewis takes a huge turn in the second one towards writing about the war. It is even called War Number. A lot of the artwork in it seems to be war images. By the second volume it almost seems to lose a little bit of the push towards individuality because the war is such a nationalistic effort.

Some Thoughts About the Readings

        Ezra Pound is an interesting individual. There was not much this man did not have his hands in one way or another, especially if it meant going against the "standard norm". If he could have started a Revolution that would have took, I believe he would done so with all true conviction. The material presented this week was cumbersome as it offered a wealth of information. Many concepts of which I think begs for more in-class conversation was presented. The information was dense and moved very fast and some of the terms were not clearly defined in my opinion. It was almost as if the authors assumed the readers knew what they were talking about and in essence, that may not be the case. Terms such as: "Les Imagistes, Vorticism (the movement itself, what it entailed, etc.), polemics, avant-garde", are just some of the terms that were constantly repeated, but the text was moving so quickly, there was not a real clear understanding. You can kind of piece together what is being said in context, but you are not sure if the path you are on is correct or if you have digressed in a total different direction, just to say a word about the Angel readings.
     The title, "Blast", says a great deal. It tells the reader even before they open the magazine that within the pages there is going to be something astronomical coming your way. The word itself packs a powerful punch. Immediately you are put on notice to brace yourself for whatever you are about to encounter and that is exactly what happens when you begin to go through the pages. The juxtaposition of wording alone on the "Blast and Bless" pages is enough to overwhelm the reader. The authors truly had some strong feelings politically and they were not afraid to share their thoughts about it. The authors were not afraid to share their thoughts about much period. There was no censorship, no being politically correct and if someone did not like it, then it was just too bad. Of course that would explain why it did not have a long shelf life. The images were abstract, very geometric (cubism at its best) and there was a great deal of contrast between light and dark from what I could see. They also seemed to be a bit grainy. I am not sure if that was due to it being copied as a pdf. Blast is definitely a magazine that was outspoken and did not mind being that way. Now, would a magazine like this be allowed in society today? Let me just say, I have yet to see one.