[Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf
DIANA SWANSON
diana_swanson at comcast.net
Wed Sep 16 12:14:38 EDT 2020
Interesting.
And was John Lehman himself being pseudo-Vorticist in these manifesto-like passages?
Diana
Diana Swanson
President, Friends of Jane Adeny Memorial School for Girls
P. O. Box 292
Sycamore, IL 60178 USA
www.jamskenya.org http://jamskenya.org/
> On 09/16/2020 9:15 AM Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
>
> I *think* “the pretence-new” = the pretend-new = the pretended new. After all, ex America semper aliquid novi.
>
> Stuart
> (Day 183)
>
> From: Mary Ellen Foley via Vwoolf
> Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2020 1:54 PM
> To: 陈栩
> Cc: vwoolf
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf
>
> > a new kind of journalism ... to drive the ... New Statesman and Spectator off the stage,
> > and usurp the pretence-new of the pseudo-American
>
> I'm only guessing, but I'll jump in:
>
> The pretence-new is the most intriguing part of the phrasing, to my eye. Could this be a Frenchified way of saying "the new pretension", constructing pretension in the phrase itself?
>
> If so, then the aim is to take over the new pretension of the pseudo-American -- which I read as saying to take over a recently fashionable stance of trying to sound American. What it would mean to take this over -- 'to adopt that position themselves' seems unlikely, and 'usurp', with its connotations of an unjust action, seems an odd choice -- I couldn't say.
>
> I don't know enough about the context to know whether this is reasonable, but I prefer it to the "Americans are crass" interpretation :-)
>
> (Reminds me of a tedious trip to London on a *packed* train during which a rude American in the window seats of our row of three -- I was on the aisle -- talked non-stop to her travelling companion, who faced her from the adjacent row of three. We heard all about her -- they were bassoonists in an orchestra together, and, among other things, she told tuba jokes -- because she didn't shut up except for a brief respite when she went to the toilet, and her subject was mainly herself.
>
> I didn't say anything. But when we stepped off the train at Waterloo, I said to the British people who'd occupied the other 3 seats in our 6-person group, "We're not all like that" -- and they absolutely cracked up!)
>
> Mary Ellen
>
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:36 AM 陈栩 via Vwoolf < vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
> > > Dear friends,
> > It is the first time that I have come here for help.
> > I have some difficulty in understanding the red short quotations that I am using in my writing as is attached below. I wonder if you could help me clarify them? They are parts of Lehmann's journal taken from page 84 in his biography John Lehmann: A Pagan Adventure:
> >
> > Wanted: a new kind of journalism in London to drive the elderly softnesses and condescensions of the New Statesman and Spectator off the stage, and usurp the pretence-new of the pseudo-American;
> >
> > Wanted: a new kind of art to blow the spunkless complacencies of Bloomsbury sky-high;
> >
> > Wanted: a new kind of writing that has really caught a spark from the true machine of modern life, the machine in the terrible powerhouse just off the boulevard
> >
> > The context is Lehmann's conflicts with the Woolfs which trigger his departure from Hogarth in 1932 and also consolidate his determination to launch a magazine which turns out to be New Writing. So my questions are
> >
> > 1. What does the "pretence-new of the pseudo-American" mean in the first item? It seems most puzzling.
> > 2. Do you think the powerhouse just off the boulevard might refer to Hogarth Press or probably the Bloomsbury Group? I'm afraid it should be a symbol here.
> > Thank you very much.
> > All the best,
> > Chen Xu
> >
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> > >
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