[Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf

[陈栩]

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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