[Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf

[Madelyn Detloff]

My first thought about the pseudo American is someone like the American in-law or love interest in an Agatha Christie novel — crass, impolite, and uncultured, but somewhat pretty or handsome. 



My 2 cents....

Madelyn Detloff
Professor and Chair, English
Professor, Global and Intercultural Studies
Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056

Sent from my iPad. Please excuse automiscorrections. 




> On Sep 15, 2020, at 6:36 PM, 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;
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> 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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