[Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf

Wed Sep 16 20:09:19 EDT 2020

“Pseudo-American” definitely suggests people aping what they see as American rather than being American.  I agree that “usurp the pretence-new” sounds as though he wants someone to take over and replace it with a real new, not fake new or fake American.

The “terrible powerhouse just off the boulevard” also intrigues me, especially in context of the Vorticist phrasing.  I’m not so sure that this is metaphoric—and I really doubt that it refers either to Bloomsbury in general or to the Hogarth Press within Bloomsbury, neither of which can be described as “off the boulevard.”  Lehmann is pushing for a writing that would “[catch] a spark from the true machine of modern life,” as opposed to “the spunkless complacencies of Bloomsbury,” which implicitly has no spark.  The Vorticist interest in the machine was at least partly literal, and the powerhouse might be too.

Caroline Webb
The University of Newcastle, Australia

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+caroline.webb=newcastle.edu.au at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Mark Scott via Vwoolf
Sent: Thursday, 17 September 2020 7:25 AM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf

As a humble common reader I am going to put in my thoughts on this.

One of the definitions that Merriam-Webster gives for the word usurp is “to take the place of by or as if by force”.

I went to the Cambridge dictionary to see the definition of pretence since it seems to be a British spelling for the word pretense and M-W did not have an entry for the word using the spelling with the c.  That produced the definition “a way of behaving that is intended to deceive people”.

Finally, I went back to Merriam-Webster for pseudo which gave me “being apparently rather than actually as stated : sham, spurious”.

Taking those definitions into account, I would interpret Lehman’s phrase to mean that the new journalism he is advocating for would drive out and replace the deceptively claimed “new” style of a pretended but sham American style.

Mark Scott
Common Reader

From: Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf
Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2020 7:15 AM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] questions about John Lehmann and Woolf

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<mailto: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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