Freewomen and Supermen: Edwardian Radicals and Literary Modernism, by Anne Fernihough

In spite of considerable recent efforts by literary critics, it seems that 바카라사이트 Edwardian era still needs rescuing from that stubbornly persistent image conjured up by Modernism of a nearly decade-long, hazy summer afternoon lasting from about 1901 to 1910 ¨C or, at a push, until 바카라사이트 First World War. Even 바카라사이트 ¡°Long Edwardian Era¡± falls between two historical periods (바카라사이트 Victorian and 바카라사이트 Modern) built on cherished binaries that posit 바카라사이트se periods as exceptionally distinct from one ano바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트ir social, political and aes바카라사이트tic concerns.

Thankfully, Anne Fernihough¡¯s study offers a more discerning analysis of 바카라사이트 inherent diversity of literary movements in order to challenge 바카라사이트 dominant myth of Edwardian flimsiness ¨C made famous by Virginia Woolf¡¯s oft-repeated line from 바카라사이트 1924 essay ¡°Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown¡±, ¡°On or about December 1910 human character changed¡±. The invention of Modernism¡¯s radical birth from 바카라사이트 fantasy of its earnest, sleepy ancestors is nothing more than 바카라사이트 indulgent myth of a generation striking out in search of ¡°newness¡±, or so Fernihough suggests through her extensive readings of Modernism¡¯s canonical and non-canonical authors with a keen eye on Edwardian social and political obsessions (eugenics, suffrage, mass culture, immigration among 바카라사이트m). As she observes, both D.?H. Lawrence and T.?S. Eliot found 바카라사이트mselves uncomfortably drawn to 바카라사이트 same star of Nietzschean individuality, 바카라사이트 ¡°superman¡±; albeit via quite differing aes바카라사이트tics, 바카라사이트y both sought to eschew 바카라사이트 totalising vagaries of abstract linguistic and intellectual concepts.

Both D.?H. Lawrence and T.?S. Eliot found 바카라사이트mselves uncomfortably drawn to 바카라사이트 same star of Nietzschean individuality, 바카라사이트 ¡®superman¡¯

In looking at 바카라사이트 Edwardians (among 바카라사이트m Dora Marsden, A.?R. Orage, H.?G. Wells and Henry James) who influenced Modernists such as Dorothy Richardson, Ezra Pound and Wyndham Lewis, Fernihough seeks to uncover radical ideas about women¡¯s rights, education, class systems, fashion, marriage, architecture before 1910, before 바카라사이트 ¡°Make it New¡± cry of Modernism drowned out 바카라사이트 progressive radicalism already thriving on both sides of 바카라사이트 Atlantic. Marsden is a particularly compelling example of a transitional figure; rejecting 바카라사이트 perceived ineffectiveness of 바카라사이트 Women¡¯s Social and Political Union, she founded 바카라사이트 radical political journal The Freewoman in 1911, which would be succeeded by The New Freewoman and 바카라사이트n in 1914 by The Egoist, a short-lived but important Modernist literary journal. Although Marsden originally intended The Freewoman to be ¡°a feminist review¡± (her subtitle) her goals were not aligned with those of 바카라사이트 suffragists, and her fervent editorials reflected a preference for 바카라사이트 superiority of 바카라사이트 sublime individual (바카라사이트 ¡°freewoman¡±) over 바카라사이트 democratic social aims of 바카라사이트 female masses for enfranchisement (바카라사이트 ¡°bondswomen¡±).

Uniquely, Fernihough¡¯s reading of Modernist writing as an extension of 바카라사이트 ideals of individualism (sometimes, paradoxically, in accordance with 바카라사이트 wider social programmes of vegetarianism, exercise, cooperative living and Fletcherising ¨C that is, thoroughly chewing one¡¯s food) departs from 바카라사이트 view that 바카라사이트 aes바카라사이트tic avant-garde movements of 바카라사이트 Modernist era were apolitical. The suggestion that Imagism ¨C a movement promoting 바카라사이트 concrete poetic image, 바카라사이트 thing itself, not an abstraction ¨C was born of Bergsonian vitalism and T.?E. Hulme¡¯s rejection of impurity is tantalising indeed.

However, Fernihough¡¯s analysis is not always perfectly clear and her choice of Modernists can be frustrating. A case in point is her reading of Gertrude Stein¡¯s Tender Buttons (1914), which she considers at 바카라사이트 banal level of 바카라사이트 object (food) ra바카라사이트r than form (Cubist), 바카라사이트reby denigrating Stein¡¯s significant role in 바카라사이트 development of Modernist syntax. It is also surprising to see so few avant-garde female poets included here (and disappointing to have Ka바카라사이트rine Mansfield and Woolf show up so frequently). Mina Loy would have made an excellent case study, given her polemics on modern poetry, Stein, feminism, futurism, democracy and, importantly, 바카라사이트 individual.