BLAST, World War I, and Tonal Shifts
From The Waste Land Wiki
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===Comparison=== | ===Comparison=== | ||
| − | Firstly, the titles of both the magazine and the first article each edition | + | Firstly, the titles of both the magazine and the first article each edition change drastically after WWI. The first edition is simply called ''BLAST'', but the second edition adds the phrase ''War Number'' to the title. For the first article, the second edition's ''Editorial'' sounds much more serious and straightforward than ''Long Live the Vortex.'' Both articles focus on art and the vorticist movement, but the surrounding tones and issues change. ''Long Live the Vortex'' focuses on the purpose of ''BLAST'' and the ideas of the vorticist movement. ''Editorial'', however, focuses on the war and the threat that official Germany poses to art in Europe. Unlike ''Long Live the Vortex'', ''Editorial'' remains serious and focused on the war rather than ending in a ramble of unrelated topics. |
===Blast/Bless=== | ===Blast/Bless=== | ||
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Andrew Warfield | Andrew Warfield | ||
| − | ==='Life is the Important Thing'/'Artists and the War'=== | + | ==='Life is the Important Thing!'/'Artists and the War'=== |
| − | + | These articles were selected because they were both written by Wyndham Lewis who was the editor of both editions of the magazine ''BLAST''. Wyndham Lewis was also a co-founder of the Vorticist movement which makes him a very important writer in the magazines as he directed the message the magazines would convey for each edition of ''BLAST''. Lewis' article in the first edition of ''BLAST'', ''Life is the Important Thing!'', falls under a chapter in the magazine called "Vortices and Notes" in which Lewis reviews and critiques artists, art forms, movements and more. This section is omitted from the second edition, which is further evidence of its shift from an arts magazine to a politicized forum focused on WWI. In ''Life is the Important Thing'' Lewis critiques artists' desire to capture life and their request for more of it. Lewis argues that artist should not encourage this behavior as intellectuals to other people, but rather encourage them to actually go experience life. Lewis begins his article with powerful language such as "revolt", "revolutionaries", "coup", and "Tyrant". It is clear that incite passion and show his frustration with these artists, and, in this case, the impressionist movement. In this article, Lewis illustrates his motivations for starting the magazine and beginning the Vorticists movement by "blasting" artist idea of trying to capture life in their work. ''Artists and the War'' paints a very bleak picture of the current financial status of artists and how art may change after the war. It is very different in its language. In ''Life is the Important Thing'' Lewis is trying inspire people and artists, but in this article, he is merely reporting on the possibility of a grim future for artists after WWI. The article paints a bleak picture of artists and art movements during WWI further showing how significant the impact of this war was on all art. | |
==Stylistic Changes== | ==Stylistic Changes== | ||
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==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
| − | Our exploration of the tone of the two editions of ''BLAST'' made us realize the strong impact the war had on the magazine. Our text mining on voyant tools | + | Our exploration of the tone of the two editions of ''BLAST'' made us realize the strong impact the war had on the magazine. Our text mining on voyant tools indicates a change in 'war' being very infrequent in the 1914 edition of ''BLAST'' to being the most frequent in the 1915 edition. We sensed that the tone in the earlier version of the magazine was more humanist and individualistic, echoing the merits of the Vorticism art movement. Comparatively, the second edition's tone gained a more political stance. No doubt the on set of WWI is the cause of such a shift in the tone. The second edition is also much more defensive in that it often times references the WWI as a war on art. The second edition also lost some of the satire found in the beginning of the first edition with its comical blasts of different countries followed by praise. Overall, the onset of WWI drastically changed the tone between the two editions. |
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
