Monday, July 29, 2013

The New Freewoman, July 15 1913


The mid-July issue of The New Freewoman is wild.  Here are the headlines from my notes, which I'm including because they should give an idea of just how wild things have gotten--followed by explanations,  etc.  I'm looking forward to reviewing The Masses, where the politics are radical but reasonable. 

1. Democracy is a delusion, tyranny is preferable. Editors.

The libertarian argument here is that someone living under a tyranny knows that they are under an arbitrary system and can therefore act more freely than under a democracy--because in a democracy you cede your moral authority to the majority.  Not sure about that, but in general this article resonated with lots of fringey stuff still going around. 

2. Feminism is a bunch of rotten rhetoric, buy a gun. 

In June 1913 a strike of white South African miners was brutally crushed: see The New Age for an angry and horrified response.  The New Freewoman scorns the mainline suffragettes for writing a letter of protest, instead advocating arming oneself in case it happens in England.  Again, resonance. 

3. The "Cat and Mouse Act" is "exceedingly good government."

Because it keeps people from subverting the rule of law.  I do NOT understand the jump from the libertarian pleas for individual action to the defense of law and order. 

4. Anti-Semitic (but lighthearted) rant about how the Jewsrun England. 

Apparently someone wrote an article titled "What shall we do with our Jews?" in a contemporary publication, with the suggestion that they be given Angola for a homeland.  The New Freewoman laughs at this, calling it the tail asking "What shall we do with our dogs?" and suggesting that the Jews will take over England whenever they want to.  Ugh. 

5. There is an immortal soul, it's ecstasy, and sometimes it makes you kill yourself. 

Rebecca West's third contribution is more of a philosophical essay than her earlier travel writings--she reviews one book that says there is no such thing as a soul, and then another (by Francis Grierson, who keeps popping up) that says there is.  Her opinion is that their is something kind of soul-like, present in the ecstasy of dynamism.  Sort of reminded me of the Futurism+religion. 

6. White Slavery = Marriage

After all, that's what marriage is, right?  In its historical roots?  An entertaining but not at all useful contribution to the discussion of the white slave panic (see earlier posts).

7. The only thing paintable is the realm of the imagination

Huntley Carter describes a modern abstract painting as linked to photography: painting isn't distracted by realism anymore (photos beat them every time), so now it's about art (rather, about Art).  Cool connection to photography. 

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