The New Age under Orage, Chapters in English Cultural History, Wallace Martin

The New Age under Orage, Chapters in English Cultural History, Wallace Martin 

Between 1907 and 1922 The New Age, a weekly review under the editorship of A.R. Orage, was an important centre of literary activity and an unparalleled arena of cultural and political debate. Its contributors included many of the well-known writers of two generations, Shaw, Wells, Arnold Bennett, T. E. Hulme, Katherine Mansfield, Ezra Pound, and Edwin Muir. More than sixty books, consisting of works originally appearing in its pages, have been published. In addition to preserving critical and creative writing of permanent significance, it is a valuable source of information regarding the intellectual backgrounds of early twentieth-century literature.

Mr Martin begins his study with a chapter on the state of the periodical press in Edwardian England generally, before going on to refer briefly to Orage's earlier activities as a self-made schoolmaster and socialist writer in Leeds. He then describes how Orage took over the magazine in 1907, and its subsequent course under his inspired editorship. Orage would not separate the artistic from the political and economic, and the author traces his development from an orthodox (though non-Marxist) socialist to a Guild Socialist, and through to the post-war years when Orage abandoned Guild Socialism for the Social Credit of Major Douglas.

From the evidence of a number of contributors he shows what a dedicated editor Orage was and, with quotations from Orage's own writings, what a penetrating critic.

This book is not, however, primarily the history of a magazine; it is used rather as a focus for the discussion of several different but related aspects of the cultural life of the years 1907-22. It sheds much light on a crucial and fascinating period and should be of widespread interest among general readers as well as specialist students of the period.

Details

• Hardcover with dust jacket (has wear & tear)
  
• Condition: Good  
  
• Publisher: Manchester University Press