The New Age
Encyclopedia
The New Age was a British literary magazine
, noted for its wide influence under the editorship of A. R. Orage from 1907 to 1922. It began life in 1894 as a publication of the Christian Socialist movement; but in 1907 as a radical weekly edited by Joseph Clayton
, it was struggling. In May of that year, Alfred Orage and Holbrook Jackson
, who had been running the Leeds Arts Club
, took over the journal with financial help from George Bernard Shaw
. Jackson acted as co-editor only for the first year, after which Orage edited it alone until he sold it in 1922. By that time his interests had moved towards mysticism
, and the quality and circulation of the journal had declined. According to a Brown University press release, "The New Age helped to shape modernism in literature and the arts from 1907 to 1922". It ceased publication in 1938. Orage was also associated with the New English Weekly
(1932–49) as editor during its first two years of operation (Philip Mairet
took over at his death in 1934).
. Opposing viewpoints and arguments were put forward in The New Age, even on issues upon which Orage had strong opinions. Topics covered in detail were: the role of private property
in a debate between H. G. Wells
and Shaw against G. K. Chesterton
and Hilaire Belloc
; the need for a socialist party (distinct from the newly-formed Labour Party
); and women's suffrage
. On this last point, the editorial line moved from initial support to bitter opposition by 1912. As The New Age moved away from Fabian politics, the leaders of the Fabian Society
, Beatrice
and Sydney Webb founded the journal The New Statesman
to counter its effect in 1913, and this combined with the growing distance between Orage and the mainstream left reduced its influence. By then, the editorial line supported Guild socialism
, expounded in articles by G. D. H. Cole
and S. G. Hobson
among others. After World War I
Orage began to support the Social Credit
theory of C. H. Douglas
.
The New Age was also preoccupied with the definition and development of Modernism
in the visual arts, literature and music, and consistently observed, reviewed and contributed to the activities of the movement.
The journal was also one of the first places in England in which Sigmund Freud
's ideas were discussed before the First World War, in particular by Maurice Eder, an early British psychoanalyst.
With its woodprint illustrations reminiscent of artwork by the German Expressionists
, its mixture of culture, politics, Nietzschean philosophy and spiritualism, and its non-standard appearance, The New Age has been cited as the English equivalent of the German Expressionist periodical Der Sturm
, a journal to which it bore a striking resemblance.
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
, noted for its wide influence under the editorship of A. R. Orage from 1907 to 1922. It began life in 1894 as a publication of the Christian Socialist movement; but in 1907 as a radical weekly edited by Joseph Clayton
Joseph Clayton
Joseph Clayton was an English freelance journalist and biographer. A writer of numerous books, he covered areas of trade union and socialist history, but also religious figures and history.-Life:...
, it was struggling. In May of that year, Alfred Orage and Holbrook Jackson
Holbrook Jackson
George Holbrook Jackson was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time.-Biography:...
, who had been running the Leeds Arts Club
Leeds Arts Club
The Leeds Arts Club was founded in 1903 by the Leeds school teacher Alfred Orage and Yorkshire textile manufacture Holbrook Jackson, and was probably one of the most advanced centres for modernist thinking in Britain in the pre-First World War period.-History:...
, took over the journal with financial help from George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
. Jackson acted as co-editor only for the first year, after which Orage edited it alone until he sold it in 1922. By that time his interests had moved towards mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, and the quality and circulation of the journal had declined. According to a Brown University press release, "The New Age helped to shape modernism in literature and the arts from 1907 to 1922". It ceased publication in 1938. Orage was also associated with the New English Weekly
New English Weekly
The New English Weekly was a leading review of "Public Affairs, Literature and the Arts."It was founded in April 1932 by Alfred Richard Orage shortly after his return from Paris...
(1932–49) as editor during its first two years of operation (Philip Mairet
Philip Mairet
Philip Mairet was a designer, writer and journalist. He had a wide range of interest: crafts, Alfred Adler and psychiatry, and Social Credit. He was also a translator of major figures including Sartre. He wrote biographies of Sir Patrick Geddes and A. R...
took over at his death in 1934).
Content
The magazine was founded as a Journal of Christian liberalism and Socialism. Orage and Jackson re-oriented it to promote the ideas of Nietzsche, Fabian socialism and later a form of Guild socialismGuild socialism
Guild socialism is a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds. It originated in the United Kingdom and was at its most influential in the first quarter of the 20th century. It was strongly associated with G. D. H...
. Opposing viewpoints and arguments were put forward in The New Age, even on issues upon which Orage had strong opinions. Topics covered in detail were: the role of private property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
in a debate between H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
and Shaw against G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
and Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
; the need for a socialist party (distinct from the newly-formed Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
); and women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
. On this last point, the editorial line moved from initial support to bitter opposition by 1912. As The New Age moved away from Fabian politics, the leaders of the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
, Beatrice
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
and Sydney Webb founded the journal The New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
to counter its effect in 1913, and this combined with the growing distance between Orage and the mainstream left reduced its influence. By then, the editorial line supported Guild socialism
Guild socialism
Guild socialism is a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds. It originated in the United Kingdom and was at its most influential in the first quarter of the 20th century. It was strongly associated with G. D. H...
, expounded in articles by G. D. H. Cole
G. D. H. Cole
George Douglas Howard Cole was an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. As a libertarian socialist he was a long-time member of the Fabian Society and an advocate for the cooperative movement...
and S. G. Hobson
Samuel George Hobson
Samuel George Hobson, often known as S. G. Hobson , was a major theorist of guild socialism.Born in Bessbrook, County Armagh, Hobson was given a Quaker education in Saffron Walden and then Sidcot, Somerset...
among others. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Orage began to support the Social Credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...
theory of C. H. Douglas
C. H. Douglas
Major C. H. Douglas MIMechE, MIEE, , was a British engineer and pioneer of the Social Credit economic reform movement.-Education and engineering career:...
.
The New Age was also preoccupied with the definition and development of Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
in the visual arts, literature and music, and consistently observed, reviewed and contributed to the activities of the movement.
The journal was also one of the first places in England in which Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
's ideas were discussed before the First World War, in particular by Maurice Eder, an early British psychoanalyst.
Production
The journal appeared weekly, and featured a wide cross-section of writers with an interest in literature and the arts, but also politics, spiritualism and economics.With its woodprint illustrations reminiscent of artwork by the German Expressionists
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
, its mixture of culture, politics, Nietzschean philosophy and spiritualism, and its non-standard appearance, The New Age has been cited as the English equivalent of the German Expressionist periodical Der Sturm
Der Sturm
Der Sturm was a magazine covering the expressionism movement founded in Berlin in 1910 by Herwarth Walden. It ran weekly until monthly in 1914, and became a quarterly in 1924 until it ceased publication in 1932....
, a journal to which it bore a striking resemblance.
Notable contributors
- Boris AnrepBoris AnrepBoris Vasilyevich Anrep was a Russian artist, active in Britain, who devoted himself to the art of mosaic....
- Michael ArlenMichael ArlenMichael Arlen , original name Dikran Kouyoumdjian, was an Armenian essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter, who had his greatest successes in the 1920s while living and writing in England...
(Dikran Kouyoumdjian) - Belfort Bax
- Hilaire BellocHilaire BellocJoseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
- Arnold BennettArnold Bennett- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
- Cecil ChestertonCecil ChestertonCecil Edward Chesterton was an English journalist and political commentator, known particularly for his role as editor of The New Witness from 1912 to 1916, and in relation to its coverage of the Marconi scandal....
- G. K. ChestertonG. K. ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
- G. D. H. ColeG. D. H. ColeGeorge Douglas Howard Cole was an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. As a libertarian socialist he was a long-time member of the Fabian Society and an advocate for the cooperative movement...
- C. H. DouglasC. H. DouglasMajor C. H. Douglas MIMechE, MIEE, , was a British engineer and pioneer of the Social Credit economic reform movement.-Education and engineering career:...
- Maurice Eder
- Havelock EllisHavelock EllisHenry Havelock Ellis, known as Havelock Ellis , was a British physician and psychologist, writer, and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He was co-author of the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and...
- Florence FarrFlorence FarrFlorence Beatrice Emery Farr was a British West End leading actress, composer and director. She was also a women's rights activist, journalist, educator, singer, novelist, leader of the occult order, The Golden Dawn and one time mistress of playwright George Bernard Shaw...
- Beatrice HastingsBeatrice HastingsBeatrice Hastings was the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh an English writer, poet and literary critic. Much of her work was published in The New Age under a variety of pseudonyms, and she lived with the editor, A. R. Orage, for a time before the outbreak of the First World War...
- T. E. HulmeT. E. HulmeThomas Ernest Hulme was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism.-Early life:...
- Herbert HughesHerbert Hughes (musicologist)Herbert Hughes was an Irish composer, music critic and collector of folk songs.He was born and brought up in Belfast, Ireland, but completed his formal music education at the Royal College of Music, London, graduating in 1901...
- Holbrook JacksonHolbrook JacksonGeorge Holbrook Jackson was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time.-Biography:...
- Oscar LevyOscar LevyOscar Levy was a German-Jewish physician and writer, now known as a scholar of Friedrich Nietzsche, whose works he first saw translated systematically into English. His was a paradoxical life, of self-exile and exile, and of writing on and against Judaism. He was influenced by the racialist...
- Anthony LudoviciAnthony LudoviciAnthony Mario Ludovici, was an English philosopher, Nietzschean sociologist and social critic. He is best known, perhaps, as a proponent of aristocracy, and in the early 20th century was a leading British conservative author...
- Hugh MacDiarmidHugh MacDiarmidHugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...
- Katherine MansfieldKatherine MansfieldKathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and...
- Edwin MuirEdwin MuirEdwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He was remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations....
- Alfred Orage
- A. J. Penty
- Marmaduke PickthallMarmaduke PickthallMarmaduke Pickthall was a Western Islamic scholar, noted as an English translator of the Qur'an into English. A convert from Christianity, Pickthall was a novelist, esteemed by D. H. Lawrence, H. G. Wells, and E. M. Forster, as well as a journalist, headmaster, and political and religious leader...
- Ezra PoundEzra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
- Hugh Pembroke VowlesHugh Pembroke VowlesHugh Pembroke Vowles was a British engineer, socialist and author.- Early life and education :...
- H. G. WellsH. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
- Herbert ReadHerbert ReadSir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism, and was strongly influenced by proto-existentialist thinker Max Stirner....
- Clifford SharpClifford SharpClifford Sharp was a British journalist, the first editor of the New Statesman magazine from its foundation in 1913 until 1928.He had previously edited The Crusade....
- Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
- George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
- Walter SickertWalter SickertWalter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
- Dimitrije MitrinovicDimitrije MitrinovicDimitrije Mitrinović was a Serbian philosopher, poet, revolutionary, mystic, theoretician of modern painting, traveller and cosmopolite.-Biography:Dimitrije Mitrinović was born in a village near the town of Stolac in Herzegovina...
- Ramiro de MaeztuRamiro de MaeztuRamiro de Maeztu y Whitney was a Spanish political theorist, journalist, literary critic, occasional diplomat and member of the Generation of '98....
External links
- Complete archive of The New Age under Orage (1907–1922) at the Modernist Journals Project