Waffle World.Art.Film.Fashion.Literature.Events 1925
Foreword Dear Reader, You are now holding Waffle Magazine, that is made specially for your enjoyment and enlightment. Breathe, relax and get ready to dive into the world of 1925 and experience the major political, artistic, cinematographic, fashion and literate events of this year. Yours sincerely, Zere Sergaliyeva
Content World:
Fashion:
• The beginning of Mussolini’s dictatorship • Mein Kampf
Literature:
Art: • The 1925 Paris Exhibition
Film: • The Gold Rush • The Phantom of the Opera
• Coco Chanel • Great American Novel • “Scott Fitzgerald Looks Into Middle Age” by Edwin Clark • Mrs. Dalloway • Stream of consciousness • English Journal review
World. 1925 One of the major events that occurred in 1925 is the beginning of the dictatorship in Italy of Benito Mussolini. After becoming a prime minister of Italy in 1922, he had enough support to declare himself as Il Duce. And finally on January 1925 Mussolini appointed himself as the dictator of Italy.
World. 1925 Mein Kampf is the book of revelations and ideas of German Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler. The main idea of the book is to illustrate and to prove the superiority of the German man over others. The book argues about the differences between people, and this division between people are showed through the differences in physiological appearance. It is argued that the Aryan type of the mankind is the supreme class, and of course, Germans belong to that type. However, with superiority comes inferiority, and Hitler in his personal manifesto explicitly shows how essential and benevolent it is to take over inferior part of the mankind, and establish control over them. The anti-Semitic ideas are present throughout the book as it is made quite clear that Jewish people are the main source of troubles and the main obstacles for the German nation to start its reigning. The ideas of genocide are although implicit, still are present in Mein Kampf. It is quite interesting to note, that the book was not written by Hitler himself, it was rather dictated by him during his stay in prison after the Beer Hall Putsch. Thus, it can be said that his dictatorship started at the time when his extremely radical ideas were not only listened to, but also written down carefully and published.
The progress of the fascist regime was also facilitated by the publishing of the first volume of Adolf Hitler’s personal manifesto Mein Kampf. Written during his stay in prison My Struggle became the main book of German Nazi Party, as it comprised the anti-Semitic ideas, lust for power, and the desire to make Nazi dominate the world.
Art. 1925 Art-Deco: The 1925 Paris Exhibition What is Art-Deco? Art-Deco is a visual arts design that first appeared in France after the First World War. It was widely popular in 1930s and 1940s until the end of the Second World War. So, in a way Art-Deco symbolizes this interwar era, and the year 1925 in particular.
Art. 1925
Fireworks bowl; Fyrverkerisk책len, Edward Hald, Sweden, 1921 (designed).
Carter, Stabler & Adams (Great Britain): dish, designed by Mrs Truda Adams
Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The Paris exhibition of 1925 was made with the aim of displaying and showing the modern decorative arts from different parts of the world. Many countries participated in this exhibition, primarily European countries, such as Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the USSR. Nevertheless, the exhibition can be called as the manifestation of taste and modernity of France, as although many countries participated, the main exhibitor still was France. It was highly important to present only modern designs and art projects, however many manufacturers used traditional designs and combined them with modern techniques. Industrialization played a huge role in shaping the art projects that were exhibited in 1925, as its rapid progress allowed making things in a new and modern way. Art-Deco is primarily famous for its rich colours and geometric shapes, and that could be seen in the exhibition.
Art. 1925 The Hotel d’un Collectionneur Extremely beautiful art project, one of the most highly acclaimed Art-Deco exhibits. It consisted of modern and luxurious rooms, that were decorated by popular French furniture maker JacquesEmile Ruhlmann. It received many positive responses from critics and public, as it manifested the Art-Deco style in the most elegant way. The brightness of colours, geometric shapes, and the usage of modern manufacturing techniques enabled this project to be the most popular one among the Paris 1925 exhibition. Talented designers, such as Jean Dupas, Jean Dunand, Edgar Brandt, Antoine Bourdelle and Pierre Patout collaborated in order to create this hotel, and make it exquisite in the most modern way at that time.
Film. 1925 The Gold Rush (1925) is one of Chaplin’s favourite films, that depicts the hilarity of the lives of gold prospectors at the turn of the century. The irony towards society intertwines with the romantic nature of the main character Tramp. The movie is extremely famous for its classic hilarious scenes, such as cooking and eating a shoe by two starved gold prospectors, and the transformation of Chaplin’s character into a chicken in the eyes of the hungry companion. The movie is in a way revolutionary and extremely modern, as various cinematographic tools and techniques were used in the production of this film. The response of the audience towards the Gold Rush was highly positive, and it is still considered to be one of the best films in the history of cinematography.
Film. 1925 The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film which is based on Gaston Leroux’s novel. The director was Rupert Julian and the main roles of this film belonged to Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin. The story of the film is quite dark and frightening, the “Phantom” (Chaney) haunts the Paris Opera House in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star. The film is modern as well because of the techniques which were used in the production. Moreover, the make up of the Phantom was quite impressive at that time. Overall, the film remains the classic example of the horror movie, and even today it is very popular.
Fashion. 1925 Style and fashion for women at that time experienced huge changes. The way women were dressed was in a way masculine, as they tried to wear clothes that would make the body flatter, the haircuts were very short, reflecting the moods of the females to be more independent and equal to males. Chanel was one of the first who started to wear trousers and revolutionized the perception of women’s fashion. Moreover, in 1925 Chanel launched her signature jacket, and that was a breakthrough in the fashion industry. In the following year she created little black dress, and both of these creations continue to be as popular as in 1920s.
Literature. 1925 Published in 1925, the Great Gatsby is the novel that is often referred to as the “Great American Novel�.
Life Magazine's one sentence review:
"Fantastic proof that chivalry, of a sort, is not dead." (May 7, 1925)
A curious book, a mystical, glamorous story of today. (Edwin Clark, 1925)
Scott Fitzgerald Looks Into Middle Age By EDWIN CLARK
Of the many new writers that sprang into notice with the advent of the post-war period, Scott Fitzgerald has remained the steadiest performer and the most entertaining. Short stories, novels and a play have followed with consistent regularity since he became the philosopher of the flapper with "This Side of Paradise." With shrewd observation and humor he reflected the Jazz Age. Now he has said farewell to his flappers-perhaps because they have grown up-and is writing of the older sisters that have married. But marriage has not changed their world, only the locale of their parties. To use a phrase of Burton Rascoe's-his hurt romantics are still seeking that other side of paradise. And it might almost be said that "The Great Gatsby" is the last stage of illusion in this absurd chase. For middle age is certainly creeping up on Mr. Fitzgerald's flappers.
In all great arid spots nature provides an oasis. So when the Atlantic seaboard was hermetically sealed by law, nature provided an outlet, or inlet rather, in Long Island. A place of innate natural charm, it became lush and luxurious under the stress of this excessive attention, a seat of festive activities. It expresses one phase of the great grotesque spectacle of our American scene. It is humor, irony, ribaldry, pathos and loveliness. Out of this grotesque fusion of incongruities has slowly become conscious a new humor-a strictly American product. It is not sensibility, as witness the writings of Don Marquis, Robert Benchley and Ring Lardner. It is the spirit of "Processional" and Donald Douglas's "The Grand Inquisitor": a conflict of spirituality set against the web of our commercial life. Both boisterous and tragic, it animates this new novel by Mr. Fitzgerald with whimsical magic and simple pathos that is realized with economy and restraint.
The story of Jay Gatsby of West Egg is told by Nick Caraway, who is one of the legion from the Middle West who have moved on to New York to win from its restless indifference-well, the aspiration that arises in the Middle West-and finds in Long Island a fascinating but dangerous playground. In the method of telling, "The Great Gatsby" is reminiscent of Henry James's "Turn of the Screw." You will recall that the evil of that mysterious tale which so endangered the two children was never exactly stated beyond suggested generalization. Gatsby's fortune, business, even his connection with underworld figures, remain vague generalizations. He is wealthy, powerful, a man who knows how to get things done. He has no friends, only business associates, and the throngs who come to his Saturday night parties. Of his uncompromising love-his love for Daisy Buchanan-his effort to recapture the past romance-we are explicitly informed. This patient romantic hopefulness against existing conditions symbolizes Gatsby. And like the "Turn of the Screw," "The Great Gatsby" is more a long short story than a novel.
Nick Carraway had known Tom Buchanan at New Haven. Daisy, his wife, was a distant cousin. When he came East Nick was asked to call at their place at East Egg. The post-war reactions were at their height-every one was restless-every one was looking for a substitute for the excitement of the war years. Buchanan had acquired another woman. Daisy was bored, broken in spirit and neglected. Gatsby, his parties and his mysterious wealth were the gossip of the hour. At the Buchanans Nick met Jordan Baker; through them both Daisy again meets Gatsby, to whom she had been engaged before she married Buchanan. The inevitable consequence that follows, in which violence takes its toll, is almost incidental, for in the overtones-and this is a book of potent overtones-the decay of souls is more tragic. With sensitive insight and keen psychological observation, Fitzgerald discloses in these people a meanness of spirit, carelessness and absence of loyalties. He cannot hate them, for they are dumb in their insensate selfishness, and only to be pitied. The philosopher of the flapper has escaped the mordant, but he has turned grave. A curious book, a mystical, glamourous story of today. It takes a deeper cut at life than hitherto has been enjoyed by Mr. Fitzgerald. He writes well-he always has-for he writes naturally, and his sense of form is becoming perfected.
Literature. 1925 Mrs. Dalloway – published in 1925
“I want to give life and death, sanity and insanity. I want to criticise the social system, and show it at work, at its most intense.” (Woolf, in her diary )
Literature. 1925 Mrs Dalloway is Virginia Woolf’s novel about a single day of socially privileged Clarissa Dalloway, who prepares for her party the whole day, while constantly reflecting on her past experiences and feelings of one summer which she spent with her young friends at Bourton. This storyline is paralleled to the single day of Septimus Warren Smith, the veteran of the First World War, who sees hallucinations-his dead comrade comes to him, hears voices and attends doctors with his loving wife Lucrezia Warren Smith. Woolf’s novel is very experimental as she uses such kind of tools as the free indirect narration, and also the stream of consciousness. These tools enabled the author to make her characters incredibly interesting, and highly complex creatures. By looking at the inner world of the main characters and experiencing their feelings and emotions, and also seeing their ways of thinking, we contemplate in a very different way than before the nature of actions and thoughts of the main characters. This tool was also used by many other authors, and the most popular one was James Joyce. Moreover, the novel criticises many societal issues that were present at that time. Woolf shows throughout the book how women at that time were repressed in economic and social way, moreover, the book shows how veterans after the war experienced mental shock and the way they were treated were not effective at all.
Literature. 1925 But every woman will know herself better after living the day through her. (English Journal, 1925)
Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs Dalloway’ British Library Add.
The way the English Journal looked at the release of Mrs.Dalloway is quite interesting to look at, mainly because it implies the resemblance of this novel with Joyce’s novel Ulysses. Moreover, this small review highlights the fact that the novel is more understandable for women rather than men. This is quite different from the way contemporary audience looks at the novel. Although, as the author is female, it does not necessarily mean that the novel is for females. The novel does not have the scale of James Joyce’s Ulysses, but it still represents by itself the masterpiece of experimental modern fiction. The novel is not only about female way of looking at the world around her, but also about the heritage of the First World War. Thus, the review does not really show the whole picture of Mrs Dalloway and its impact on the modern literary world.
Post Scriptum 1925 shows how people were moving on, how they were changing after the Great War, creating new modern ways of expressing themselves in fashion, cinematography, art and literature, and at the same time gradually moving into another war. 1925 is the year between two World Wars, and this fact is seen in all the events that were happening at that time. The legacy of the First World War which can be tracked in literary works, resulted also in rather fruitful progress for art. Art-Deco exhibition of 1925 clearly illustrates how WWI and its consequent rapid industrialization influenced the works of art. New technologies, machinery and techniques enabled the 1925 manufacturers create things that were not possible before. Alongside with this, the progress of new era intertwined in a very interesting and exciting way with the heritage of previous years. The beginning of Mussolini’s dictatorship, the publishing of Mein Kampf are the vivid examples of how rapidly the world was moving into another direction, which consequently resulted in the outbreak of one of the most devastating and terrible period in the history of mankind.
Reference List • On the cover: Furnishing fabric, F Gregrory Brown (designer), William Foxton (manufacturer), 1922. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/the1925-paris-exhibition/ accessed February 21, 2014 • World: “July 18, 1925: Hitler publishes Mein Kampf”. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-publishes-imeinkampfi accessed March 1, 2014 Simkin, J. “Mein Kampf: Nazi Germany”. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERmein.htm accessed March 1, 2014 Smith, S. “Mussolini: A biography of Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator of Italy”. http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/Mussolini.htm accessed March 1, 2014 The History Place: The Rise of Adolf Hitler. “Hitler’s Book Mein Kampf”. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/kampf.htm accessed March 1, 2014 • Art: “Art Deco: The 1925 Paris Exhibition.” http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/the-1925-paris-exhibition/ accessed February 21, 2014 “L’Hotel du Collectionneur - pavillion Ruhlmann”. http://www.histoireimage.org/site/etude_comp/etude_comp_detail.php?i=1030 accessed March 6, 2014 “Ruhlmann: Genius of Art Deco/Art Deco Paris”. http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/pressroom/exhibitions/2003/ruhlmann-genius-of-art-decoart-deco-paris accessed March 2, 2014
Design, Politics and Commerce: International Exhibitions 18511951. “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris: 1925”. http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/teach/century/artdeco.html accessed February 21, 2014 • Film: Dirks, T. Filmsite Movie Review: The Gold Rush. http://www.filmsite.org/gold.html accessed March 2, 2014 Hunt, L. “The making of the 1925 movie The Phantom of the Opera”. http://www.thephantomoftheopera-1925.com/ accessed March 2, 2014 • Fashion: Coco Chanel Biography. http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/cocochanel.html accessed February 26, 2014 Inside Chanel Timeline. http://inside.chanel.com/en/timeline/1883_birth-of-gabrielle-chanel accessed February 26, 2014 • Literature: Book Notices. The English Journal, Vol. 14, No. 9 (1925). National Council of Teachers of English: pp. 738-739 Clark, E. Scott Fitzgerald Looks Into Middle Age. (1925). New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgeraldgatsby.html accessed March 1, 2014 Cornell University New Student Project. The Great Gatsby. http://reading.cornell.edu/reading_project_06/gatsby/great_gatsby_re sources.htm, accessed March 1, 2014 “Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway”. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/englit/woolf/ accessed March 1, 2014 Woolf, V. Mrs Dalloway. Harcourt (1981): pp.1-197.
Special Thanks to the Literary Modernism class, without which this magazine would never exist