Primordial Modernism

Brings ideas and animals together to shed new light on modernist magazine culture Tests the concept of ‘primordial’ modernism as a tributary of primitivism, Jungian thought, and fraught nationalismsProvides readings of Eugene Jolas’s creative and critical works that place him centre-stage in modernist studiesMoves between unpublished archival material, reception studies, and readings of overlooked authorsConsiders a wide range of modernist authors and artists as befitting to such a rich documentTouches on contemporary scientific discourse as an aspect of animal studies This adventurous study focuses on experimental animal writing in the major interwar journal transition (1927–1938), which contains a striking recurrence of metaphors around the most basic forms of life. Amoebas, fish, lizards, birds – some of the ‘lowest’ and ‘oldest’ creatures on earth often emerge at the very places authors seek expressions for the ‘newest’ and the ‘highest’ in art. Discussing works by James Joyce, Henry Miller, Gottfried Benn, Eugene Jolas, Kay Boyle, Bryher, Paul Éluard and more, Cathryn Setz investigates this paradox and provides a new understanding of transition’s contribution to twentieth-century periodical culture.