The Editor's Fence

IV THE EDITOR'S FENCE Query "We are led astray by the use of the word 'Victorian' and its natural association with the reign of the Clueen, 1837-1901. That period commands no natural unity0 The world of the )880's is far more different from the world of the l840~'s than the present world is from the 1880's. (i am not referring here to technological advance, which is a superficial manifestation of man's development but to basic changes in ideas and attitudes.) V.'e need a new name for the era that begins in the severities and eighties and stretches certainly to Che end of the first V/orld War5 possibly even later, to end not with a whimper but a bang on August 6, 1945." [Claude Bissell, "The But 1er ian Inheritance of G. Ba Shaw," DALHOUSIE REVIEVi, XLI (Summer 1961), 171.] Reply "I regard our age as transitional.,.." [Arnold Bennett, "Tendencies of Modern Literature," T. P, 'S CHRISTMAS NUMBER, XiV (Dec 1909), 10.] In EFT Conference: Chicago, 1961 : Conference 12 met on Thursday morning from 8:45 until 10:00 in Room 8 of the Palmer House. The Conference, with Maurice Beebe (Purdue University) as Discussion Leader, was attended by about 32 people. Gerald Jay Goldberg (Dartmouth College) presented his paper, "The Artist-Novel in Transition," and U. C, Knoepflmacher (University of California, Berkeley) offered his, "Mshmael1 or Anti-Hero? The Division Df Self in THE WAY OF ALL FLESH." Discussion of the topic "The Writer as Hero" had to be curtailed almost in midsentence as our alloted time ended. This, of course, is hardly an unusual occurrence when teachers of English get together. However, several participants in the Conference indicated their willingness to continue the discussion, if I would provide space in EFT for random notes and comments on the Conference papers and the Guide for Discussion which appeared in EFT, IV: 3 (1961). Therefore, the present number contains a FORUM: THE CONFERENCE ON THE ARTIST-HERO NOVEL. The comments found there came to me in the form of letters and random notes. Although I have resisted tampering with these notes, I have occasionally rearranged statements and reluctantly excised material to preserve space for additional commentators. I have tried to leave each writer's thoughts reasonably in tact. Unfortunately, there was not time to submit these notes to Drs. Goldberg and Knoepflmacher for whatever comment they might wish to make; however, anyone wishing to continue the discussion or wishing to reply to the comments in this number may do so by sending Ms comments to me. Insofar as space will allow, I shall be happy to include any reasonably short, valid comments in the next number of EFT. 2. Future Conferences: Several months ago I sent out an announcement to all individual American subscribers outlining tentative plans for the proposed Sixth and Seventh Annual Conferences, pending MLA approval. By planning well in advance , I hope to give potential contributors and participants a longer period of time in which to prepare papers and to think out problems for discussion. In this announcement.. I emphasized several basic requirements: (1) that the individual EFT author discussed should be related to the dominant characteristics of that period, whether he "fits" or not; (2) that discussion of general topics should be specifically illustrated with references to works appearing during the period from about ¡880 to about 1320» I Suggested a wide range of specific and general subjects on which we would welcome papers and discussion: 1. Authors presently listed in EFT: Butler, Gissing, Moore, Bennett, Galsworthy, Wells, Kipling, H. H. Munro, Ford Madox Ford, E. M. Forster, and others. 2. Authors not yet listed but soon to be listed in EFT: Pater, Wilde, Hardy, Henry Handel Richardson, and possibly others, about whom prospective contributors might first query. [Please see the enclosed expanded 1 ist of EFT authors.] 3. General topics: (a) Literary Movements; Decadence, Naturalism, Symbolism, Realism, Impressionism; (b) Genres: Romance, Historical, and High Adventure Al_..— I o_lfj.r___t ftl_. ._ I (IL! I________i_ Ϊ___1 ΛΙ_.._ I r»_.._l___1___r___1 >i______1 Λ . - j. _ -J * - - I ------ ^/--- --r> - — —----------—---------------- --------—'· 7 ■·--------/- — Myth, Imagery and Symbol as Aspects of Structure and Meaning...