View source for BLAST


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The following is a theoretical study of ''BLAST'' magazine conducted through digital means and techniques. 
==Introduction==
''[http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=1143209523824844&view=mjp_object BLAST]'' was a literary magazine that birthed an artistic and social movement called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorticism]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyndham_Lewis Wyndham Lewis] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound Ezra Pound], the founders of the Vorticist movement, were also effectively the chief authors of the two-issue magazine. ''[http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=1143209523824844&view=mjp_object BLAST]'' contained, among other piece of literature, an aggressive manifesto by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyndham_Lewis  Lewis] "blasting" conventional British art and culture and proclaiming the Vorticist aesthetic: ‘The New Vortex plunges to the heart of the Present – we produce a New Living Abstraction’. Incidentally, World War I broke out roughly one month after the publication of the first issue. The cultural and political tensions that fueled Vorticism were now at a dangerous climax...how would this affect the heart of the movement?

In our exploration of ''[http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=1143209523824844&view=mjp_object BLAST]'', we chose to examine both the rhetorical and visual aspects of the content and, in doing so, aimed to understand how the outbreak of World War I impacted the continuation of Vorticism.  

We believe that the outbreak of World War I is what caused the significant differences in the issues of ''BLAST'' and that, because of this, Vorticism remained an underlining factor in the magazine.

==Timeline==
Below is an interactive timeline delineating the events that are relevant to our discussion of ''Blast.'' 
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==Text Mining==

Visualization software from Voyant Tools was essential to our rhetorical analysis of ''BLAST.'' By examining and comparing the usage of words that are central to the content, we can make conclusions about how the authors' intent changed between issues.

We chose to utilize the Trends and Bubbleline widgets as they help to show the rise or decline of the use of our words of interest between issues. 

Words of Interest: '''Art''', '''Man''', '''War'''

We choose to use these words as they reference the literature itself, humanity, and the most major ongoing event, respectively. 


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<iframe style='width: 50%; height: 400px' src='//voyant-tools.org/?query=art&query=man&query=war&bins=2&corpus=a7e3b8f379f4b6754df836680bea55a6&view=Trends'></iframe>
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<iframe style='width: 50%; height: 400px' src='//voyant-tools.org/?query=art&query=man&query=war&docId=8b7f57d488a1ca6944b4cae7e41bfdc2&corpus=a7e3b8f379f4b6754df836680bea55a6&view=Bubblelines'></iframe>
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The usage of the word "art" is fairly consistent between the two issues, which makes sense considering the purpose of the journal is to advocate for a new style of art. Meanwhile, the mention of "war" increases between issues. This makes sense ''BLAST'' 2 is reflecting on the atrocities of war. Particularly interesting is the fact that the usage of the word "man" goes down. At its prime, vorticism was a nationalistic movement that embraced the power of man to create. The decrease in the word usage suggests some sort of despondence; the empowerment of the authors to create an artistic revolution of sorts may have dwindled as the horror of war forced them to question their deepest beliefs. However, since the decrease is so slight, it could be noted that "man" is still a vital part of the magazine as it may be used to humanize the abstract art included. Overall, the further insight provided by these words helps to demonstrate the great impact of the war on the publication but also shows the continuation of the basic purpose of the authors.

==Close Reading==
===Comparative Reading===

The first articles of BLAST I and BLAST II are important to consider when assessing some of the differences in the magazines. This was decided based on the assumption that the authors, as artists, chose their introductory pieces to set up the tone and themes of the works. The very first full article in BLAST I is the Preliminary Vortex, which will not be considered as the first BLAST article, because it is almost an introduction to the Vorticist movement, rather than the journal and it has a different aesthetic than the majority of the other articles in the work. It is formatted in a rather straightforward manner with minimal use of excessive capitals or rearranging of space - something that is arguably the focus of BLAST I. 

The article that will be examined as the first BLAST I article is delineated with a square box and the number 1 in it on page 11. Visually, the article closely resembles the one that follows it, as seen here. It is much more complex, in this way, than the second publication. This can also make it a little bit difficult to follow at times. The designers used different sizes of a stark font in bold, ranging from all capitals to lowercase across the page while playing with the words to create an overall image that resembles the vortex. Portions of the writing are also set up without following a full sentence structure, for example, “THE CURATE of “Eltham” BRITANNIC AESTHETE WILD NATURE CRANK DOMESTICATED POLICEMAN LONDON COLISEUM SOCIALIST-PLAYWRIGHT DALY’S MUSICAL COMEDY GAIETY CHORUS GIRL TONKS” (11). This string of words  is clarified by the very nature of BLAST because of the way that the designers played with the space of the page, as well as conveying meaning through shock and awe. This is more the focus of the first publication meaning that, although there is featured vorticist art, the writing and the displays they are presented in are the art of much of BLAST. Although each page like this is different, almost every single page that uses this display method features an overall pattern indicative of a vortex or whirlwind shape that is created by manipulating the font size and orientation on the page as you can see with the example. This seems to be the artistic focal point, or uniqueness of BLAST, although there are plenty of other featured literary works that are not presented in the same manner and are important to the vorticist movement. 



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The second publication of BLAST has a much different character than the first. It is also worth noting that the first publication is exactly one hundred pages longer than the second publication. While the amount of time and effort put into the first edition is unknown, the second was published within a year and a month later. In publication terms, this is rather fast, meaning that the authors pulled together and churned out content. This is observable based on the fact that much of the content is reflecting on or reacting to World War I, so the majority of the literary works were probably not pieces that the authors had laying around at home. While the beginning of the article titled “THE GOD OF SPORT AND BLOOD” (9) indicates that the authors are talking about a “merciless war on Cubism and Expressionism” (9), as noted by the distant reading on the word “war”, World War I was having quite an influence on the content of this publication. The most notable section of this article reads, “Sport and blood are inseparable, or Sport without blood is anaemic. Sport and blood again are the rich manure all our vitality battens on” (9). Although it is a bit lengthy, another section that helps depict the mood of the time can be seen by the way the Germans were perceived in this section. The author says that the Germans “[had] become infernally philosophic and democratic, their heads naturally being too weak to resist”, then followed it by saying that “there is only one sort of person who can be conscious and not degenerate”, and concluded the thought by saying that “Germany’s rulers do not belong to that august category” (10). To finish the thought, the author finally says that “[the German’s] wicked and low degeneration and identifying of themselves with the people will recoil on their own heads. No wonder they have an admiration for English cunning, as they describe moderate British good-sense” (10). This is telling of the environment that the author was writing in at the time as it promotes very nationalistic feelings and is themed around the idea of war as sort of a necessary evil. 



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Visually, the second issue of BLAST is much more standardized - a two column nightmare of the most part. The second publication of BLAST lost the artful textual displays that were heavily featured in the first and focuses more on articles with informational (in the traditional sense), literary content (although, they often featured small pieces of art at the end of articles, as can be seen above). There appears to be more artwork in the second issue of BLAST as well, and it seems that the vorticist style had more time to develop and solidify than it did in the first. This can be seen below. One can understand this by comparing artwork between the two issues, as the artwork in the second publication is mostly very stark, angular, and even minimalist at times while the artwork of the first publication has more variety to it concerning texture, shading, and shapes. The artwork of the second publication of BLAST seems to be more abstract than that of the first - this could be due to the development of the vorticist style, or it could reflect some of the social and cultural conflict that the WWI was causing. In this way, the second publication of BLAST can be seen as a peek into the emotions and reactions of the Vorticists of the time.

===Tonal Shift===

The tone in the two magazines changes drastically from being militant to playing the role of the victim. This change was specifically due to Kaiser Wilhelm wanting "to space no Cubist prisoners, wounded or otherwise." Before the war the ''BLAST'' often used harsh language such as "Curse its (England) climate for sins and infections." This tone of cursing people and things left and right in the second issue. It contained language like "the English have their innocuous little sports." This change in vocabulary was exclusively due to the First World War. Many of the contributors of the magazine were involved in the war. This involvement in the war caused them to be scarred emotionally. Due to this scarring the language that the contributors used changed dramatically. This was how the tone of the contributors changed from the first to the second issues of ''BLAST''.

==Conclusion==
Through exploring the evolution of ''BLAST'' between issues, we have been able to conclude that the outbreak of World War I had a significant impact on the nature of the publication through the way it drained the magazine of most of its unique energy and replaced it with a more informative portrayal of the articles. However, the abstract style endorsed by the original Vorticists was still preserved in at least one aspect of the second issue: the cover.
The themes used in the magazine were directly taken from the social effects of the time. We observed differences as the initial issue utilized most of its abstract nature in the words while the second issue used it in the cover and reverted to a more traditional layout for the text. 

The use of the word "war" was found to demonstrate to increase of war in the daily life of the people. "Art" demonstrated the continuous concentration on the original intent of the magazine through both issues. Also, "man" stays fairly constant and demonstrates how the authors consistently humanize the art included in the publication. 

Additionally, we ponder what content, visuals, etc. would encompass ''BLAST'' had the war and the tensions that preceded it had not occurred in the same time frame as the journals' publication. Since Vorticism was a nearly direct response to the war that was brewing, we wonder:

'''1. Would the first issue of ''BLAST'' have had such a strong expression of Vorticism?'''

'''2. Would the nature of the 2nd issue have still changed, or would it have been a near duplicate of the original?'''

'''3. What would ''BLAST 3'' have looked like if it had been realized?'''
This final question resonates so strongly as there actually was an attempt by Lewis to revive Vorticism with the early 1920s journal [http://modjourn.org/render.php?view=mjp_object&id=116014593613208 ''The Tyro'']. It was seen as a direct follow-up to ''BLAST'' though it demonstrated much more submissive tones and focused mainly on art with a typical arrangement, contrasting with ''BLAST'''s experimental typography and literature based works.

==Rationale==
This topic that we have explored gives the readers a new perspective of modernism and gives the creators a case study of how quickly social, cultural, and political movements can become prominent and then die out. This can be used as an example of how abstract thinking about the future has been realized. Often, the future is viewed either as a bleak extension of all of the negative aspects of present day or it is looked toward as a ideal paradise where everything is perfect with no conflict. However, this project allows a look into what truly occurs when an "avante guarde" approach is adopted and applied, giving a future that is neither of the previously examined options, but one that is real and still constantly changing. 

This also gave an appreciation for how the arts and literature have affected each other throughout time. This work has been able to maintain relevance due to its new angles and, therefore, continues to inspire those how want to strongly make a statement on how they wish to change the world around them.

Ultimately, this project gives answers, but also provokes thoughtful curiosity. Therefore, this topic lends itself to additional insightful research and discovery in ''BLAST'' and other works, which is one of the most important things a rhetorical analysis of literature can do.

==Statement of Methods==
We first approached this project by examining the visual elements, physical aspects, and chronology of ''BLAST''. Because of ''BLAST'' being created so close to the outbreak of WWI, we then decided to mainly focus on how the war impacted ''BLAST'' and its subsequent issue and future. We decided to utilize
Voyant Tools as this had previously been explored in class and seemed like an impactful way to convey visual representations of important parts of the magazine. Next, we specifically chose the words "art", "man", and "war" as they each represent a major element of ''BLAST''.

We obtained most of our data from digitally scanned copies of ''BLAST'' from the Modern Journals Project website. We supplemented this with research from other common web databases such as Wikipedia. Overall, the formatting of this was done in a standard way with a goal of professionalism. 

Finally, we brought together all of the results we had received from our data and research and stated our conclusion. This conclusion left us with additional questions that we posed to the readers as well, hoping to start a cycle of thought and discovery in others and in ourselves.

==Resources==

http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1143209523824858.pdf

http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1144603354174257.pdf

http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=a7e3b8f379f4b6754df836680bea55a6&stopList=stop.en.taporware.txt

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1kO2EXFy5Vxr6FWRsz3TIhj6EyuiJOCrslrMlrKIIAYY&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorticism

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyndham_Lewis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVx67nfFmAo