Polemic (magazine)
Polemic was a British "Magazine of Philosophy, Psychology, and Aesthetics" published between 1945 and 1947, which aimed to be a general or non-specialist intellectual periodical.[1]
Edited by the ex-Communist Humphrey Slater,[2] it was "sympathetic to science, hostile to the intellectual manifestations of romanticism, and markedly anti-Communist. Eight issues were published.[1] The first, published as a book to get round the prohibition of new journals imposed by war-time paper rationing, included contributions by Henry Miller, Bertrand Russell, A. J. Ayer, Stephen Spender, Stephen Glover, George Orwell, C. E. M. Joad and Rupert Crawshay-Williams.[1]
Orwell contributed five essays over the life of the magazine and Russell and Ayer contributed four each. Other contributors included Philip Toynbee, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Dylan Thomas, Diana Witherby, Stuart Hampshire, Geoffrey Grigson, Ben Nicholson, Adrian Stokes, J. D. Bernal[3] C. H. Waddington[4] and John Wisdom.
Orwell's essays
- "Notes on Nationalism" (Polemic, No 1 - October 1945 - written in May 1945)[5]
- "The Prevention of Literature" (Polemic, No 2 - January 1946)[4]
- "Second Thoughts on James Burnham" (Polemic, No 3 - May 1946)[4]
- "Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels" (Polemic, No 5 - September–October 1946)[4]
- "Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool" (Polemic, No 7)[4]
- Orwell also contributed an (unsigned) editorial to (Polemic, No 3 - May 1946)[4]
See also
References
- Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain by Stefan Collini Oxford University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-19-929105-5, ISBN 978-0-19-929105-2
- Art-Historical Notes: "Where are the Hirsts of the 1930s now?" The Independent, Nov 13, 1998 by David Buckman
- The Guardian
- Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.). The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose (1945-1950) (Penguin)
- Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.). The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 3: As I Please (1943-1945) (Penguin)