''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.
''Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain''
by Stefan Collini
Oxford University Press, 2006,
Edited by the ex-Communist
Humphrey Slater, it was "sympathetic to science, hostile to the intellectual manifestations of romanticism, and markedly anti-Communist. Eight issues were published.
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
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
,
A. J. Ayer,
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ...
, Stephen Glover,
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
,
C. E. M. Joad and
Rupert Crawshay-Williams.
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
Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History (Oxford), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
Trevor-Rope ...
,
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...
,
Diana Witherby,
Stuart Hampshire,
Geoffrey Grigson,
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England.
Backg ...
,
Adrian Stokes,
J. D. Bernal C. H. Waddington and
John Wisdom.
Orwell's essays
*"
Notes on Nationalism
Notes on Nationalism is an essay completed in May 1945 by George Orwell and published in the first issue of the British magazine '' Polemic'' in October 1945. Political theorist Gregory Claeys has described it as a key source for understanding O ...
" (''Polemic'', No 1 – October 1945 – written in May 1945)
[Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.). ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 3: As I Please (1943–1945)'' (Penguin)]
*"
The Prevention of Literature" (''Polemic'', No 2 – January 1946)
[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)]
*"
Second Thoughts on James Burnham" (''Polemic'', No 3 – May 1946)
*"
Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels" (''Polemic'', No 5 – September–October 1946)
*"
Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool" (''Polemic'', No 7)
*Orwell also contributed an (unsigned) editorial to (''Polemic'', No 3 – May 1946)
Ayer's essays
* 'Deistic Fallacies', ''Polemic'', no. 1. (1945)
* 'Secret Session' (on
J.-P. Sartre), ''Polemic'', no. 2, pp. 60~63. (1945)
* 'Freedom and Necessity', ''Polemic'', no. 5, pp. 36~44. (1946) (repr. in ''
Philosophical Essays'', 1954]
* "The Claims of Philosophy", in ''Polemic'', no. 7, pp. 18~33 (1947)
epr. in '' Reflections on Our Age,'' 1949)
See also
*
Bibliography of George Orwell
References
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1945
Magazines disestablished in 1947">Magazines established in 1945">Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1945
Magazines disestablished in 1947
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