NYU Washington Square College - Album Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 20 text:

RECENT TRENDS 1E1111o1 5 X1116: IJOIIT1 116 f1'1g1I1t'1I!?l1 by 111656 111111'16s. Y011 1116, 111161 1111, c0116g6 5l11116111s. You 1111116, by 110111, g'0116 f11140lIg1l 111 161151 11 y6Y11' of t'1I1S.YF.Y,f y011 1111116 j1os.s'1'111y 116611 11110111111 for 115 77107117 115 111116, 611611 six, y61115. Y011 1111116 11611111 7111110118 l11l'0fC.S'.S'01'.S' 16611116, 37111 1111116 f91'01211111y 11111116 10 16111- 1z6 11101 1111151 of 1116111 1116 111117711771 1JK111g.S'j 111111 1111111y of 1116111 1111116 .S'011716111111g of 16111 11111116 10 Slly. 13611111115 you 1116 Z1'071l161'17Ig 115 10 11111611161 or 11ol 1116y 116101Ig11I 1-1LBU1lI. 1'VCft'f61 111111 117631 110. AIQBUAI 15 I1 j't'I111J001fI S07I1C11111Ig 111111 you 111111 1:6611 111111 Iook 111 01161 11 1011g 11611011 of 111116. IV6 d6F111t?I1 111111 I1 561165 of !l1'1l'I'1ffS 011 1666111 11611115 111 Z!f11'10'ZlS fI?1I1S, 11111111611 by 111611111615 of 1116 IV.S.C. fIIFll11j' 1.11 l937, 111011111 116 1111 115561 10 I1 11111111 111111 1111151 11IIf7111I1111j1 1161101116 I1 16111 of y01lT C0116g6 j1El11'S.D The Past Year in Literature It is difficult to summarize in any simple formula the changes American literature has been undergoing during the last year or so. No definite direction of change, certainly, can be charted. The several forms of literary ex- pression do not seem to be responding to any single predominant iniluence. The produc- tion of poetry, for instance, has reached the lowest level in several decades. XVhen Audrey XVurdermann continues to take prizes for put- ting the cliches of sentimentality into meter, one can only hope that the tide 11111511 tu1'11. Even the poetry of the left, which a few years ago showed promise, has failed to discover its suitable technique and develop into a move- ment correspondent to the 11615 111116 before the IVar. And yet our left poets remain our best, and all is not lost when we can point to Archibald MacLeish's 131111116 5111861711 and Mur- iel Rulceyser's T1I601'Ql of F11g111. In England, where left poetry achieved a signal success with the group around VV. H. Auden, those poets are turning more and more to the essay and the dramatic sketch as their form of ex- pression. The outstanding achievement of Ameri- can literature has been in the popular field 16 of the moving picture. Though the general level of quality remains low, it has never been so low as in foreign films. And though the best of the Russian and French Iilms still sur- pass our best, if we can judge from those shown in this country, we are rapidly attain- ing the quality theirs seem to be losing. The newer Russian pictures lack the closeness of structure and the excellency of photography that made Vertov and Eisenstein famousg they tend to become historical chronicles or trav- elogues in which the interest in plot becomes secondary to factual or historical accuracyg and instead of 11 INYOZIS 111 L11161l6 or P011 116 C111ot16, the French are now offering us a Rabelaisian C11111111111 171 F1111111615 or the faulty emphasis of L11 1l1II1161'716116'. In the United States, though the customary falsihcation of life continues in the majority of Elms, which do no more than depict the wish fulfillment of our lower middle classes, there has arisen a strong sudden tendency towards realism. Per- haps it began with certain parts of Charlie Chaplin's 1TTOI1C1'?Z TZ'7716X. It has continued in several films of the Irish civil war, in F111y Qabout a lynchingj, in Mr. D66115 G065 10 T011111 fwhich recognizes the unemployment situationj and in the details of several films

Page 19 text:

-IARLICS MORRIS BELL. QIR. ,-XNTUX A. BENEDETTI-PICHLER XI,XR1'IAX BFRNSTI-IIN A 1 Tl'!lf'lIlIIQ l'11'HUIl' 111 Cl11'111i.vl1'1' .l.s.si.sIr111I IJVO-fF.S.XUl' of Cl1r'n1i.sl1'y .l.s'.11.s'l1111I 1JI'fI.l!'.S.S1H' nj .Uzlxzr BS.. I 1'z111kli11 111111 Nl:11'sl1:1ll. 1933 CIl1.li.. 'l'cc'l111iwcl1c Il0L'lISC'lllllC. G1111. 19211: D13 ILS.. New York l'11ixc1'sily, 1925: XlllY.lg,. New vllfffll. Sr.. ,1'CCllllliCl1C HC1C'llNllllllC. Graz. 1922 York L'111u-wily. 1927 ENNETH CIARK BLANCHARD VERNE H. BOOTH WARREN ESPY BOWER Associnle I,I'0ff'.YSOl' of Biology ,,lssi.1Iar1f 111 Geology Ill.Sll'lll'f0I' 111 Iinglislz A.B.,Cl111'k, 19215 Ph.D., NI.I.T., 1929 AB., johns Hopkins, 192.1 A.B., Hillsdale. 1920: AAI.. BIicl1ig:111, 1923 1 l l .AJ RTHVR CLliUl l RlCY BRUKX LDYWX BERRY BlfRGl'Nl JXKIFS BURNHANI ,'l5,Sl.5'llllIl 1,l'Ufl'SSOT of History xl-V-Yflffflll' l'V0ff'5SfH' of lillglixll 11556111111 1'l'Ufl'.Y.YUl' of PI1il0.voj1lzy AB., l51ilisl1 Columbia, 19215 1'l1.l1., CUl'IlCll, AJS., D1ll'llU0llll31 1915: .X-Nl.. IIL11'1'n1'd, 15117: A.B., P1'lllLCl0ll, 19273 AB., Oxford. IQ l 1927 lll.D,, Illinois, 1921 A,B,, Oxfgydy

Page 21 text:

The Social Sciences Conhdent assertions leading to clear con- clusions are probably not to be expected from social scientists living in the confused environ- ment of today. Individualistic democracy in America, social democracy in France, fascism in Italy, fascism in Germany, and socialism in Russia each have their own economics, psy- chology, and political science. There is little of the pre-war scholars easy confidence that they were, at least, heading in the right direc- tion. Accordingly it is not surprising that the past year has produced no startling revela- tions, no brilliant guesses, and no monumental literature. There is an old platitude, familiar to all students, that each generation must rewrite the history of the past. But we of this genera- tion are in no such easy position as that. XVC are impelled to write three or four different histories of the past, and make as many differ- ent guesses about the future. Each volume, whether of psychology, sociology, government or history is at once suspected of embracing one of the divergent viewpoints, and read principally by those of similar persuasion. The most disruptive ellects of this rise of doctrinaire philosophies are to be seen in Germany. So great has been the exodus of social scientists under the Hitler regime, and so circumscribed the thinking of those who remained, that the Fatherland has lost all claim to the priority it so long enjoyed. ln Russia the ellects have been mixed, but on the whole represent a decided gain for science. llvhile some types of research, and some con- clusions have been discouraged 'or forbidden, the increase in the amount of money and en- 20 ergy devoted to the social sciences exceed those of any other country in the world. Of all the social sciences, psychology is perhaps the least affected by differences in philosophical approach, but on the other hand it is in many ways dealing with the most difficult subject matter. The past year has witnessed a continuation of the application of laboratory technique, and quantitative measurement, but no conclusions have been reached that importantly alter existing theory. Economics, on the other hand is probably, along with history, most dependent upon phil- osophical premises. lVhat weird and wonder- ful theories of Hnance will be necessary to ra- tionalize the Nazi internal credit structure! Sociology has taken an important formal step forward in its battle for equal recognition with the older social sciences through the es- tablishment of an official Amcrinnz Sorirnlogic- nl Iicrficzu. At the same time, this is another proof of the growing lack of homogeneity of opinion that I have been harping on, for this new publication will parallel the existing ffNlI'l'I'I'IllI jourzml of Sociology published at Chicago University. The separate identity of the anthropolo- gists for better the Anthropologistj at lV.S.C. is symbolic of the increasing activity in this basically all-important science. No new theo- retical conclusions have been reached this last year, but several discoveries such as the rem- nants of the very old Folsom culture in Ne- braska and Colorado, and a more complete tracing of Paleo- and Neo-lithic man offer new material for study. The death of l'rofessor