The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought
Contents
Articles
Some Aspects of Arms Control and Disarmament
Questioning the Absurd
Determinism, Free-Will, Rewards and Punishments
The Persistence of Confucianism in Communist China
The Martha-Mary Theme in Ulysses
Revolution and American Mythology
Verse
Winter Woman
Moiseyev Matinee
Pieta
Disconsolate Shadows
Inclement Weather
The Fox
Abstract
in this issue. . .
CONTROVERSY is the ingredient common to all six articles appearing on the following pages. Subject matter ranges widely from the nature of life to the nature of revolution, from contemporary drama to one of the most ancient faiths known to man, from arms control to James Joyce. Another characteristic common to these half dozen essays is their ability to stimulate rather strong reader reactions: in every case, the editors of THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY were anything but ambivalent in their comments. Since this is or purports to be a journal of contemporary thought, it seems entirely logical for at least one issue to be composed almost completely of discussions of questions and problems of current significance. Certainly the following articles meet these requirements adequately, competently, even irritatingly.
RECENT OBSERVATIONS of the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the atomic age-and investigation by the Unamerican Activities Committee of the Women's Strike for Peace-rather underscore the importance of the first article in this issue, a cool and dispassionate look at some of the aspects of arms control and disarmament. The subject has attracted widespread discussion, as it properly should; many readers will recall The Saturday Review's recent three-article symposium on a warless world. The anxieties of last October and November served to magnify the need for further examination and understanding of this primary problem of our times. ALLAN LARSON is a resident in research in the department of political science, Northwestern University, where he is a candidate for the doctor of philosophy degree. He holds a bachelor of science degree, magna cum laude, from Wisconsin State College, Eau Claire, and was Norman Wait Harris fellow at Northwestern for two years as well as a teaching fellow at the same university. His articles have appeared in Social Education, The Educational Forum, and Social Studies.
WHEN THE EDITORS first examined the manuscript of the second article in this issue, they almost immediately began to refer to it as "The Absurd Essay," a reaction not at all indicative of editorial opinion. For the most part, its argument struck receptive chords around the editorial circle. In her spirited attach on the Theater of the Absurd, FLORENCE JEANNE GOODMAN argues articulately and concretely for more articulate, concrete, and constructive criticism of American society in current American drama. Mrs. Goodman teaches English at Pierce College, Woodland Hills, California; two of her poems have appeared in earlier issues of this journal.
CLOSELY RELATED questions of determinism and freewill, rewards and punishments have given concern to many generations, and no philosopher worth of the name has dared avoid them. MILLARD S. EVERETT, professor of philosophy and humanities at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, submitted his manuscript at the urging of JOHN E. SUSKY, a member of the editorial board of THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY before going to Stillwater in 1960 as associate professor of philosophy. Professor Susky called it "a most provocative and enlightening examination," and the editors were quick to agree with his judgement. One editor called it "one of the best papers on philosophy it has been my pleasure to read." Another found it "unusually clear and straight-going." Not every reader will agree with every paragraph in it; some will reject it entirely, and others will pick and choose what pleases them most or displeases them least. We publish this article because it is stimulating and controversial and contemporary. Professor Everett has the bachelor of arts degree from William Jewell College and the doctor of philosophy form the University of Chicago; he taught philosophy at Chicago and the University of Minnesota before going to Oklahoma. While he is currently working on a humanities textbook, his publishing background includes such various titles as The Hygiene of Marriage, 1932; Ethics for Modern Nurses (co-author_, 1946; and Ideals of Life, 1954.
WHILE INTEREST in Communist China runs high, accurate and definitive information on that crucial area of the world does not even begin to balance demand. The editors considered themselves fortunate indeed when Fred L. Parrish, Professor of Asian Culture at Kansas State University, Manhattan, submitted the manuscript of the fourth article following. Readers of THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY will recall that Professor Parrish provided us with a clear analysis of changes in the national entity of Japan for our winter issue of 1960. Professor Parrish gave the Quelle Lectures on Religion at Kansas State University last July and was elected president of the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs at St. Louis last October. He is currently involved in an ambitious series of radio broadcasts entitled "Living Faiths of Man" over KSAC, the university radio station. His program, including discussions of eleven living religious systems, began last November and will run through April.
INTERPRETATIONS of various aspects of James Joyce's great novel Ulysses may in the long run balance books and articles on Abraham Lincoln: the Irish novelist continues and doubtless will long continue to challenge literary scholarship. Despite the fact that a number of manuscripts touching on his work have come our way, THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY published only one Joyce article in its first three years: Harold Brodbar' s analysis of "A Little Cloud" as religious allegory back in April, 1961. VIRGINIA MOSELEY, associate professor of English at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, has long been a student of Joyce: her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University dealt with Joyce and the Bible. Her article here published is a detailed analysis of Joyce's use of a well known biblical theme; it is clearly and logically developed but certainly is not the only or final word on the subject. In short, this article is also controversial. Professor Moseley is a native Texan with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. from Columbia University where her major field was modern English literature. A former officer in the United States Navy, she presently teaches courses in modern drama, the modem novel, and contemporary poetry. During a sabbatical in 1961, she enjoyed research in Ireland on Joyce and other modern Irish writers. She has published articles in Modern Drama, Renascence, Explicator and Intelligencer; in addition she is co-translator of Those Americans, a book-length Russian travelogue published last fall by Henry Regnery of Chicago.
NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE and revolution are fairly synonymous terms in American history and tradition, a fact which raises certain diplomatic and political problems for the United States in current world affairs. This nation seems often to be possessed of a split personality when it attempts, frequently and at one and the same time, to encourage liberal democratic movements around the earth and still maintain historic friendships with Western powers generally regarded as conservative, imperialistic, and even reactionary. WILLIAM L. BURTON, associate professor of social science at Western Illinois University, Macomb, raises some serious questions and calls from some reexaminations of the argument that the United States, as the product of revolution, ought to support and encourage similar revolutions. His subject is one in which there is a great deal of current interest, and his treatment of it deserves consideration. His spirited discussion will win approval in some quarters and acid . denunciation in others. This is as good a place as any to state that the editors will be happy to examine rebuttals from the opposition. Professor Burton is a native of West Virginia with the bachelor of arts in history and political science from Bethany College there. He has master's and doctor's degrees in history from the University of Wisconsin and has published in a number of journals including the Wisconsin Magazine of History and Modern Age. Presently he is working on an annotated bibliography of Civil War manuscripts in Illinois for the Civil War Centennial Commission.
EXPANSION of our poetry offerings is made possible and necessary because of the sharply increased number of verse contributions from all over. Selecting only those which in our opinion have stood out sharply above the flood-tide, we proudly present samples of the work of some seven poets, five of them new to the pages of THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY. A. D. FREEMAN of Wellesley, Massachusetts, is an active member of the New England Poetry Club and poetry advisor to the Wellesley Writers' Workshop. Her verse has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Humanist, the New Republic, the Saturday Review, and other journals. . . . JOHN KNOEPFLE teaches English at St. Louis University High School and his poems have been "printed around" in The Yale Review, Western Humanities Review, Chicago Choice, The Critic, Fleur de Lis, and elsewhere. A volume of translations, Twenty Poems of Cesar Vallejo, in which he had a hand, will be issued shortly by The Sixties Press. He has made an extremely valuable collection of taped interviews with riverboat-men up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries. From these he has derived the subject matter for a number of his poems. . . . A native Buckeye currently living in London, MARY OLIVER attended Ohio State University and Vassar College. During a residence in New York City she was a guest on Florence Becker Lennon's radio program, "The Enjoyment of Poetry,'' and her work has appeared or will shortly appear in Quicksilver, American Weave, Patterns, Snowy Egret, The Massachusetts Review, and Outposts (England). A first volume, "No Voyage and Other Poems," will be published by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. and simultaneously by an American publisher next fall. The Poetry Society of America awarded her poem, "No Voyage," its first prize for 1962. . . . When HOWARD SMITH, JR. first sent us his "Winter Woman" he was freelancing in Santa Fe and working as a draftsman and legal writer. Presently he is back east on Brooklyn Heights overlooking New York harbor. A native of Gloucester, Mass., he studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Colorado College. His poetry has appeared in a good number of journals including the New Mexico Quarterly, the Canadian Poetry Magazine, Epos, and the University of Kansas City Review. He is currently involved in editorial and book design work in addition to writing poetry and working on a novel. . . . DONALD ATWELL ZOLL, a recent addition to the political science faculty at Kansas State College, arrived at both academic and literary pursuits by the circuitous route of being a correspondent in Europe, an editor, a professional horse trainer, a mate on a charter fishing boat, and a free-lance writer. He has now settled down to teaching and writing political and social philosophy, indulging collaterally a lifelong interest in poetry, horses, and hounds. His writings include Reason and Rebellion shortly to be published by Prentice-Hall, and a number of articles and reviews on philosophy. Like Howard Smith, Jr., he is currently engaged on a novel.
OUR OTHER TWO poets are no strangers to readers of THE MIDWEST QUARTERLY: our October carried EDSEL FORD'S "Soldier," and late last November he spent several days on this campus as participant in a Language in Action Conference sponsored by the Language and Literature Department here. High point of the conference for many of us was his reading of selections of his own work. . . . Two of TRACY THOMPSON'S poems appeared in our July 1962 issue and more are scheduled for future numbers.
Recommended Citation
Larson, Allan; Goodman, Florence J.; Everett, Millard S.; Parrish, Fred L.; Mosely, Virginia; Burton, William L.; Smith, Howard; Freeman, A. D.; Zoll, Donald Atwell; Thompson, Tracy; Oliver, Mary; Ford, Edsel; and Knoepfle, John
(1963)
"The Midwest Quarterly; Vol. 4 No. 2,"
The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought: Vol. 4:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/mwq/vol4/iss2/1