Letters from Yellowstone

By Diane Smith

Book Overview

The Avant-Garde in Interwar England addresses modernism's ties to tradition, commerce, nationalism, and spirituality through an analysis of the assimilation of visual modernism in England between 1910 and 1939. During this period, a debate raged across the nation concerning the purpose of art in society. On one side were the aesthetic formalists, led by members of London's Bloomsbury Group, who thought art was autonomous from everyday life. On the other were England's so-called medieval modernists, many of them from the provincial North, who maintained that art had direct social functions and moral consequences. As Michael T. Saler demonstrates in this fascinating volume, the heated exchange between these two camps would ultimately set the terms for how modern art was perceived by the British public. Histories of English modernism have usually emphasized the seminal role played by the Bloomsbury Group in introducing, celebrating, and defining modernism, but Saler's study instead argues that, during the watershed years between the World Wars, modern art was most often understood in the terms laid out by the medieval modernists. As the name implies, these artists and intellectuals closely associated modernism with the art of the Middle Ages, building on the ideas of John Ruskin, William Morris, and other nineteenth-century romantic medievalists. In their view, modernism was a spiritual, national, and economic movement, a new and different artistic sensibility thatwas destined to revitalize England's culture as well as its commercial exports when applied to advertising and industrial design. This book, then, concerns the busy intersection of art, trade, and national identity in the early decades of twentieth-century England. Specifically, it explores the life and work of Frank Pick, managing director of the London Underground, whose famous patronage of modern artists, architects, and designers was guided by a desire to unite nineteenth-century arts and crafts with twentieth-century industry and mass culture. As one of the foremost adherents of medieval modernism, Pick converted London's primary public transportation system into the culminating project of the arts and crafts movement. But how should today's readers regard Pick's achievement? What can we say of the legacy of this visionary patron who sought to transform the whole of sprawling London into a post-impressionist work of art? And was medieval modernism itself a movement of pioneers or dreamers? In its bold engagement with such questions, The Avant-Garde in Interwar England will surely appeal to students of modernism, twentieth-century art, the cultural history of England, and urban history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670886319
• ISBN13: 9780670886319
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.9" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Many different messages

In an era where emails may be the main form of written communication between friends & family, it's worth a look back at what might have been sent through the penny post when telephones weren't around. Can you imagine recieving a 5 page letter from a friend, weekly? And how would you feel when a week went by with no news from that friend? What would you like to hear about from that friend? What would you write?Not only is this an exploration in letter-writing, (heck, that's very minor, just a means to the end), this book has several very interesting stories. As far as I could tell, it was historically accurate -I had to check to confirm it was fiction. I enjoyed the play of characters, and how you occassionally saw the same action from different points of view from different people's letters - especially the 4th of July party. Also liked the argument over exact terminology - and how it was won. Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a little humor with their character development, and is willing to read between the lines.

Insightful read about Yellowstone and society in late 1800's

I purchased this book to take with me on my first trip to Yellowstone National Park recently. It was a perfect book to take along! What struck me most was that it was set at the end of the 19th century which seemed to be a great time of change. It was interesting to be in the park myself about 100 years later and feel how much had changed, yet how much had stayed the same especially in regard to people and our need and concern to protect our National Parks and environment. The book deals more with the human element and some of the plant life but not much with the animal or geologic wonders of the park, but it was highly enjoyable and definately added another element of appreciation to my experience. I only wish the story had continued as I became very attached to the characters in her book.

Comments on the subtle interplay between competing goals.

This is a beautifully written book that not only transports the reader to Yellowstone before the onslaught of the current throngs, but also presents the interplay of competing priorities for how this grand natural resource will be managed and used. A must read for those who crave a good story well told, for academics who would appreciate a tongue-in-check look at their world, and for people who wrestle with blending the scientific and humanistic approaches to a problem.

If you can't get to Montana this summer, read this instead.

I recently have had the great pleasure of reading Diane Smith's Letters From Yellowstone, and would recommend it without reservation to a wide variety of readers. While I am not normally a fan of epistolary novels, the characters in this work are so compelling the novel is difficult to put aside. This novel should appeal to environmentalists, feminists, naturalists, and other ists who prefer to remain unlabeled, such as I. It is ostensibly the story of a group of 1898 scientists on an expedition of discovery to catalog the flora and fauna of Yellowstone Park before tourists, the railroad, local entrepreneurs, and poachers destroy it. I say ostensibly, because the expedition is one of self-discovery as much as scientific cataloguing. None of the principals is unchanged by the experience. Additionally, Smith uses this forum to introduce readers to a number of late twentieth century concerns: wildlife management, commercialization of public lands, role of women in sciences. The author's treatment of these topics is not heavy handed, and her careful research shows these concerns are universal, not just limited to a single era. The novel's primary characters eventually find themselves debating the validity of science in comparison to other systems of knowledge and belief, and their conclusions are rather enlightening to those of who might think we have our position in life all figured out. Unlike numerous other authors who have attempted to express the dialectic of science versus belief, Smith succeeds. She is neither dry, nor pedantic in her characters' discussions. All this is accomplished against the sublime background of the Northern Rockies. The action of the novel moves at the pace of a northern summer: days seem to last forever, but the summer season lasts scarcely more than two months. Despite delays and reverses in fortune, the party moves along with an inexorable drive brought on by the knowledge of the fleeting field season. While not an adventure, this book is nevertheless a page turner. Read Letters From Yellowstone while the summer is still here. You won't regret it.

Delightfully engrossing historical novel

Ms. Smith takes us to Yellowstone at the turn of the century where we spend a summer with an unlikely cadre of disparate personalities. Through their correspondence to the outside world, we are treated to their often contradictary perspectives. Essentially the story of a young female botanist, the book richly portrays the majesty of Yellowstone as well as the complex internal conflicts of it's explorers. Neither a light-hearted romp nor a heavy-handed effort, "Letters" is a subtle and satisfying portrait of their often turbulent experience...and the profound changes brought about by their inter-relationships and by the unique power of the park itself. Really good stuff!!