Meanwhile, in 1912…

Gertrude Stein

Lover of Picasso and other cubist painters, twentieth-century poet, Gertrude Stein, sought to “rediscover what lies behind nouns” (Ramazani 177). This desire heavily resonates in her poetry, including “A carafe, that is a blind glass.“Never before had a carafe, a glass flask typically used for serving wine, been so strangely and precisely described. Stein’s modern twist on what such a simple noun brings to the table, pun intended, was revolutionary. However, revolution and innovation seemed to be the prevailing zeitgeist for 1912.

Meanwhile, in 1912…The Futurist Movement was creating an artistic revolution that reached across almost every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design,industrial design,urban design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles,literature, music, architecture. This cultural revolution, also likened to a social movement, emphasized themes such as speed and technology, and embraced modernity in terms of art and culture. The very essence of this movement screams of Gertrude Stein and her work with creating a distinctive “avant-garde” era of poetry. Just as the futurist movement embraced the disjunctive, Stein created phrases and poetry that fit together in unusual and unpredictable ways.

A taste of the futurist movement:

Giacomo Balla, Abstract Speed + Sound, 1913-1914

Meanwhile, in 1912…Robert Falcon Scott leads the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole. Scott led a party of five that eventually reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912. Unfortunately, when he arrived he discovered that he had been beaten out by Roald Amundsen who had led an expedition to the South Pole a few months prior. Defeated, Scott and all four of his companions died on the trip home. Despite its unfortunate ending, Scott’s expedition shows much of the exploratory spirit that is characteristic of Stein’s poetry.

Scott and his crew

Meanwhile, in 1912…The African National Congress is formed to increase the rights of the black South African population. It was originally called the South African Native National Congress when founded on January 8, 1912 at the Waaihoek Wesleyan Church in Bloemfontein. The Congress was founded in direct response to unjust actions by government officials to black South Africans. It became the ruling party of South Africa on the national level in 1994 and has remained as such to present-day. As Stein was pushing against the norms of traditional poetry, South Africa was simultaneously rebelling against the boundaries of their unjust political structure.

South African protesters against apartheid

Meanwhile, in 1912…the Republic of China is proclaimed. The Qing Dynasty comes to an end in China after ruling since 1644. The dynasty fell due to civil unrest and foreign invasions, in favor of the more democratic, although communist, political system called the Republic of China. This same basic political structure is still in place today. While Stein sought reform in the artistic sense, China gave their political structure a complete make-over.

flag of the Republic of China