Members of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (Dreiser Committee)

2020 ◽  
pp. 173-175
Keyword(s):  
Theodore Dreiser ◽  
Political Prisoners ◽  
John Dos Passos ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Sherwood Anderson

In 1931, the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, comprised of well-known writers Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, Sherwood Anderson, and others, sponsored hearings in the Kentucky coalfields. The committee (known as the Dreiser Committee) also had a presence in Harlan to promote the Communist-oriented National Miners Union....

Studs Lonigan and the Search for an American Tragedy

1963 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 46-54
Author(s):  
T. G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Theodore Dreiser ◽  
Frank Norris ◽  
Sherwood Anderson

James T. Farrell was born in 1904 in Chicago, a city which has produced such characteristic American writers as Carl Sandburg, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Meyer Levin and Nelson Algren. Like several of his fellow–citizens he has become known, not altogether unjustly, as a ‘one-book writer’. But if there is Justice in the label which has thus been applied to Farrell his ‘one book’ has been less fairly treated and has suffered in reverse much the same wrong-headed fate as that which has over-taken some of the typical English novels of the last decade. While certain novels like John Braine's Room at the Top have been absurdly over-praised because apparent virtues of ‘realism’ and ‘toughness’ have obscured even more apparent literary shortcomings, Studs Lonigan has been under-praised because an extreme aversion to Farrell's undeniable ‘realism’ and ‘toughness’ has resulted in his equally undeniable literary merits being obscured. Studs Lonigan is not a novel to which can be applied R. P. Blackmur's phrase: “one of those books in which everything is undertaken with seriousness except the writing”.

scholarly journals Creative Reading, or the New Life of Literary Works: American Instances1

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Bruyère
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theodore Dreiser ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Sherwood Anderson ◽  
Artistic Creation ◽  
Film Directors ◽  
Multi Media

The “creative reading” referred to here is an extension of the reading of literature. To be inspired by a previous text is as old as literature itself; what we wish to understand is why the (re)reading of a number of works of imagination published in the United States between 1915 and 1940 leads contemporary writers, stage or film directors, composers, illustrators, and multi-media artists to adapt or transpose them. Why these works, in particular? Some “creative readers” reveal, in their productions, scripts, projects, and interviews, the ways in which they interpret works by “classic authors” such as Theodore Dreiser, Edgar Lee Masters, Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, and Francis Scott Fitzgerald. They also reveal how they hope to bring their spectators or readers, especially the younger ones, to share their enthusiasm and read the source texts. The role of new technology cannot be overestimated, both in artistic creation and in the circulation of information.

Dissident Communists

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Wald
Keyword(s):  
Political Prisoners ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
National Committee

The development of an anti-Stalinist Left among pro-Communist intellectuals is explored. Receiving special treatment are the pages of Menorah Journal and the activities of some of its contributors, along with intellectuals attracted to the American Workers Party and those involved in the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners and League of Professionals. James Rorty and Charles Rumford Walker are among activists described A sustained analysis of Tess Slesinger’s novel The Unpossessed is presented in the context of this background.

The Political Economic Structure of Early Media Reform Before and After the Communications Act of 1934

Resonance ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-266
Author(s):  
Josh Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Advisory Council ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
Educational Broadcasting ◽  
System Building ◽  
Before And After ◽  
National Advisory Council ◽  
Media Reform ◽  
Activist Groups

This paper examines how early media reform work evolved from political activism into a system-building advocacy campaign in support of Schools of the Air between 1930 and 1940. Calling upon archival work that focuses on 1935–1940 records, it examines how prominent activist groups the National Committee for Education by Radio (NCER) and the National Advisory Council for Radio in Education (NACRE) shifted their strategic approaches to adjust to the “public interest” mandate of the Communications Act of 1934. Though scholarship has chronicled disagreements between the NCER and NACRE over how to best support educational broadcasting, a dialectical interplay emerged after the act during the New Deal due to the influence of the Federal Radio Education Committee (FREC). FREC inspired A.G. Crane of the NCER to build the Rocky Mountain Radio Council (RMRC). The RMRC was the first sustainable educational media network, and the group coined the term public broadcasting. While the Communications Act signaled the end of the first wave of media activism, the policy also inspired reformers to develop a new system-building strategy that set the groundwork for NPR and PBS.

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