John George Eugène Jolas (October 26, 1894 – May 26, 1952) was a writer, translator and
literary critic
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
.
Early life
John George Eugène Jolas was born October 26, 1894, in
Union Hill, New Jersey
Union Hill was a town that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, from 1864 to June 1, 1925, when it merged with West Hoboken to form Union City.
History
Civic boundaries
The area that became West Hoboken was originally inhab ...
(what is today
Union City, New Jersey
Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589,[Forbach
Forbach ( , , ; gsw, Fuerboch) is a commune in the French department of Moselle, northeastern French region of Grand Est.
It is located on the German border approximately 15 minutes from the center of Saarbrücken, Germany, with which it const ...]
in
Elsass-Lothringen (today in French
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
), where Jolas grew up, and which had become part of Germany in 1871 following the
Franco-Prussian War.
In 1909, he moved on his own to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he learned English while attending DeWitt Clinton Evening High School and earning a modest living as a deliverer.
Career
After schooling, Jolas worked in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
as a newspaper journalist for the German-language ''
Volksblatt und Freiheits-Freund
The ''Volksblatt und Freiheits-Freund'' was the leading German-language newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during its publication from 1901 to 1942. It was formed from the merger of two predecessors, the ''Freiheits-Freund'' and ''Pittsburger ...
'' and the English-language ''
Pittsburgh Sun
The ''Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph'' was an evening daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1927 to 1960. Part of the Hearst newspaper chain, it competed with ''The Pittsburgh Press'' and the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' until bein ...
''.
[
During 1925 and 1925, Jolas worked for the European edition of the '']Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
in Paris'', first on the night desk, then as a reporter. Eventually, David Darrah prompted Jolas to take over the Tribune's literary page from Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...
. He did so, and he authored the weekly column, "Rambles through Literary Paris." His work in that capacity allowed him to meet many of the famous and emerging writers of Paris, both French and expatriates alike. These connections would serve him well in his subsequent editorial work.
Along with his wife Maria McDonald and Elliot Paul
Elliot Harold Paul (February 10, 1891 – April 7, 1958) was an American journalist and writer. Biography
Paul was born in Linden, a part of Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Harold Henry Paul and Lucy Greenleaf Doucette. He graduated from Malden ...
, in 1927 he founded the influential Parisian literary magazine, '' transition''.
In Paris, Eugene Jolas met James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
and played a major part in encouraging and defending Joyce's 'Work in Progress' (which would later become ''Finnegans Wake
''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...
''), a work which Jolas viewed as the perfect illustration to his manifesto, published in 1929 in ''transition''.
The manifesto, sometimes referred to as the Revolution of the Word Manifesto, states, in particular, that 'the revolution in the English language is an accomplished fact', 'time is a tyranny to be abolished', 'the writer expresses, he does not communicate', and 'the plain reader be damned'.
On many occasion, he used to write under the pseudonym 'Theo Rutra'.
As a translator, he is perhaps best known for rendering Alfred Doblin's novel Berlin Alexanderplatz into English in 1931.
In 1941, Jolas published something of a successor to ''transition'' in a volume entitled ''Vertical: A Yearbook for Romantic-Mystic Ascencions''.
Jolas subsequently suspended his editing work to join the United States Office of War Information in 1942; he translated war news into French for Allied troops in North Africa as well as the French resistance. In 1945, Jolas went to Germany to help launch denazified newspapers in towns controlled by the allied forces. He was later named editor in chief of the Deutsche Allgemeine Nachrichten-Agentur (DANA, later renamed DENA), an organization established to teach American-style journalism as a means for replacing the Nazis' propaganda apparatus.
Published works
*''Secession in Astropolis'' (1929) Black Sun Press
*''The Language of Night'' (1932), Servire Press
*''I Have Seen Monsters and Angels''
*''Man from Babel'' (Yale University Press, 1998)
*''Eugene Jolas: critical writings, 1924–1951'' (Northwestern University Press, 2009)
*An essay on James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
in '''' (1929), a collection on Joyce that also included contributions from Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
, Stuart Gilbert, Robert McAlmon
Robert Menzies McAlmon (also used Robert M. McAlmon, as his signature name, March 9, 1895 – February 2, 1956) was an American writer, poet, and publisher. In the 1920s, he founded in Paris the publishing house, Contact Editions, where he publ ...
, William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism.
In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
.
References
External links
"Author Information: Eugene Jolas"
Internet Book List.
*Perloff, Marjorie
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...
.
*Rosenberg, Karen
"Celebrating the Spirit of the Avant-garde"
''The Yale Herald
''The Yale Herald'' is a newspaper run by undergraduate students at Yale University since 1986. A weekly, the paper aims to provide in-depth, investigative reporting, and includes personal essays, interviews, opinion pieces, culture articles, revi ...
''.
*Kelly, Robert (January 3, 1999)
"Lost Man of the Lost Generation"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
* Eugène and Maria Jolas Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
* Eugène and Maria Jolas Papers: Addition. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jolas, Eugene
1894 births
1952 deaths
People from Union City, New Jersey
American literary critics
American magazine publishers (people)
20th-century American translators