Eastman, Max
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Max Eastman (1883-1969) was a well-known radical whose journal, the Liberator, voiced support for controversial issues such as restrictions on liberty during World War I and the Red Scare. Eastman was arrested twice under the Espionage Act, each trial resulting in a hung jury. He visited Soviet Russia in the 1920's and became a follower of Trotsky, acting as his translator and literary agent. He became critical of the Soviet government after 1924 and opposed Stalin through the release of "Lenin's Testament" warning the party of Stalin's aims. William O'Neill writes that: "In 1939 when Moscow betrayed the anti-fascists by signing a pact with Berlin, opening the way for Germany's invasion of Poland and World War II, Max was prepared. Within a year, he brought out two big books, his most penetrating and finished critiques of Soviet politics and ideology. In Stalin's Russia and the Crisis of Socialism he reviewed Soviet history, exposed the Moscow Purge Trials as fraudulent, and disproved Russian claims to social and economic virtue. In Marxism: is it Science? Max showed that it was not" (O'Neill, 1991).
Eastman authored twenty-six books, including poetry and fiction. He edited the Masses, a socialist journal, which covered art and opinion. In an article written upon Eastman's death, The New York Times (26 March 1969) noted: "Mr. Eastman will probably be best remembered by those who date back to World War I as editor of the left-wing Masses as well as for his later exposure of the Bolshevik tyranny. He himself considered his two major contributions to be his theory on metaphor and simile in poetry, as outlined his first book, "The Enjoyment of Poetry," and his theory on wit and humor, discussed in another book, "Enjoyment of Laughter."
Edna Davis Romig (b. 1889) was a professor of English for 36 years, most of them spent at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She published several volumes of poetry and a book on Walt Whitman. Friends with Robert and Elinor Frost, Romig was asked by the couple to write their biography, a project that was researched but never completed. She retired from teaching in 1961 and moved to Estes Park, Colorado.
From the guide to the Max Eastman Letter to Edna Davis Romig (MS 148), 1943, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)
Role | Title | Holding Repository | |
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referencedIn | Boris Souvarine papers, 1915-1984 (inclusive), 1940-1984 (bulk). | Houghton Library | |
referencedIn | Burlingham, Charles Culp, 1858-1959. Papers, 1876-1960 | Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 | |
referencedIn | Century Company records | New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division | |
referencedIn | Ehrmann, Herbert B. (Herbert Brutus), 1891-1970. Papers, 1906-1970 | Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 | |
referencedIn | Gannett, Lewis, 1891-1966. Papers, 1681-1966 (bulk 1900-1960) | Houghton Library | |
referencedIn | Hudson, Manley Ottmer, 1886-1960. Papers, 1894-1960 | Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 | |
referencedIn | J. B. Matthews Papers, 1862-1986 and undated | David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library | |
referencedIn | Jane Burr Papers MS 25., circa 1860s-1958 | Sophia Smith Collection | |
referencedIn | John Reed papers, 1903-1967. | Houghton Library | |
referencedIn | Learned Hand papers | Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 |
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Relation | Name |
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associatedWith | Burlingham, Charles Culp, 1858-1959 |
correspondedWith | Burr, Jane, 1882-1958 |
correspondedWith | Century Company |
correspondedWith | Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel, 1853-1935 |
correspondedWith | Doris Stevens |
associatedWith | Ehrmann, Herbert B. (Herbert Brutus), b. 1891 |
correspondedWith | Gannett, Lewis, 1891-1966 |
associatedWith | Hand, Learned, 1872-1961 |
associatedWith | Hudson, Manley Ottmer, 1886- |
correspondedWith | Matthews, J. B. (Joseph Brown), 1894-1966 |
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Eastman, Max
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