In 1914, Wyndham Lewis, Ezra Pound, and other experimental artists started England’s first prototypical avant-garde movement, “vorticism,” and an associated magazine, Blast: Review of the Great
English Vortex. The 10 essays in this volume explore the impact on Canadian vorticism in the writings of Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, Sheila Watson, and Wilfred Watson. English and art scholars
from North America and Italy discuss the role of higher education in McLuhan’s work; theories of the avant-garde, cosmopolitanism, and global modernism in Lewis’ “North American” texts;
McLuhan’s understanding of the role of art in the modern world, his relation to artists, including Wilfred and Sheila Watson, and the response of contemporary artists to his writing; and the
influence of McLuhan on Sheila Watson’s writings, as well as their discussion of photography and new media in their letters. Distributed in the US by Wayne State U. Press. Annotation ©2016
Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
