Editing Heavenly Discourse

{{Short description|Essay collection by C.E.S Wood}}
{{italic title}}
{{more references|date=December 2009}}
'''''Heavenly Discourse''''' is a collection of satirical<!--{{sfn|Davidson|1965|p=110}}--> essays by [[Charles Erskine Scott Wood]], published in 1927.{{sfn|Davidson|1965|p=110}}

== Publication ==
Wood primarily wrote poetry and serious prose.{{sfn|Bingham|1958|p=45}}{{sfn|Robbins|Frank|Ross|1983|p=162}} However, [[Max Eastman]] and [[John Reed (journalist)|John Reed]], co-editors of the radical magazine ''[[The Masses]]'',{{efn|Sources disagree on who the editor(s) of ''The Masses'' was or were, and it may have changed in time. {{harvtxt|Bingham|Barnes|1997|p=265-267}} and {{harvtxt|Robbins|Frank|Ross|1983|p=162}} both list Eastman and John Reed. {{harvtxt | Starr | 2002 | p=63}} lists Eastman and [[Floyd Dell]]. The Wikipedia article for ''[[The Masses]]'' seems to indicate that it was just Eastman.}} asked him to write something humorous for their periodical. The result was a short satirical attack on [[World War I]] named ''The Heavenly Dialogue'', published in 1914. This became the first of a series of similar dialogues.{{sfn|Bingham|Barnes|1997|p=265-267}} Ten of these were published in ''[[The Masses]]''. Following passage of the [[Espionage Act of 1917]], ''The Masses'' was suppressed by the U. S. government on the grounds that it was detrimental to the war effort. Wood continued to write more discourses.{{cn|date=January 2018}} After [[World War I]], Max Eastman and others urged publication of the discourses in book form.{{sfn|''Publishers Weekly''|1940}} In 1927, the Vanguard Press published a collection of forty-one of them under the title ''Heavenly Discourse''.{{cn|date=January 2018}}

== Content ==

The work is primarily a dialogue between [[Satan]] and [[God]] about contemporary issues. They are presented as friendly adversaries who are often in general agreement.{{sfn|Davidson|1965|p=110}} God represents Wood's own perspective.{{sfn|Robbins|Frank|Ross|1983|p=162}} A variety of other characters also join the conversation, including [[angels]], [[Jesus]], [[Buddha]], the [[Czar of Russia]], [[Billy Sunday]], [[Socrates]], [[John Pierpont Morgan]], [[Teddy Roosevelt]], [[Carrie Nation]], [[Sappho]], [[François Rabelais]],{{sfn|Davidson|1965|p=110}} [[Margaret Sanger]],{{sfn|Robbins|Frank|Ross|1983|p=162}} and [[Mark Twain]].{{sfn|Bingham|1958}}<!--[[Thomas Paine|Tom Paine]], [[Robert G. Ingersoll|Robert Ingersoll]].{{cn}}-->

Politically radical, the essays ridicule war,{{sfn|Eastman|1964|p=37}} [[prudishness]], [[patriotism]], [[bigotry]]{{sfn|Robbins|Frank|Ross|1983|p=162}} and [[Christian theology]].{{sfn|Eastman|1964|p=37}}<!--"Christianity"-->{{sfn|Starr|2002|p=63}} Instead, they promoted [[bohemianism]], [[free love]], [[pacifism]], [[socialism]],{{sfn|Roberts|2007|p=11}} [[birth control]], and [[women's rights]]{{specify|What did this mean then? Is this just voting?|date=January 2018}}.{{sfn|Starr|2002|p=63}} The satire of these essays mocks mainstream society and views it with skepticism.{{sfn|Roberts|2007|p=11}} Titles of some of the discourses include ''Is God a Jew?,'' ''The United States Must Be Pure,'' and ''The Stupid Cannot Enter Heaven.''{{cn|date=January 2018}} Wood wrote ''Heavenly Discourse'' from the [[bourgeois]] radicalism of [[Greenwich Village]] of which he was a part.{{sfn|Starr|2002|p=63}}

In one of the essays, ''Billy Sunday meets God,'' Wood pokes at [[bourgeois morality]] by imagining Billy Sunday in [[Heaven]], surprised and disappointed to find people he condemned there. Jesus responds to his complaints, and points out that he associated with drinkers and prostitutes.{{sfn|Fishbein|1982|p=178}}

Heavenly discourse is one of very few Western texts from this era to mention the angel [[Israfil]] of [[Arab folklore]].{{sfn|Davidson|1967|p=152}}

== Reception ==

Although Wood wrote extensively, this was his only work to reach a wide audience.{{sfn|Bingham|1958|p=45}}{{sfn|Robbins|Frank|Ross|1983|p=162}} The book had a substantial impact on [[Robert Paul Wolff]]{{sfn|Wolff|2011}} and [[Todd Gitlin]].{{sfn|Roberts|2007|p=11}} Some American publications have called it a "classic".{{sfn|''Publishers Weekly''|1940}}{{sfn|Cohen|1983|p=224}} Kevin Starr wrote in 2002 that ''Heavenly Discourse'' now seems "pedestrian and heavy-handed" but affirms that it was daring in its time.{{sfn|Starr|2002|p=63}}

==See also==
* [[Christian anarchism]]
* [[Christian pacifism]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== Citations == 
{{reflist|20em}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bingham | first=Edwin R. |year=1958 |title=Charles Erskine Scott Wood: "An Era and a Realm" |journal=Northwest Review |volume=1 |number=4 |page=33-46 | id={{ProQuest|1299901811}} }}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Bingham | editor-first1=Edwin R. | editor-last2=Barnes |editor-first2=Tim |year=1997 |title=Wood Works: The Life and Writings of Charles Erskine Scott Wood |location=Corvallis |publisher=Oregon State University Press | isbn=9780870713972 |oclc=37141219 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Irving R. |date=1983 |title=Book review: Sara Bard Field, Poet and Suffragist by Amelia Fry |journal=California History |volume=62 |pages=224–225 |number=3 |doi=10.2307/25158172 |jstor=25158172 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Davidson |first=Gustav |year=1965 |title=The Poets and the Angels Davidson |journal=The Literary Review |location=Madison, New Jersey, USA |volume=9 |number=1 |page=90-114 |id={{ProQuest|1301730783}} }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | article=Israfel |page=151-152 |last=Davidson | first=Gustav | title=Dictionary of Angels | publisher=Free Press | series=A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels | year=1967 | isbn=978-0-02-907052-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kGXelGEMdWgC&pg=PA152 }}
* {{cite book | last=Eastman | first=M. | title=Love and revolution: my journey through an epoch | publisher=Random House | year=1964 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o4VAAAAAIAAJ }}
* {{cite book | last=Fishbein | first=L. | title=Rebels in Bohemia: the radicals of the Masses, 1911-1917 | publisher=University of North Carolina Press | year=1982 | isbn=978-0-8078-1519-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/rebelsinbohemiar0000fish | url-access=registration | quote=Heavenly Discourse. }}
* {{cite magazine |date=13 July 1940 |magazine=Publishers Weekly |volume=138 |page=113 |ref={{sfnref|''Publishers Weekly''|1940}}}}
* {{cite book | last1=Robbins | first1=W.G. | last2=Frank | first2=R.R.J. | last3=Ross | first3=R.R.E. | year=1983 | title=Regionalism and the Pacific Northwest | publisher=Oregon State University Press | isbn=978-0-87071-337-8 | oclc=234303632 |hdl=1957/21954 |url=https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/technical_reports/qv33rx48q }}
* {{cite thesis |last=Roberts |first=Jason Daniel |year=2007 |title=Disillusioned radicals: The intellectual odyssey of Todd Gitlin, Ronald Radosh and David Horowitz |type=PhD |id={{ProQuest|304883195}} }}
* {{cite book | last=Starr | first=Kevin | year=2002 | title=The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s | publisher=Oxford University Press | series=Americans and the California Dream | isbn=978-0-19-992393-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeAIdOZYi_QC&pg=PT63 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Wolff |first=Robert Paul |year=2011 |title=What Good Is a Liberal Education? |journal=Qui Parle: Critical Humanities and Social Sciences |volume=20 |number=1 |page=137-151 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/454330 }}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
<!-- {{harvnb|Bingham|1958|p=40f}} -->
* {{cite journal | last=Bingham | first=Edwin R. |year=1959| title=Oregon's Romantic Rebels: John Reed and Charles Erskine Scott Wood |journal=The Pacific Northwest Quarterly |volume=50 | pages=77–90 |number=3 | jstor=40487376}}
* {{cite journal | last=Bingham | first=Edwin R. | year=1972 | title=Experiment in Launching a Biography: Three Vignettes of Charles Erskine Scott Wood | journal=Huntington Library Quarterly | publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press / JSTOR | volume=35 | issue=3 | issn=0018-7895 | doi=10.2307/3816660 | jstor=3816660 |pages=221–239}}
* {{cite book | last=Bingham | first=Edwin R. | year=1990 |title=Charles Erskine Scott Wood |series=Western writers series |number=94 |location=Boise, ID |publisher=Boise State University |isbn=0-88430-093-5 |url=http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=wws}}
<!-- {{harvnb|Bingham|Barnes|1997}} -->
<!-- {{harvnb|Eastman|1964|p=37}} -->
<!-- {{harvnb|Fishbein|1982|p=124, 178f}} -->
* {{cite book | last=Halmos | first=Paul R. | year=1985 | title=I Want to be a Mathematician| pages=20–35 | publisher=Springer New York | location=New York, NY | isbn=978-0-387-96470-6 | chapter=A college education | doi=10.1007/978-1-4612-1084-9_2}}
* {{cite book |last=Hamburger |first=Robert |year=1998 |title=Two Rooms: The Life of Charles Erskine Scott Wood |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0-8032-2389-7}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* Full text of ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3728087&view=1up&seq=7 Heavenly Discourse]'' at HathiTrust Digital Library

[[Category:1927 books]]
[[Category:Satirical books]]