The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines Volume I, Britain and Ireland 1880‐1955

Citation

Baker, W. (2010), "The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines Volume I, Britain and Ireland 1880‐1955", Library Review, Vol. 59 No. 6, pp. 478-479. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531011054011

The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines Volume I, Britain and Ireland 1880‐1955 is the first of three volumes to be published. The second volume will focus on “Modernist magazines of North America” and the third volume claims to set its sights on Europe. The recent spate of attention to such magazines found, for instance, in Suzanne W. Churchill and Adam McKible's edited Little Magazines & Modernism: New Approaches published by Ashgate in 2007 and reviewed in Library Review Vol. 58 No. 7 (2009), 550‐51, is very welcome. It follows in the footsteps of pioneering work found in, for instance, Alvin Sullivan's edited British Literary Magazines: The Victorian and Edwardian Age, 1837‐1913 and British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914‐1984 published by the Greenwood Press in 1984 and 1986. Of course, such volumes did not throw around the currently fashionable concept of “Modernist” that underpins the volume now being reviewed.

In their detailed “General Introduction”, Brooker and Thacker write on “the formative role of magazines” and in spite of the labours of Sullivan and his contributors, and the earlier work of Frederick J. Hoffman, Charles Allen and Carolyn F. Ulrich in their Little Magazines: A History and Bibliography published by Princeton University Press as long ago as 1947, “the vast hinterland …  remains unexplored” (pp. 3‐4). The “General Introduction” is divided into sections on “Materialist modernisms and periodical codes” (pp. 5‐9), “Defining ‘littleness”’ (pp. 11‐6), “Cultural formations” (pp. 16‐21), “Methods and models” (pp. 21‐3), and “Structure and periodization” (pp. 23‐6). One looks in vain however for a coherent, a clear explanation of the frequently used term “modernism”.

The volume is divided into ten parts each with an introduction written by the editors explaining and reviewing what is to follow. A total of 38 contributing scholars write on “Victorian Precursors” (pp. 33‐65), “Fin De Siècle Ventures (1884‐1906)” (pp. 76‐141), “Early Statements (1899‐1915)” (pp. 152‐96), “Transitions” (pp. 205‐59), “Interventions” (pp. 269‐336), “Editors and Programmes” (pp. 340‐451), “Into the 1920s: Dispersal and Difference” (pp. 462‐588), “Commitment to the New” (pp. 599‐703), “Beyond the Metropolis” (pp. 714‐824) and “The Call to Criticism and Modernist Destinies” (pp. 833‐97).

These ten sections concentrate on 84 magazines, although of course other ones are mentioned and on occasion discussed. There are notable exclusions. Life and Letters which ran from 1928 to 1935 is discussed (see pp. 428‐51), but not the Bookman (1891‐1935) with which the former subsequently merged. To take one other instance, The New Age founded in 1894 and running until 1938 is included (see pp. 205‐25 and other references) but not the New England Weekly, also edited by A.R. Orage. In fairness, in their “General Introduction” Brooker and Thacker write in a footnote: “Mainly for reasons of space we have been unable to include chapters on a number of magazines in the periods covered”. Or perhaps their commissioned contributors failed to deliver the goods! They instance The Tramp (1910‐1911), Today (1917‐1924), the New English Weekly (1932‐1949), Townsman (1938‐1945) and Seven (1938‐1940): “all magazines with an interesting take on modernism and the modern”. They also exclude magazines such as the Sitwells' Wheels (1916‐1921) as “it had more of the character of an anthology” (p. 5, no. 12).

It would be inappropriate to single out for special attention to one contribution or contributor rather than another in such a collaborative undertaking. Clearly, some chapters are less opaque than others and have lengthy footnote documentation that can detract from the text. It is pleasing to find discussion and analysis of financial records, editorial policy and selection criteria, the underlying agendas for the magazines, in many instances the careers and motives of their editors in the founding of them, the contributions and contributors, circulation and distribution. There could be more on layout, on individual magazine design, typography and binding, and their significance.

This admirable addition to the reference shelves has 102 black and white illustrations, mostly of covers. The aim of these presumably is to assist in the visualization of the physicality of the magazine. Unfortunately, however, many of the illustrations are far too small to serve this function (see, for instance, the cover of Form for April 1916, illustrated on p. 572). There are two tabular lists: “Timeline for selected periodicals, 1908‐1919” and “Prices of selected periodicals c. 1850‐1950” (pp. 22, 24‐5). The enumerative alphabetically arranged “Bibliography” is extensive (pp. 899‐930), and the “Index” is detailed and helpful (pp. 931‐55). The volume seems to be well bound to survive continuous library usage. In short, despite some caveats, The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines Volume I, Britain and Ireland 1880‐1955 is an indispensable library purchase. It is an important reference work.