Literary magazine

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A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews, and letters. Literary magazines are often called literary journals, or little magazines, which is not meant as a pejorative but instead as a contrast with larger commercially oriented magazines. In general, literary magazines function as a sort of literary alternative for writers by publishing the work of authors who may not yet be established,well known, or accepted in the mainstream press.

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[edit] History of literary magazines

Literary magazines first began to appear in the early part of the nineteenth century, mirroring an overall rise in the number of books, magazines, and scholarly journals being published at that time. There were a number of literary magazines in Europe (especially in England and Russia) and the United States. Even though many of these magazines were not necessarily entirely literary in content and most had a short lifespan, they thrived in cities both large and small (for example, several literary magazines were published in Charleston, South Carolina, including the Southern Review from 1828–32 and Russell's Magazine from 1857–60). [1] Two important exceptions to this short-lived rule are The North American Review, which was founded in 1815, and The Yale Review, founded in 1819, both of which are still in print. The North American Review is the oldest American literary magazine, but publication was suspended during World War II whereas the Yale Review was not, making the Yale journal the oldest literary magazine in continuous publication. By the end of the century, literary magazines had become an important feature of intellectual life in many parts of the world.

Among the literary magazines that began in the early part of that century is Poetry Magazine, founded in 1912, which published T. S. Eliot's first poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". Other important early 20th century literary magazines include the Southern Review and New Letters, both founded in 1935.

The middle 20th century saw a boom in the number of literary magazines, which corresponded with the rise of the small press. Among the important journals which began in this period were Nimbus: A Magazine of Literature, the Arts, and New Ideas, which began publication in 1951 in England, and the Paris Review, which was founded in 1953. The 1970s saw another surge in the number of literary magazines, with a number of distinguished journals getting their start during this decade (including Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, and others). Other well-regarded print magazines of recent years include Threepenny Review, ZYZZYVA, Glimmer Train, Tin House, and Fence.

One of the hallmarks of small literary magazines (particularly the small press scene of the 1970's in the San Francsico Bay Area of California) was the fact that the editors were often poets, and that reciprocity was a commonplace. In other words, 'I'll publish yours if you'll publish mine' (rarely stated as baldly as that) was a common attitude and practice. Contrary to the expectations of many purists, academics, mainstream publishers, etc., this didn't produce the publication of as much bad poetry as one might expect. It was not/ is not a kind of glorified vanity press (the history of vanity press is often maligned unfairly -- Consider Whitman).

It was and is an extremely open, democratic, and fertile field for poets. The Committee Of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers (COSMEP) was founded by Hugh Fox in the mid 70's. It was an attempt to organize the energy of the small presses. Len Fulton, editor and founder of Dustbook publishing, assembled and published the first real list of these small magazines and their editors in the mid 70's. This made it possible for poets to pick and choose the publications most amenable to their work and the vitality of these independent publishers was recognized by the larger community, including The National Endowment of the Arts which created a committee to distribute support money for this burgeoning group of publishers called the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (CCLM).

[edit] Online literary magazines

Around 1996, online literary magazines began to appear. At first, many writers and readers dismissed online literary magazines as not equalling their print counterparts, while others said that these were not properly magazines and were instead ezines. Since then, though, many writers and readers have accepted online literary magazines as another step in the evolution of the independent literary journals. Among the better known online literary magazines are 2River, Blackbird, 3:AM Magazine, Dublin Quarterly, failbetter, Perigee: Publication for the Arts, Pindeldyboz, Guernica Magazine, The Lotus Reader, Eclectica Magazine, and storySouth, but there are literally thousands of online poetry publications and it is difficult to judge the quality and overall impact of this new publishing medium. Those who are critical of this phenomenon say that the completely democratic nature of the medium allows anyone to publish a web based literary journal and too often these publications are symptomatic, the critics say, of the prevailing attitude that poetry is personal; anyone can write it, and no one can judge it.

[edit] Print and online literary magazines mentioned in article

For more literary magazines, see List of literary magazines

[edit] External links

  • Little Magazine Interview Index Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections, the Little Magazine Collection, one of the most extensive of its kind in the United States, includes approximately 7,000 English-language literary magazines published in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand, mostly in the 20th century.
  • Web del Sol A clearing house for a number of literary journals
  • NewPages Alternatives in Print & Media
  • Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts
  • The Lotus Reader An online literary magazine serving writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry

[edit] See also

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