The Criterion

The Criterion. A highly influential literary periodical published in London between 1922 and 1939, edited throughout its run by the poet T. S. Eliot. It served as a major forum for modernist thought, publishing a wide array of essays, poetry, fiction, and criticism that sought to define and defend a "classical" standard in literature and culture against what Eliot saw as the disorder of romanticism and liberalism. The magazine's international scope and intellectual rigor made it a central organ of the literary modernism movement in the interwar period, bridging British, American, and European intellectual circles.

History

The magazine was launched in October 1922 with financial backing from Lady Rothermere, the wife of newspaper magnate Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere. Its inaugural issue famously contained the first British publication of T. S. Eliot's landmark poem The Waste Land, cementing its immediate significance. Throughout the 1920s, it operated as a quarterly, providing a stable platform for Eliot's editorial vision amidst the vibrant cultural scene of Bloomsbury and beyond. The financial strain of the Great Depression led to a shift from a quarterly to a monthly format in 1927, before reverting to quarterly in 1928. Despite these challenges, it maintained publication until January 1939, when the gathering political storms in Europe, particularly the rise of fascism and the approach of World War II, led Eliot to cease publication, stating that it no longer served a coherent cultural purpose in a fractured world.

Content and features

Each issue typically featured a lead editorial by Eliot, often grappling with broad themes of culture, religion, and politics. The content was diverse but unified by a commitment to intellectual seriousness, publishing literary criticism, philosophical essays, social commentary, and original poetry and fiction. It regularly included extensive book reviews and commentary on foreign periodicals, reflecting its cosmopolitan outlook. A notable feature was its publication of works in translation, introducing British readers to major European thinkers like Paul Valéry and Julien Benda. The magazine also engaged with visual arts through discussions of figures like Wyndham Lewis and the Vorticism movement.

Critical reception and impact

The magazine was immediately recognized as a journal of formidable intellectual authority. It was praised by contemporaries in the intelligentsia for its high standards and feared for the sharpness of its critiques. Its advocacy for a classical, reactionary cultural stance, influenced by thinkers like Charles Maurras and T. E. Hulme, positioned it in opposition to both liberalism and Marxism. This often made it a controversial voice, especially as the political climate of the 1930s intensified. Its greatest impact was in shaping the critical vocabulary and cultural debates of the era, influencing a generation of writers, critics, and academics on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Notable contributors

The magazine boasted an extraordinary roster of contributors from across the English-speaking world and Continental Europe. Key literary figures included W. H. Auden, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce. Important critics and essayists such as Herbert Read, Bonamy Dobrée, and F. R. Leavis were frequent contributors. It also published work by philosophers like Bertrand Russell, historians like Christopher Dawson, and political theorists like Harold Laski. This eclectic mix ensured the publication was never the organ of a single clique but a dynamic, if often contentious, meeting ground for major minds.

Business model and distribution

Initially funded by Lady Rothermere, the magazine struggled financially after her support ended in 1928. It was subsequently published by the firm Faber and Faber, where Eliot was a director, which helped sustain it. Circulation was always modest, typically numbering in the low thousands, catering to a specialized audience of scholars, writers, and serious readers. Its distribution, however, was international, with significant readership in the United States and across Europe, amplifying its influence far beyond its sales figures. The reliance on a publishing house and a dedicated niche audience was a model for later "little magazines."

Legacy and influence

The magazine's legacy is profound, setting a benchmark for literary and critical periodicals. It provided the foundational model for subsequent influential journals like Scrutiny, edited by F. R. Leavis, and its spirit is often seen in later publications such as The Paris Review. Eliot's editorials, many collected in books like For Lancelot Andrewes, remain key texts in twentieth-century criticism. The archive of the magazine serves as an indispensable record of the intellectual currents between the two world wars, chronicling the evolution of modernism and the conservative reaction to the crises of modernity. Its cessation in 1939 is often viewed as symbolizing the end of a distinct era in European literary culture. Category:Literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Category:Defunct literary magazines Category:Modernist literature