The Southern Review

The Southern Review is an American quarterly literary magazine founded in 1935 and revived in 1965, associated with Louisiana State University and the literary culture of the Southern United States. It publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews by established and emerging writers, and has featured work reflecting regional and national currents in American letters. Over its history the journal has involved prominent authors, editors, and critics connected to major institutions and cultural movements across the United States and Europe.

History

The journal was established in 1935 with ties to Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni and patrons from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, aiming to foster Southern letters alongside national fora such as The New Yorker and The Nation. Early issues included contributions from figures associated with Harvard University, Princeton University, and Columbia University, while editorial networks linked to Yale University and University of Virginia shaped reputations during the interwar years. Financial strains, World War II mobilization, and shifts in institutional support prompted suspension in the 1940s, paralleling closures at periodicals like The Kenyon Review and Partisan Review. The journal's 1965 revival under Louisiana State University aligned with broader 1960s expansions in creative writing programs at Stanford University, Syracuse University, and University of Iowa, and reestablished editorial relationships with metropolitan publishers such as Knopf and Houghton Mifflin. Subsequent decades saw issues that responded to events including the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and cultural debates linked to institutions like Smith College, Wellesley College, and Duke University.

Editorial Leadership and Contributors

Editors have included academics and writers connected to Louisiana State University, Vassar College, Emory University, and Tulane University. Notable editors and contributors have ranged across generations: poets and novelists with affiliations to Yale University, Princeton University, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and New York University; essayists and critics linked to Oxford University and Cambridge University; and translators associated with Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). Contributors have included award-winning figures connected to the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as editors and scholars from Modern Language Association circles and writers active in magazines such as The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The New Republic, and Poetry. The masthead has featured poets, novelists, and critics who taught at institutions like Brown University, Cornell University, University of Michigan, and University of Texas at Austin, and who participated in commemorations at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress.

Content and Literary Significance

The journal's pages have showcased fiction, poetry, and criticism that intersect with movements and figures tied to Modernism, Postmodernism, and regional traditions centered in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the broader American South. Work published in the magazine has later appeared in anthologies edited by scholars at Princeton University Press, Oxford University Press, and Cambridge University Press, and has been discussed in forums at Smithsonian Institution symposia and conferences hosted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Contributors associated with publishing houses like Random House, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Little, Brown and Company have used the journal as a venue to debut stories and poems that later won prizes or were adapted by cultural institutions such as PBS, NPR, and BBC. Critical essays in the journal engaged topics debated at gatherings like the Modern Language Association annual meeting and reflected dialogues linked to archives at the Newberry Library and the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Awards and Recognitions

Pieces from the publication have been recipients of major literary awards and anthologized in collections like The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Poetry, and prize series curated by The O. Henry Prize and The Pushcart Prize. Contributors and selections have been cited in association with the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Bollingen Prize, and fellowships from institutions such as the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The magazine has been recognized by academic bodies including the Modern Language Association and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs for its role in publishing influential work by authors linked to universities and cultural organizations across the United States and internationally.

Publication Details and Distribution

Published quarterly by Louisiana State University Press, the journal distributes to subscribers, libraries, and bookstores through regional and national networks including academic distributors serving institutions like University of Michigan Library, Harvard Library, and Library of Congress. Back issues are held in special collections at universities such as Duke University, Tulane University, Vanderbilt University, and archival repositories like the Southern Historical Collection and the Historic New Orleans Collection. The magazine maintains relationships with literary festivals and conferences including AWP Conference, readings at venues like Symphony Space, and events sponsored by foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Category:American literary magazines Category:Louisiana State University