(Calendar of Modern Letters.) GRAVES (Robert, as 'John Doyle') & Arthur Waley (Contributors)
The Calendar of Modern Letters.
Volume 2, Number 7.
Description:
a few spots at page-heads,
pp. iv [ads], 72, crown 8vo,
original cream wrappers printed in blue, backstrip darkened and chipped at ends, overhanging edges a little nicked and creased, good
Publication Details:
Calendar Press, September 1925
Notes: This short-lived literary monthly (it became quarterly in its second year, and lasted one further) retains what Bernard Bergonzi described as 'an exemplary, even mythological' status within the crowded field of little magazines between the wars. The principal bases for this, in brief, were: its prioritisation of literary criticism, and the standards it maintained in respect of that discipline – the aspect for which it was subsequently endorsed by Leavis in his 'Scrutiny' (itself the title of a series of critical assessments within the present journal); its interest in and inclusion of Russia...moreThis short-lived literary monthly (it became quarterly in its second year, and lasted one further) retains what Bernard Bergonzi described as 'an exemplary, even mythological' status within the crowded field of little magazines between the wars. The principal bases for this, in brief, were: its prioritisation of literary criticism, and the standards it maintained in respect of that discipline – the aspect for which it was subsequently endorsed by Leavis in his 'Scrutiny' (itself the title of a series of critical assessments within the present journal); its interest in and inclusion of Russian literature; and the early publication of some American poets such as Laura Riding (Gottschalk) and Hart Crane. The Calendar's principal contributors were its founders, Edgell Rickword, Douglas Garman and Bertram Higgins, but it drew on an impressive contemporary cast – including Edwin Muir, Robert Graves, Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, E.M. Forster, et al. The present issue includes, most notably, Robert Graves' Butlerian satire (under the pseudonym of John Doyle), 'The Marmosite's Miscellany' this subsequently published by the Hogarth Press, translation of work by the young Leonid Leonov, and an early Japanese story introduced and translated by Arthur Waley. The subscription form for the next issue advertises the appearance of a contribution by James Joyce of a 'Section from Work in Progress' – this was to be the first appearance of the 'Anna Livia Plurabelle' episode of 'Finnegans Wake', and a major coup for the fledgling periodical, secured via Rickword's correspondence with Sylvia Beach, but the offended printers refused to set it, and Rickword was forced to return the piece to its author, who had of course refused any notion of expurgation. In the same space of the next issue it was noted as having been 'unavoidably postponed'. HIDE
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