The British tradition

The Literary Magazine

No institution played a more important role in the development of
Modernism than the literary magazine. These modest periodicals were
published on both sides of the Atlantic. In England, Eliot founded the
Criterion (later called The New Criterion) in 1922. The first issue featured
Eliots celebrated poem The Waste Land. In the United States, the premier
literary magazine was The Dial. During the 1920s, it published the work of
Eliot, W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, and D. H. Lawrence. Another important
journal, The Egoist, serialized A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James
Joyces first major work, in 1914 to 1915.

These literary magazines were grandchildren of eighteenth century

periodicals such as Joseph Addisons The Spectator. Instead of focusing on
manners and social observations, however Modernist periodicals dedicated
themselves to promoting new trends in art. The profound impact of Eliots
work would perhaps not have been as great if it had no found a home in such
journals.

William Butler Yeats

David Herbert Richards Lawrence