The literary magazine is an ever-evolving fixture in the literary world, with a history of

that spans over two centuries.

The basic definition of a literary magazine is a periodical dedicated to literature. Literary

magazines may publish anything from fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to interviews with authors,

book reviews, and literary criticism. Some of the most notable literary magazines today include

The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Granta Magazine.

The first literary magazine was published in 1815—The North American Review, a

Boston based periodical that still exists today—but there is evidence that shows predecessors to

the literary magazine form, some dating back to the 1600s.

In the early 1900s, the phenomenon of literary magazines branched into new territory

with the emergence of what was commonly referred to as “the little magazine”. The “little

magazine” came with the emergence of of modernism in literature. Literature was embracing

new territories—embracing freer forms, brevity and precise imagery, so the emergence of a new

medium for literature made sense.

 According to The Little Magazine: A History and

Bibliography, a little magazine is “a magazine

designed to print artistic work which for reasons of

commercial expediency is not acceptable to the

money-minded periodicals or presses.” (Hoffman et

al, 2) In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,

before the time of modern media and entertainment

including television and the internet, literature was

viewed differently than it is today. It was a business,

and the most popular literary magazines were more

concerned with the commercial aspect of literature

rather than the quality.

“Little magazines” were founded in response to this

commercialization of literature—focusing heavily on

the exploration of new territories within literature and

celebrating the complexity of literature as an art form, and less heavily on monetary gain. As

stated in Hoffman’s history of the little magazine, they are “noncommercial by intent, for their

altruistic ideal usually rules out the hope of financial profit.” (Hoffman et al, 2) Hoffman goes on

to say that although these magazines would appreciate their publications being circulated, but the

editors understand they are targeting a “niche” audience with their appreciation for the avant-

garde.
 A genre most often experimented with in the time of little magazines was poetry. The

poet Ezra Pound, commonly credited as being the catalyst of the modernist poetry movement,

was often at the forefront of this shift in literary

ideals, publishing with early little magazines such as

Poetry and The Little Review. Pound “regarded the

traditional respect for rhyme, stanzaic pattern, and

metrics as barriers to true poetic understanding.”

(Hoffman et al, 109) In Hoffman’s account of the

little magazine, it is stated that “modern

poets…looked upon the mass of Romantic verse as

damaged both in form and in purpose by the

requirement that the poet be insincere…” and that the

reason’s behind “the poet’s revolt” were not hard to

define, stating that “they thought of the science of

versification as another of the barriers which tradition

had set up against individualist expression and

experiment.” (Hoffman et al, 109)

As literature itself changed, so did the ways in

which it was presented to the world. With the emergence of new technology in the late twentieth

and early twenty-first centuries, literary magazines saw another major shift.

Along with the invention of the internet, literary magazines eventually curated an online

presence. The first online literary magazine was not really a “magazine” at all—it was more of a
database than a periodical, similar to the early versions of weblogs, or as we know them today,

blogs. This database was entitled SwiftCurrent, and made its way into the cyber-sphere in 1984.

In 1995, the first online “issue” of a literary magazine was published—The Mississippi

Review. Since then, hundreds of thousands of literary magazines have colonized a space in the

cyber-sphere.

Some of these journals are the online versions of print magazines, some are online only.

Something worth noting about the modern day online literary magazine—particularly the

online-only variety—is its similarity to the “little magazines” of the early twentieth century.

Since many online-only literary magazines are volunteer based—both editors and

contributors are most likely not compensated—they tend to mimic the original values of the little

magazine, whether it is intentional or not.

Many online literary magazines are very devoted to their contributors—these publications

tend to rely heavily on self-promotion, and promotion from both editor and contributor often go

hand-in-hand.

Also, although in an online space there is no real “limit” to what can or can’t fit in a

single issue of a magazine, many online magazines tend to follow a traditional route of

selectivity and publishing a certain amount of artists monthly,

quarterly, yearly, etc. This selectivity is often, although not

always, rooted in the quality of the art. In situations

where this does not happen, artists are often being

selected for their notoriety in the literary community, for

their academic credentials (such as an MFA degree), or they are

being selected using a system similar to affirmative action in a

workplace—many publications will focus so heavily on diversity in their artists that the quality

of the work itself become irrelevant in choosing what to publish.

Similarly to this focus on diversity, some magazines also heavily focus on a certain

theme or message for the work they accept. Some lean towards artistic—pieces related to

spirituality or religion, modern fairytales, writing about nature, while others lean towards a

specific progressive (or sometimes, not progressive) social issue being written about—such as a

focus on marginalized voices, or a focus on writing about mental health. Although these are

positive things for an artistic medium to focus on, there is also a dark side to this idea of focus.

When an idea of “fighting for the underdogs” of literature is at the forefront of the modern online

literary magazine, paired with political and/or social messages being engrained into this idea, it is

inevitable that we see the other end of the spectrum making an appearance.

Often referred to as “alternative literature” (or “alt lit”) or “outsider literature”, there are

in fact, many problematic subgroups within the literary community, who often use the form of

the literary magazine to spread negative or regressive messages.

One of the most notoriously regressive publications within the online literary community

is a small online magazine entitled Terror House Magazine, a literary magazine whose editor in

chief happens to be a notorious white supremacist, among other questionable identifications.

Publications such as these are often referred to in “whisper networks” as “crypto-fascist”—their

beliefs are not blatant—they are subtextual. They often identify as “apolitical” and welcome

“outsiders” to submit to their publications. Something very problematic about these types of

literary magazines is that an artist who is new to or unfamiliar with the online literary community

may submit to these publications without realizing who and what they are supporting. Many
writers, myself included, have stories of having to request

removal of their work from online literary magazines after

they made their affiliations and/or beliefs known.

Very recently, a new online magazine cropped up

entitled Concentric Literary Magazine—a magazine with

claims to focus on “tradition” and formulaic writing,

requesting work that is philosophical, then specifying that they were uninterested in leftist

philosophy or ideologies, such as Marxism. The closed their mission statement by saying they

were uninterested in knowing the complexities of their contributors’ marginalized identities,

saying they were “not that kind” of magazine. This is a perfect example of a crypto-fascist

publication. If a writer is not aware of these kinds of publications, they can fall victim to

unknowingly associating themselves with politics and ideologies that they do not agree with.

Outside of the political, there are some other downfalls to the presence of the online

literary magazine, such as important literary issues like plagiarism going unintentionally

overlooked, as many volunteer-run magazines do not have the staff or the funds to make sure

these types of things don’t occur. Also, the online literary magazine itself has an unpredictable

and a typically short lifespan—a literary magazine that survives for over a decade is often a

rarity—many online magazines will become defunct within a few months or years, or some will

just suddenly become inactive, their websites and social media accounts collecting dust in the

cyber-sphere. In the modern world, where literature is almost always a hobby rather t han a

profession, it is difficult to keep literary magazines and small presses afloat.

But the online literary magazine is not necessarily a negative medium—it has many

positive attributes that attract emerging writers—they make the process of publication much
more accessible in the sense that it is now fast, straightforward and often, free—and many

magazines have a strong social media presence where they can promote contributors to an

audience. There is also a very authentic, intimate relationship between editor and contributor in

the realm of online literary magazines—both requires the other to survive, so there is a lot of

mutual support within these mediums.

It can be argued that the major drawback of the online literary magazine is its inevitable

competition with literature in print.

Several studies show that readers are more likely to take literature in print more seriously

than literature published online, particularly in literature magazines. In an article published by

Laura Dietz following a study on the print medium versus the online medium in literary

magazines, it is stated that the research showed that “print publications, in general, are valued

more highly, even after accounting for content quality, design quality and whether the magazine

is paid for or free.” (Dietz, 14)

In another study published in the Journal of the American Society for Information

Science and Technology, a similar study was conducted, primarily on the editors of literary

magazines. This study showed that they way editors viewed the use of technology often reflected

their own values, in terms of financial gain, the appreciation of the avant-garde, autonomy of the

editor and the writer, and what is referred to in the study as “symbolic capital”—meaning,

recognition or praise of the work being published.

This study came to the refreshing conclusion that the presence of technology within the

community of literary magazines is not inherently positive or negative, but that editors of these

magazines can simply approach technological advancements with the values they already hold,

and translate them within that medium.

 The study closes with this statement…“When Bourdieu (1992) discussed the possibility

of change in the values that make up a genre, he alluded to two basic possibilities: conservation

and subversion. Bourdieu defined conservation as “perpetuating the current conventions” of a

field (p. 234), and…defined subversion as attempts to transform “the whole space of positions

and the space of corresponding possibilities” in a field (p. 234) …The results of this study

suggest a third possibility, the possibility of intensification.” (Paling et al, 872) In the case of this

study, intensification would refer to the integration of technology within the realm of the literary

magazine, changing fundamental values within literature, including the expected link between

literary genres and print technology.

This conclusion exemplifies only one of the many possible futures of the literary

magazine as it continues to adapt to the digital age. Although these publications have solidified

their presence in the online sphere, the legitimacy of online literature as opposed to print

literature continues to be an issue, as this elitist divide between the two continues to exist. While

many forms of literature have been embraced within the digital format—such as the newspaper,

the magazine, and the novel, the literary magazine is still largely defined by the printed word, as

it represents a very niche subgroup of the literary community—deeply rooted in craft and the

traditions surrounding the beginnings of print literature.

There has been so me notable crossover between the online sphere and the page in this

community—particularly looking at small presses such as Button Poetry—a press devoted to

publishing collections of poetry, most known for featuring spoken-word poetry videos on their

social media accounts of their published artists—one of the most known videos being the poet

Neil Hilborn’s performance of his poem, “OCD”. This video, among others, has circulated far
beyond the echo chamber that is

the online literary community,

yet this kind of circulation is

very rarely seen in the

community of other small

presses and online literary

magazines. Another example of

this integration of literature in technology can be seen in a project which took place in

Melbourne, Australia entitled “Poetry 4 U”—which combined the usage of social media,

Bluetooth technology, and GPS technology to embed poetry within the streets on Melbourne.

Those who participated in this project could use an application on their smartphone to read these

poems. The company that founded this project was called “Transmesh”—a research group

dedicated to research on interactive social networks and augmented reality. Their project was

designed as a way to integrate the sense of a city’s urban, rich artistic culture with the presence

of modern technology, therefore illustrating the ways the cyber-sphere and the “real world” work

in parallel to one another, and are in many ways, connected.

Looking at situations such as this suggests that perhaps, as was suggested in Paling’s

study, that the necessary step to take for the online literary magazine is to adapt their values and

practices to the technology at hand. As all practices designed around the written word have, the

online literary magazine has, and will continue to, adapt to the digital age, if it wishes to continue

existing.
 Works Cited

Berry, Marsha, and Omega Goodwin. “Poetry 4 u: Pinning Poems under/over/through the

Streets.” New Media and Society, vol. 15, no. 6, 2013, pp. 909–929.

Dietz, Laura. “Online versus Print: The reputation of literary fiction magazines.” Short Fiction in

Theory & Practice, vol 4, no. 1, April 2014. pp. 7-21.

Hoffman, Frederick J. The Little Magazine; a History and a Bibliography. 2d ed.] ed., Princeton

University Press, 1947.

Kurowski, Travis. “Some Notes on the History of the Literary Magazine.” Mississippi Review,

vol. 36, no. 3, 2008, pp. 231–243.

Paling, Stephen. “Technology, Genres, and Value Change: Literary Authors and Artistic Use of

Information Technology.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and

Technology, vol. 59, no. 8, 2008, pp. 1238–1251.

Paling, Stephen, and Nilan, Michael. “Technology, Genres, and Value Change: the Case of Little

Magazines.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology,

vol. 57, no. 5, 2006, pp. 862–872.