Here's the idea: what if I could subscribe to the most important modernist reviews and journals for free, but they wouldn't show up for 100 years? With the incredible Modernist Journals Project, I have the chance to simulate that experience.
What I'll do: I'll read the journals on the MJP as they appear, 100 years later, starting on November 18th 2012. November 1912. Then I'll post reviews of what I find. The idea is that I'll have a unique perspective as I experience modernism as it emerges in (postponed) real time. I'm especially interested in modernist poetry--I will probably focus on poetry as it emerges in these many-sided journals and reviews. I'll pay attention to what emerges around poetry so I can understand it in its originial setting, but won't always have time or space to go over everything in detail.
Some of the most important journals are already gone: "The Freewoman" just printed its last issue, but is yet to reincarnate as "The New Freewoman." Ford Madox Heuffer hasn't been in charge of "The English Review" for about two years [this is a correction from an earlier post, I had misunderstood the chronology on the MJP--ed.].
Many of most important journals have yet to begin. In the MJP's database, only a handful of journals are active as of Nov. 1912.
Poetry just published its second issue--I may rewind and do a review of the first issue sometime. The second will be my first review.
The New Age weekly releases a new issue in a few days (Nov 21, 1912), so perhaps it will be my first post. I'm already intimidated by the heft and speed of The New Age. I'm pretty sure I won't be reading all of every New Age, but I'll do my best to keep up with its poetry.
The Crisis, W. E. B. DuBois's "Record of the Darker Races" is in full swing. More on that soon.
Posts on those three soon!
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