Introduction: Little Magazines As Dialogic

Today’s first class was very useful in contextualizing modernity and situating little magazines as counter-culture works of both textual and visual content. I was especially intrigued by how these magazines need to be read differently than books, namely with a focus on readership and active reading. I had not seriously considered that the multiple contributors and multi-media content would offer such a composite work with varying meanings and messages, and that often, these magazines were in competition or dialogue with one another. I now recognize how different these magazines are to books with one author and one message and am eager to research more. I am very interested with how the miscellaneous and dialogic aspect of little magazines comments on the socioeconomic culture of the time and how that influences the kind of diverse artistic renderings that were produced.

For this reason, I am very interested in The Savoy and its tumultuous and reactionary beginnings. In the “Editorial Note,” it is clear that an attempt to establish a distinct identity separate from other artistic movements and publications was one of the magazine’s driving forces. I would like to explore how the dialogic aspect of little magazines functions within the context of modernism and how artists and writers were seeking to produce original and influential works in reaction/conjunction to their peers.