Search

From the late 1890s onwards, Donegal writer Seumas MacManus was a frequent contributor to leading American periodicals and was often listed alongside noted American local colour writers. Moreover, the first books he published in America were immediately successful. MacManus rooted his work explicitly in Donegal and its seanchaí tradition, and in the United States in particular his works were positioned as representative of an authentic Celticity. But why did MacManus's work translate so readily to the American market? And what were the contexts that engendered the success of his stories and books? Using reviews, profiles, promotional materials, letters, and MacManus's self-presentations, this article explores how his work contributed to the construction and commodification of a transatlantic sense of Irishness rooted in local colour conventions. It concludes that the American reception of his work demonstrates how apparently local formations of regional identity garnered transatlantic attention not only as a function of their exoticness, but also as a result of the instrumentalisation of domestic literary conventions that generated conceptual links between localness and universality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the United States. This novel had a huge impact on American society, becoming the second most popular book after the Bible. The author received a Pulitzer prize for it and many other honors and awards. However, a new book from Harper Lee had to wait longer than half a century. Go Set a Watchman was a sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird, but chronologically it was created first. Both novels were the focus of interest of domestic researchers, while other works by Harper Lee still remain little-known and unexplored in Russian literary studies. Thе paper introduces all works ever published by Harper Lee in USA since 1937 to 2006, and gives the list of Lee's manuscripts which could be discovered in the future. The bibliographic descriptions are arranged in chronological order and contain fragments from unknown works by Harper Lee. The presented list gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the content of “small forms” in which the author worked throughout her life. These are essays, parodies, one-act plays, poems, satirical columns, open letters, etc. The paper is dedicated to the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's first novel.

This essay examines phrenological tools as instruments of matchmaking and focuses on the personal ad as a site for producing and exchanging knowledge about individuals. It shows how cranial measurement produced character profiles for the purpose of judging suitable marriage partners and how users integrated those profiles into personal advertisements published in the Water-Cure Journal. A popular but contested science of the mind, phrenology maintained that one could truly know others and oneself through measuring "organs" of the mind via protrusions on the skull. While much has been written about phrenology, less attention has been paid to its focus on marriage and mating and to how users enrolled phrenology to find and judge the viability of a mate. Focused on the American context in the 1850s, this essay will show that notions of race and gender, heredity, and marital "relations" were embedded in the shorthand of phrenological measurements and personal ads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article chronicles the visual history of the American Agriculturist (1842-51; 1853- present; New York City), the first farming periodical in the United States to widely embrace artistic engravings. Long recognized as one of the most popular and influential periodicals in the mid-nineteenth-century United States, the Agriculturist's efforts to cultivate rural artistic taste has largely escaped investigation. This article recounts the development of the farming journal's interest in art-reproductions of paintings, original compositions, and other pictorial images-and explores its careful positioning as a mediator between the spheres of practical agriculture and fine art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue probes our definitions and understandings of both the ‘radical’ and the ‘American’ in North American print and periodical culture. As many of the subsequent papers demonstrate, notions of radicalism as expressed in American periodicals often necessitate(d) looking beyond the nation state. Similarly, this issue highlights the fluidity of ‘radicalism’ as a temporal and technological concept; relatable not only to literary content, but also to graphic design, editorial control, foreign language use, subscription policies, and other aspects of production, dissemination and reception. Thematically and conceptually diverse, the articles collated here provide a judicious intervention into the developing field of periodical studies.

This paper explores the relationship between literary modernism and mainstream culture within a little-studied American magazine, Life (New York, 1884-1936). It does so by looking at three ways in which Life presented modernism to its readers: by quoting modernist writing, and, above all, by satirizing modernist art, and by offering didactic explanations of modernist art and literature. By reconsidering some of the long-established divisions between high and low culture, and between ‘little’ and ‘bigger’ magazines, this paper contributes to a better understanding of what modernism was and meant. It also suggests that the double agenda observed in Life – both satirical and didactic – might be a way of defining middlebrow magazines.

The article presents a content analysis of three American periodicals which represent a conservative political point of view. It investigates the editorial stances which they have taken on the issues of sex, gambling and drugs. It focuses on the question of whether these conservatives tend to support the principle of liberty, or whether they favor government programs to ban or regulate such activities. The periodicals analyzed are the "National Review," the "Weekly Standard," the "American Spectator," and "American Enterprise." Of these, the "National Review" was found to take the side of liberty against government intervention more often than the others, which typically advocated state control of such activities.

The article focuses on the monthly women's magazine "The Delineator," especially during the period from the 1890s to the 1920s while the magazine was under the leadership of editor Charles Dwyer and his successors including Theodore Dreiser and William Hard. The magazine during this period was notable for its representation of the "New Woman" who enjoyed sports such as golf, archery, and gymnastics, appreciated new technologies such as automobiles, and embraced social reform. The article also discusses Ebenezer Butterick, founder of the magazine and Butterick Publishing Company; the Settlement movement; author Helen Winslow's social themes, and women's suffrage.

The article considers how editors of 19th century periodical would have illustrations created for their magazines prior to commissioning the writing of accompanying text. The author focuses particularly on illustrated monthly magazines published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania such as "Godey's," Graham's," "Peterson's," and "Sartain's Union." The author argues that the practice of writing "illustrations" for etchings was part of the literary milieu of the era and explores the editorial policies which awarded such commissions. The writings and careers of authors Henry William Herbert and Caroline Kirkland are also considered.

The article presents a case study on the use of historical periodical databases in revising previous research. According to the author, historical periodicals can be found on web sites where specific subject areas are the focus. Researchers can now access the entire article by choosing the keywords using the American Periodical Series Online published in 1741 which includes seven million pages of content. Also, there are also databases that are not limited to libraries and research institutions.

The article presents guidelines for authors who intend to submit their manuscripts to the periodical "Plant and Soil." The periodical publishes original research papers and solicited review articles that deal with the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, are of general interest, and provide a clear mechanistic component. "Plant and Soil" provides publication of full-length papers which describe the results of original research. The periodical will publish special issues containing a collection of articles on a theme considered by the editors to be of general interest to the readers.

The article reports that new editors and a more ambitious agenda for the periodical "American Periodicals," represent a new phase for the Research Society for American Periodicals, providing the society's members the opportunity to reflect on its past and future. Identifying American periodicals as a distinct research area presupposes a number of potentially controversial claims that can give excitement and direction to "American Periodicals," under its new editors. Most obvious is the assumption that serial publications developed in the United States differ in kind, historically and editorially, from those of other nations. The chief problem with applying a holistic approach to periodicals, however, is the potential incoherence among their contents. Many journals begin by serving the publication needs of their members, but journals serve their core members best by broadening their readership and earning a reputation for excellence, innovation, and interest beyond their professional niche. Periodicals capture moments in time and document cultural processes as they unfold.

The article focuses on the presence of the concept of aging in sociological research. During the 20th century, the proportion of Swedes, who are 65 years and older, more than doubled, and the median age in the population increased, from 23 years to 39 years. The large demographical change behind this is the increase of the average lifetime. The average lifetime has never been higher than it is today, and it has increased by closer to 30 years during the 20th century. From 2003-2004 only, the average lifetime for men was increased by almost half a year. The image of the positive ageing, and retirement as a new active leisure, grew forth after the Second World War at a time that was characterized in the West by economic growth. A review of several Nordic, British and American periodicals shows that, during the years 1980-2002 extremely few articles were displayed which reflected the concept of aging society.

Presents the author index for the volume 42, 2005 issues of "The Plant Journal".

The article presents abstracts from panels sponsored by the research society for American Periodicals at the American Literature Association, May 2004. Some of the abstracts are: "Modernism and the Yellow Journalism"; "From Grassroots to Massroots: Third Wave Feminism, Global Activism, and Marie Claire"; " Rooting Out the Miserable Monthlies: The Una and the Antebellum Woman's Rights Movement"; "The Daily Alta's Unladylike Correspondent: Elizabeth Stoddard's Engagement with the Public Sphere," etc.

Pays tribute to Walter Emil Rast. Personal background; Education; Career in teaching; Work in the field of archaeology; Accomplishments as editor of the "Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research"; Rast's chairmanship of the Committee on Archaeological Policy; Published works.

The article lists several resources related to the teaching of American periodicals including "Breathing New Life into Research Papers," by George T. Blakey, "Online News," by Susan Brooks-Young and "Special Edition: Using Newspapers in the Classroom," by Mackie Rhodes.

Information about several topics discussed at the "America at Century's End, 1890-1900" seminar at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania is presented. Topics include the role of American periodicals in examining the American literary and cultural history. The seminar featured several novels of various authors as well as nineteenth century periodicals.

An essay is presented on the impact of periodicals in the nineteenth-century American literature in the U.S. It cites the integration of historical periodicals in the classroom and the publication of American novels and short stories in American periodicals. Moreover, the role of periodical research in the nineteenth-century American literature is explored.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of teaching American periodicals.

The article lists publications on American periodicals from 1998-2001, including the book "Gone: The Last Days of the New Yorker," by Renata Adler, the dissertation "Domestic Violence in the Popular Discourse: A Victim-Centered Problem," by Nancy Sharon Berns, and the article "To Watch the Faces of the Poor," by Charles Cunningham.