Categories | Literary magazine |
---|---|
Frequency | Monthly |
Founder | Thomas Willis White |
First issue | August 1834 |
Final issue | June 1864 |
Country | United States |
Based in | Richmond, Virginia |
Language | English |
The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 to June 1864, and from 1939 to 1945. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation thereof and included poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, and historical notes. It was founded by Thomas Willis White, who served as publisher and occasional editor until his death, in 1843.
White hired Edgar Allan Poe in 1835 as a staff writer and critic. Others involved with the periodical included Matthew Fontaine Maury and Maury's kinsman Benjamin Blake Minor. Publication ended in June 1864, in part because of Richmond's involvement in the American Civil War, and was revived from 1939–1945. [1] [2]
The Southern Literary Messenger first appeared in August 1834 with Thomas Willis White (1788–1843) as publisher. In the inaugural issue, he stated that his aim was "to stimulate the pride and genius of the south, and awaken from its long slumber the literary exertion of this portion of our country." [3] That was in reference to the fact that at the time, most magazines were published in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia.
Edgar Allan Poe served as an editor for a time (see below). After his departure, White resumed editorial duties before he hired Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury USN as editor from 1840 to 1843. Upon White's death in 1843, Benjamin Blake Minor served as editor and publisher from August 1843 to October 1847.
The loss of writing and subscriptions led to the journal's cancellation in June 1864. As was explained editorially in the last issue, the press in Richmond and the town in general had been thrown into considerable disarray by the American Civil War.
The Southern Literary Messenger featured poems, fiction, nonfiction, translations, reviews, legal articles, and Virginia historical notes. Each issue carried the subtitle "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation of it. The periodical was published approximately monthly, and it initially had subscribed mostly readers in the North but it picked up readers in the South and writers over time as more Southerners wrote articles to be published, as was stated in an 1840 issue of the Messenger. James E. Heath, the first editor of the Southern Literary Messenger wrote:
From our Northern and Eastern friends we have received more complimentary notices than from any of our Southern brethren without the limits of our own State. We say this not in a reproachful spirit, but in a somewhat sad conviction of mind, that we who live on the sunny side of Mason and Dixon's line are not yet sufficiently inspired with a sense of importance of maintaining our just rights, or rather our proper representation in the Republic of Letters.
In February 1861, the Southern Literary Messenger defended the secession movement by publishing an article by William H. Holcombe, a doctor, entitled "The Alternative: A Separate Nationality, or the Africanization of the South."
Edgar Allan Poe was hired as a staff writer and critic in August 1835, possibly based on a recommendation to White from John Pendleton Kennedy.
Just a month later, White fired Poe, allegedly for his drinking habits, but rehired him in October. By December, Poe was made editor of the journal. While working for the Messenger, Poe published 37 reviews of American and foreign books and periodicals, cementing his place as a premier critic in the United States. [4]
Poe was proud of his accomplishments with the journal and may have aided in a large jump in subscribers. In a letter years later, in 1844, Poe wrote that he began working when the Messenger had about 700 subscribers and left when it had 5,500 paying subscribers.
Besides criticism, Poe published many first printings of his now famous works in the Messenger, including the controversial "Berenice", "Morella" and, in installments, parts of his only novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket . Poe left the magazine with the January 1837 issue but still contributed works even after White's death.
Other American journals that Edgar Allan Poe was involved with include:
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living by writing alone, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career.
Frances Sargent Osgood was an American poet and one of the most popular women writers during her time. Nicknamed "Fanny", she was also famous for her exchange of romantic poems with Edgar Allan Poe.
Nathaniel Parker Willis, also known as N. P. Willis, was an American writer, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day. His brother was the composer Richard Storrs Willis and his sister Sara wrote under the name Fanny Fern. Harriet Jacobs wrote her autobiography while being employed as his children's nurse.
Virginia Eliza Poe was the wife of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The couple were first cousins and publicly married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27. Biographers disagree as to the nature of the couple's relationship. Though their marriage was loving, some biographers suggest they viewed one another more like a brother and sister. In January 1842, she contracted tuberculosis, growing worse for five years until she died of the disease at the age of 24 in the family's cottage, at that time outside New York City.
Graham's Magazine was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, Graham's Magazine of Literature and Art, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, and Graham's Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Romance, Art, and Fashion.
The Stylus, originally intended to be named The Penn, was a would-be periodical owned and edited by Edgar Allan Poe. It had long been a dream of Poe to establish an American journal with very high standards in order to elevate the literature of the time. Despite attempts at signing up subscribers and finding financial backers and contributors, the journal never came to be.
Politian (1835) is the only play known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe, composed in 1835, but never completed.
The Broadway Journal was a short-lived New York City-based newspaper founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844 and was published from January 1845 to January 1846. In its first year, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan Poe, becoming the only periodical he ever owned, though it failed after only a few months under his leadership.
This article lists all known poems by American author and critic Edgar Allan Poe, listed alphabetically with the date of their authorship in parentheses.
Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and American Monthly Review, was a literary publication published in Philadelphia from 1837 to 1840. Its founder was William Evans Burton, an English-born immigrant to the United States who also managed a theatre and was a minor actor. Edgar Allan Poe was an editor and contributor in 1839–40.
The American Review, alternatively known as The American Review: A Whig Journal and The American Whig Review, was a New York City-based monthly periodical that published from 1844 to 1852. Published by Wiley and Putnam, it was edited by George H. Colton, and after his death, beginning with Volume 7, by James Davenport Whelpley. As of Volume 10, July 1849, the proprietors of the journal were Whelpley and John Priestly. The American Review was allied to the Whig Party
Thomas Dunn English was an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey who represented the state's 6th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895. He was also a published author and songwriter, who had a bitter feud with Edgar Allan Poe. Along with Waitman T. Barbe and Danske Dandridge, English was considered a major West Virginia poet of the mid 19th century.
Benjamin Blake Minor was an American writer, educator, legal scholar, and fourth President of the University of Missouri, from 1860 to 1862. Today, he is most known as the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. He also compiled the second edition of the reports of the decisions of George Wythe, published in 1852.
Epes Sargent was an American editor, poet and playwright.
George Pope Morris was an American editor, poet, and songwriter.
The works of American author Edgar Allan Poe include many poems, short stories, and one novel. His fiction spans multiple genres, including horror fiction, adventure, science fiction, and detective fiction, a genre he is credited with inventing. These works are generally considered part of the Dark romanticism movement, a literary reaction to Transcendentalism. Poe's writing reflects his literary theories: he disagreed with didacticism and allegory. Meaning in literature, he said in his criticism, should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface; works whose meanings are too obvious cease to be art. Poe pursued originality in his works, and disliked proverbs. He often included elements of popular pseudosciences such as phrenology and physiognomy. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. Though known as a masterly practitioner of Gothic fiction, Poe did not invent the genre; he was following a long-standing popular tradition.
John Reuben Thompson was an American poet, journalist, editor and publisher.
The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe is a 1942 American drama film directed by Harry Lachman, starring Linda Darnell and Shepperd Strudwick. The film is a cinematic biography of Edgar Allan Poe that examines his romantic relationships with Sarah Elmira Royster and Virginia Clemm. The film presents a sympathetic and positive outline of Poe's life and career.
John Moncure Daniel was the US minister to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1854-1861. However, he is best known for his role as the executive editor of the Richmond Examiner, one of the chief newspapers of the Confederate States of America. Editorials written by Daniel and his editorial board have served as source materials for historians of the American Civil War.
Thomas Willis White (1788–1843) was an American printer and publisher who founded the Southern Literary Messenger. He was born in Williamsburg, Virginia. He became an apprentice at the Virginia Federalist at the age of eleven. Later he gained work as a composer in Norfolk, then moved to Philadelphia and Boston to learn the printing and publishing business. In 1834 he founded the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia, which became the most prominent literary periodical published in the south. Edgar Allan Poe wrote for the periodical as well as critiquing the work of others and editing the journal.