Transition magazine and the development and transmission of modernism

Our understanding of modern art draws a distinction between the Anglo-American and continental European traditions. These two traditions overlapped in the 1920s and 1930s with the publication of transition magazine, an expatriate American journal based in Paris. Its editor Eugene Jolas was an American raised in Europe who used his little magazine to bring to readers in the United States highlights of literary and other artistic innovations on both sides of the Atlantic. The general purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of transition in the development of modernism from the middle of the 1920s, with an emphasis on the important part played by the magazine in transmitting an international vision of modern art to its English-speaking audience. Chapter One provides a chronological history of transition, framing its story in the context of that which has been written about the perils of producing little magazines. Chapter Two outlines the aesthetic program by which transition came to be edited, exploring whether or not an emphasis on writing prejudiced the presentation of other art forms. Chapter Three examines the issues surrounding translation in transition, and the role of the translator in sharing modern writing across frontiers. Chapter Four explains the importance of James Joyce and Gertrude Stein in transition, outlining the ways in which the former was more appropriate to the program undertaken in the magazine. Chapter Five explores the apolitical foundation of transition, outlining the battles it fought against politically engaged writers between the world wars. Chapter Six assesses the influence of transition in America, tracing the way in which its reception mirrored the general reception of modern art in the United States. Chapter Seven explores the role of the little magazine in the historical writing of modernism, distinguishing between its conservative and avant-gardist impulses.