Modernism Edited: Marianne Moore and the Dial Magazine

Examines Marianne Moore’s editorship of the modernist magazine, the Dial between 1925 and 1929

As editor of the Dial, Moore wielded considerable cultural authority in the world of arts and letters, yet cultural histories of modernist magazines have largely overlooked her editorial influence. Modernism Edited: Marianne Moore and the Dial Magazine makes visible Moore’s contribution to the production of modernism even as it complicates the concept of editorial agency. It explores the public face of the modernist editor, the image of highbrow distinction circulated by the Dial and embodied by the figure of ‘Miss Moore’. It also examines Moore’s editorial practice as a form of modernist ‘contractility’ drawing on her own poetics to understand more fully the motives underpinning her revisions. It returns to the well-known case of Moore’s radical cuts to Hart Crane’s poem ‘The Wine Menagerie’ as well as instances of collaborative struggle with Williams Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein, Paul Rosenfeld and D. H. Lawrence. In doing so, the book conceptualises editorial labour as a form of creative and critical social practice.

Key Features:

Returns to controversial case of Moore’s revisions to Hart Crane’s ‘The Wine Menagerie’ Uncovers evidence that points to Moore’s revisions to the work of other well-known modernists Conceptualizes editorial agency Develops methodologies for critically engaging with magazine content Uncovers and analyses Moore’s advertisements for the Dial Produces a sustained analysis of Moore’s editorial comments for the Dial Draws on Moore’s poetics to understand her editorial revisions