Middlebrow Modernity: Irish Writers and The New Yorker in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Project Information

IWandTNYinMID20thC

Grant agreement ID: 101060007

DOI

10.3030/101060007

Project terminated on 28 July 2024

EC signature date 30 June 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 30 September 2024

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 175 920,00

Coordinated by

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IWandTNYinMID20thC (Middlebrow Modernity: Irish Writers and The New Yorker in the Mid-Twentieth Century)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main objective of the project to provide a cultural history of Irish writers' connections with The New Yorker in the mid-twentieth century. I will first conduct a comprehensive survey of Irish writers' contributions in The New Yorker from 1940 to 1980. Based on this survey, I will offer fresh readings of the Irish stories within the publishing context of the magazine. This close reading will be guided by the methodologies of periodical studies, the new modernist studies, and middlebrow culture studies. In addition, I will conduct archival research to look at contracts, payments, and editorial letters to establish the financial and editorial relationships between the Irish writers and The New Yorker.

Telling the cultural history of Irish writers' connections with one of the most important American magazines, this project will contribute to a better understanding of the transatlantic dimension of Irish literary production in the mid-twentieth century. This understanding will in turn provide an important historical account to position Irish literature in the global literary marketplace from the twentieth century to our present time.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

I used The New Yorker's digital archive to carefully document Irish writers publishing in the magazine from 1940 to 1980. I also conducted archival research and consulted secondary references (individual writers' bibliographies, memoirs, and collections of letters) to ensure the accuracy of the record. This survey is published as a digital dataset via KU Leuven's digital repository RDR.

Based on this survey, I performed close reading of the Irish texts, using the methodologies and critical frameworks of periodical studies, the new modernist studies, and middlebrow culture studies. This critical engagement of the texts resulted in two journal articles: one in the Irish University Review, the other in the Journal of Modern Periodical Studies. These two journals are leading publications in the fields of Irish studies and periodical studies. I have also submitted an article for an edited volume, the Edinburgh Companion to Irish Literature and Periodical Culture, which is forthcoming in 2025/2026.

I submitted a book proposal, along with a sample chapter, to Liverpool University Press. The proposal is still under review.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Irish writers' remarkable presence in The New Yorker has been noticed by critics, but no extensive research has been done on this topic. This MSCA project will fill in this critical gap. It will also provide an important reference point for further investigation of Irish writers publishing in other American magazines during the mid-twentieth century. In addition to The New Yorker, Irish writers published widely in other American commercial magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post, the Ladies' Home Journal, Esquire, Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Harper's Bazaar, etc. How extensive was this Irish presence in comparison to other foreign national groups? What were the driving forces of Irish writers seeking publishing opportunities in the US? How did the US magazine market shaped the Irish literary production in the mid-century and beyond? These questions await further critical investigation.