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The Criterion

The Criterion was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939.[1] The Criterion (or the Criterion) was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927–28 it was published monthly. It was created by the poet, dramatist, and literary critic T. S. Eliot who served as its editor for its entire run.[2]

This article is about the British literary magazine. For other uses of criterion or criteria, see Criterion.

Eliot's goal was to make it a literary review dedicated to the maintenance of standards and the reunification of a European intellectual community.[3] Although in a letter to a friend in 1935 George Orwell had said "for pure snootiness it beats anything I have ever seen",[4] writing in 1944 he referred to it as "possibly the best literary paper we have ever had".[5] The first issue of the magazine, of which 600 copies were printed,[6] included Eliot's The Waste Land. In its first year, it received contributions from Luigi Pirandello, Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, E. M. Forster, and W. B. Yeats.[7] Other contributors over the years included Wyndham Lewis, Herbert Read, John Middleton Murry, John Gould Fletcher, W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Hart Crane. Nine contributions in 1924 and 1925 were made, pseudonymously, by Eliot's first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood,[8] who suggested the journal's name.[9] The Criterion became the first English periodical to publish Marcel Proust, Paul Valéry and Jean Cocteau.[7][10]


Lady Rothermere (Mary Lilian Share, the wife of the London newspaper magnate Harold Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere) originally financed the journal, but on reading the first issue, she wrote three letters to Eliot criticizing it, and suggested ideas for later issues, including a story by Katherine Mansfield.[6] After four years she withdrew her support and the magazine was acquired by Eliot's employer, Faber and Gwyer Publishing (later Faber & Faber). From January 1926, when Faber became the publisher, though January 1927 the journal was titled The New Criterion. The issues from May 1927 though March 1928 were titled The Monthly Criterion.[11]


Some of Eliot's other contributions include his short story "On the Eve", commentaries, and poems, including early versions of "The Hollow Men" and "Ash Wednesday".


Together with its rival, Adelphi, edited by John Middleton Murry, it was the leading literary journal of the period.[12] While the former's definitions of literature were based on romanticism allied to liberalism and a subjective approach, Eliot used his publication for expounding his defense of classicism, tradition, and Catholicism.[7] In this contest Eliot emerged a clear victor, in the sense that in the London of the 1930s he had taken the centre of the critical stage.[13]

Vol. I: October 1922 – July 1923

Vol. II: October 1923 – July 1924

Vol. III: October 1924 – July 1925

Vol. IV: January 1926– October 1926

Vol. V: January 1927 – June 1927

Vol. VI: July 1927 – December 1927

Vol. VII: January 1928 – June 1928

Vol. VIII: September 1928 – July 1929

Vol. IX: October 1929 – July 1930

Vol. X: October 1930 – July 1931

Vol. XI: October 1931 – July 1932

Vol. XII: October 1932 - July 1933

Vol. XIII: October 1933 – July 1934

Vol. XIV: October 1934 – July 1935

Vol. XV: October 1935 - July 1936

Vol. XVI: October 1936 – July 1937

Vol. XVII: October 1937 – July 1938

Vol. XVIII: October 1938 – July 1939

The Criterion (in 18 volumes) is hosted at Internet Archive: