1. The Dial 1840—1844 Quarterly associated with New England Transcendentalists –Emerson, Fuller, Thoreau 1880—1919 Fortnightly social journal and literary review based in Chicago 1919—Scofield Thayer and James Sibley Watson purchase 73% of the shares 1920—1929 Monthly literary review based in New York –During this time, Thayer will finance and oversee production –Features art, poetry, short stories, serialized novels, book reviews, theater reviews, music reviews –Marriage of old and new November, 1922

2. Art Featured in The Dial Pablo Picasso Three Nude Women by the Sea June 1924 Pablo Picasso Two Nude Women by the Sea February 1924 Wyndham Lewis Ezra Pound September 1920

3. Scofield Thayer (1890—1982) His father made a fortune in the wool industry in Massachusetts Uncle Ernest Thayer wrote “Casey at the Bat” At Harvard was on the board of The Harvard Monthly Graduated Harvard in 1913 Married Elaine Orr in 1916 Funded The Dial from 1920—1929 Editor of The Dial from 1920—1926 Assigned Marianne Moore editor in 1926 Diagnosed as paranoid in 1927 1921 Passport Photo

4. The Dial Award Award given to one young American writer $2,000.00 “In no sense a prize” (Thayer) Intended to offer funds to authors who couldn’t continue their work without financial support Complete list of winners: 1921: Sherwood Anderson1925: E.E. Cummings 1922: T.S. Eliot1926: William Carlos Williams 1923: Van Wyck Brooks1927: Ezra Pound 1924: Marianne Moore1928: Kenneth Burke William Carlos Williams’ Portrait for The Dial Award. 1926

5. Business and Popularity Profitability –1920—1929 = Never a profit –1920: $84,000 deficit –1922: $64,000 deficit –1924: $40,000 deficit Printing runs –1922—14,500 copies per month 1922 December issue saw the pinnacle: 18,000 copies –1923—approximately 14,000 copies per month –1925—down to 10,000 per month –1925—1929—4,000 per month

6. T. S. Eliot November, 1922, issue of The Dial is its most famous First piece = Eliot’s “The Waste Land” –Published without its notes –Received regular rate of $10.00 per page –Promised the 1922 Dial Award in return for the poem –The poem appeared simultaneously in Eliot’s own The Criterion –Gave some publicity to The Dial, but impact was short- lived

7. Featured Poets E.E. Cummings –The Dial is credited for “discovering” him –1920: “Buffalo Bill’s defunct,” “when god lets my body be” T. S. Eliot –The Dial published “The Hollow Men” and “The Waste Land” Amy Lowell –Translation of “Songs of the Pueblo Indians” 1920 –Considered a traditionalist Marianne Moore –“New York,” “Silence” –Editor, wrote commentary and reviews Ezra Pound –Portions of “The Cantos” –Dial Correspondent from Paris Wallace Stevens –“Sea Surface Full of Clouds” Elinor Wylie –Rejected William Carlos Williams –“Paterson” in 1927 –Regular contributor Edna St. Vincent Millay –In early period (1918) –Would not become regular contributor Pablo Picasso Mother and Child March 1923

8. Ernest Hemingway Submitted poetry and short stories on at least three occasions Rejected and not invited to submit again Briefly mentions The Dial in a 1925 letter to F.Scott Fitzgerald, in which Hemingway discusses his vision of heaven: Hemingway—1929 “To me heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two Barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on 9 different floors and one house would be fitted up with special copies of The Dial printed on soft tissue and kept in the toilets on every floor….” (Rpt. In Osgood 124—25)

9. Two Questions Q. What literary movement was showcased in the twentieth century version of The Dial? A.Modernism *********** Q. In what year did Margaret Fuller and other transcendentalists first publish the journal? A. 1840 Gaston Lachaise Scofield Thayer 1926

10. Works Consulted “Dial, the.” Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1995. “E. E. Cummings.” www.hrc.utexas.edu. 4 Feb 2007 Joost, Nicholas. Scofield Thayer and The Dial: An Illustrated History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University, 1964. Osgood, Charles, ed. Funny Letters from Famous People. New York: Broadway Books, 2003. “Scofield Thayer.” www.Powys-lannion.net. 4 Feb 2007 http://www.powys-lannion.net/Powys/America/Thayer.htm “The Dial Magazine.” www.virtualclemson.edu. 4 Feb 2007