The Definitive Editor: Alfred Kreymborg and the Others Magazine-Anthology Duo

Abstract

This article examines two intrinsically linked periodical publications: Others: A Magazine of the New Verse (1915–1919) and Others: An Anthology of the New Verse (1916–1920) both edited by Alfred Kreymborg. To date, scholarship on the publications has focused either on the magazine or, to a lesser extent, on the anthology, but never on the dynamic between the two publications. The article begins by considering the way both publications challenged the boundaries of medial form in an effort to better characterize the respective functions of the magazine and the anthology in the Others dynamic. It demonstrates how the anthology, an annual publication, allowed Kreymborg to reclaim editorial agency over the Others brand, facilitating a secondary round of editing of the magazine's contents. By creating a secondary selection of poems increasingly collated by guest editors, Kreymborg was able to further shape the representation of the duo. The restoration of the Others anthology to the history of the Others project sheds new light on key contributors and resultantly requires us to further nuance our understanding of the Others magazine as a largely inclusive project. In uncovering the role the Others anthology played in the Others dynamic, this article ultimately underscores the need to include the serially published modernist anthology in our understanding of the diverse and interrelated modernist media ecology.