''The Savoy'' was a magazine of literature, art, and criticism published in eight numbers from January to December 1896 in London. It featured work by authors such as

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, Parody, parodist and Caricature, caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic ...

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not spe ...

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the ...

and . Only eight issues of the magazine were published: two quarterly (January, April) and six monthly (July-December). The publisher was

Leonard Smithers Leonard Charles Smithers (19 December 1861 – 19 December 1907) was a London bookseller and publisher associated with the Decadent movement. Biography Born in Sheffield, Smithers worked as a solicitor, qualifying in 1884,Jon R. Godsall, ''T ...

, a controversial friend of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

who was also known as a pornographer. Among other publications by Smithers were rare erotic works and unique items such as books bound in human skin.

History

''The Savoy'' was founded as a competitor to ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...

'' and to provide work for members of the

Decadent movement The Decadent movement (Fr. ''décadence'', “decay”) was a late-19th-century artistic and literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality. The Decadent movement first flourishe ...

as it began to decline with the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde. The magazine was started by Leonard Smithers, writer

Arthur Symons Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor. Life Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 188 ...

(The Symbolist Movement In Literature) and artist

. It is considered a little magazine, and was described as "a manifesto in revolt against Victorian materialism". The name was inspired by the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August ...

, a glamorous hotel in London which opened in 1889 and became infamous for being the location for Oscar Wilde's trysts. Hubert Crackanthorpe tried to convince Grant Richards to join him in buying ''The Savoy'' but the plan never came to fruition. The magazine folded in December 1896 with its eighth issue. In the final issue, Symons considered its failure:

Content

Symons attempted to distance the magazine from the Decadent movement and the controversy surrounding Wilde by writing, "We are not Realists, or Romanticists, or Decadents" in his editorial note in the first issue. However, he went on to write, "For us, all art is good which is good art", which is very similar to the Decadent creed of "art for art's sake." Yeats, who contributed several pieces to the magazine, described its fellow writers as "outlaws" and believed that the magazine waged "warfare on the British public at a time when we had all against us". Poet

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

praised the magazine and Symons: "For me, Symons is appealing since, for many years, I was enthused with his efforts for the sake of Beauty in his unforgettable magazine, ''Savoy'', the very refined intellectual magazine."LoDato, Rosemary C. ''Beyond the Glitter: The Language of Gems in Modernista Writers Rubén Darío, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, and José Asunción Silva''. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1999: 69.

References

External links

* *
The Savoy
' at Archive.org *
The Savoy
' at

Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savoy 1896 establishments in the United Kingdom 1896 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1896 Magazines disestablished in 1896

History

Content

See also

References

External links