About 'The Jabberwock'
'The Jabberwock' was an Edinburgh University-published journal which became one of the major vehicles of the Scottish Literary Renaissance. In its last 'American' number, it also introduced a Scottish audience to the work of the Beat writers and Black Mountain poets, creating the blueprint for the radical small magazines of the 1960s.
Beginnings
On its first appearance in summer 1945, The Jabberwock presented itself as ‘a literary and political medley published by Edinburgh University Liberal Club’. The founding editor, Ian F. (Fergus) Holroyd was a first year law student and secretary of the Liberal Club. During an earlier spell at Edinburgh University, he had served as Junior President of the Student Representative Council, before graduating M.A. in 1943. He was now resuming his studies following war service in the Army and Royal Air Force.
The original stated aim of The Jabberwock was to interest students in liberal politics and to give a voice to student literary talent. After the third issue, however, it underwent a change of management and focus. The journal was no longer published by the Liberal Club but by an independent editorial committee, still headed by Ian F. Holroyd. Its content now reflected Holroyd’s new-found interest in the Scottish Renaissance, the movement spearheaded by Hugh MacDiarmid that promoted a literary, artistic, and political regeneration of Scotland.
The 'Jabberwock' and the Scottish Literary Renaissance
From 1947 onwards, while continuing to feature promising student writers, The Jabberwock published major poems and essays by some of Scotland’s leading 20th-century writers: poets such as Helen B. Cruickshank, Norman MacCaig, Hugh MacDiarmid, Tom Scott, and Sydney Goodsir Smith; novelists such as Neil Gunn and Compton Mackenzie; critics and essayists such as David Craig, David Daiches, F. Marian McNeill, and Kurt Wittig.
Holroyd stood down as editor in May 1948 but, something of an ‘eternal student’, he continued to play a major role in the production of the journal throughout the 1950s. All of the submissions and letters from major Scottish writers in the Jabberwock Archive are addressed to Holroyd, even when he was not formally a member of the editorial committee.
By 1955, The Jabberwock had become the official organ of Edinburgh University Scottish Renaissance Society. Chaired by Ian Holroyd, this body was committed to heightening student awareness of the aims and ideals of the Scottish Renaissance movement. Hugh MacDiarmid agreed to serve as its Honorary President.
At a time when there were few publishing venues for work in Scots, The Jabberwock established itself as one of the major vehicles of the Renaissance movement. In the course of the 1950s, it progressively featured more and more contributions by its leading figures, devoting less space to budding student writers and to university politics.
By 1958, however, the journal’s publisher Calumn MacDonald felt that it was adopting an increasingly insular and embattled tone. He brought in law student Alex Neish as the new editor with a brief to revive The Jabberwock.
The 'American' Special Issue (1959)
Neish believed that the Scottish Renaissance had betrayed its internationalist modernist origins and had lost touch with literary and artistic developments in Europe and the United States. After three issues which largely followed in his predecessors’ footsteps, Neish brought out a special ‘American’ issue in Autumn 1959, which marked a radical departure. This issue sought to introduce a Scottish audience to the work of the Beat writers and the Black Mountain poets. It featured an extract from William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, as yet unpublished in Britain or the USA, and writing by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Neish’s editorial ‘Against the Monstrous Regiment’ lambasted what he saw as the parochialism and insularity of many contemporary Scottish writers and urged them to learn from the energy and experimentation of their American peers.
Neish was careful, however, not to make a complete break with the past. The 'American' issue also featured an article from Hugh MacDiarmid, 'America's Example To Scottish Writers', where he acknowledged his own debt to American writers of an earlier generation. Another Renaissance stalwart, Douglas Young, contributed a further article on ‘Scotland’s Celtic Heritage’. Nonetheless, the ‘American’ edition proved too much for the Scottish Renaissance Society, which withdraw its support for The Jabberwock. The journal ceased publication, and Neish went on to edit the innovative literary journal Sidewalk, which continued to promote the work of the international avant-garde.
Further Reading
Graham Rae, 'Interview with Alex Neish, Editor of Jabberwock and Sidewalk', Reality Studio <http://realitystudio.org/interviews/interview-with-alex-neish-editor-of-jabberwock-and-sidewalk/> [accessed 29 November 2017]
Stewart Smith, 'Literary Magazines and the Avant-Garde in 1960's Scotland' <https://www.academia.edu/31022759/Edinburgh_Little_Magazines_Upgrade_Chapter_July_2010>
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