THE TEXT/TECH PAPERS

The Graphic – Literary Criticism and Culture (1904-1918)

Anthology

The Graphic - Literary Criticism and Culture (1904-1918) gathers material from The Graphic into a book that can stand on its own. It brings together 104 entries, beginning with Character Sketches: Charles F. Lummis by Junius, Los Angeles Magazine Writers, and Henry James in Los Angeles. The selection turns a large run of periodical material into something a reader can enter in an afternoon and return to over time. It is not meant to replace the journal’s history. Instead, it offers a clear doorway: representative writing, useful names, and enough context to connect each piece with the publication that first carried it.

The Graphic was never solely a literary magazine. Published in Los Angeles as an illustrated weekly of critical comment, it moved briskly among politics, society, theater, music, civic affairs, clubs, business, automobiles, and books. That miscellany is precisely what makes its literary record valuable. Literature appears not in a protected enclave but inside the public life of a young metropolis: a subject for editorial argument, a form of civic ambition, a social event, and a way of deciding what kind of cultural city Los Angeles might become. The pieces gathered here show criticism operating before the rise of a large local university establishment or a specialized book-review culture. Editors, club members, librarians, actors, lecturers, newspaper critics, booksellers, and poets all participate in making literary value. The earliest selections are strongly local. Profiles of Charles F. Lummis and Idah Meacham Strobridge illuminate two contrasting institutions: the…. The introduction, contents, and editorial notes are there to help, but the writing remains at the center. Readers can move straight through the book, follow a favorite author, or begin with a title that looks inviting. Each route reveals a slightly different anthology, which is one reason the volume can support both a quick first visit and a slower return.

The order offers its own route. Early entries establish the first group of voices; near the middle, John S. McGroarty’s Wander Songs by S. T. C changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Suspended Judgments and Rodmoor by R. B. S. Reading in order reveals echoes between pieces, while browsing by title or author makes the book useful for quick discovery. Neither approach requires a scholarly guide. The anthology works best when a familiar name leads toward an unfamiliar one, or when a poem encountered by chance becomes the reason to explore another issue or another book.

Among the people represented are Junius, Constance Skinner and others, J. M. D, M. H. C, S. T. C, C. C. Parker, Bruce Bliven, R. H. C, Randolph Bartlett, and David Gemmell Baillie, with 10 more contributors included elsewhere in the book. The catalog connects their work with Los Angeles literary culture, American poetry, Little magazines, California, Desert, and War. These terms help with searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. Brian Kim Stefans prepared the volume for Text/Tech Journals, with Los Angeles, California given as its place of publication. The aim is simple: bring scattered material together, identify it clearly, and let readers make their own connections.

A good first route is to read Character Sketches: Charles F. Lummis by Junius, turn next to John S. McGroarty’s Wander Songs by S. T. C, and then try Suspended Judgments and Rodmoor by R. B. S. From there, the contents and contributor list can guide a more personal path. Reader’s edition: 306 PDF pages. The digital reading edition uses a consistent page size and clear typography so that the material can be read on screen or downloaded without losing its order. Source scans used during preparation remain private and are not part of the public upload. What the reader receives is the finished editorial volume: a generous introduction to the journal, a useful reference, and an invitation to keep following the writers who appear in its pages.

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Contributors
Publication details
Journal
The Graphic
Volume
Not applicable
Issue number
Not applicable
Issue date
2026
Editor
Brian Kim Stefans
Publisher
Text/Tech Journals
Place of publication
Los Angeles, California
Language
English
Pagination
Reader’s edition: 306 PDF pages.
Record ID
ttj-the-graphic-literary-criticism-and-culture-1904-1918
Full contents
  • Character Sketches: Charles F. Lummis — Junius [Contribution, p. 20]
  • Los Angeles Magazine Writers [Contribution, p. 23]
  • Henry James in Los Angeles [Contribution, p. 24]
  • Charles F. Lummis and the Public Library [Contribution, p. 28]
  • Local Stylists and the Art of Dramatic Criticism — Constance Skinner and others [Essay, p. 30]
  • Are Women’s Clubs Worth While? [Contribution, p. 38]
  • The Literary Matinee Infection [Contribution, p. 41]
  • Idols of Education [Contribution, p. 45]
  • Poets’ Corner at the Expositions [Contribution, p. 46]
  • Through Ramona’s Country [Contribution, p. 48]
  • Mission Tales in the Days of the Dons [Contribution, p. 51]
  • California Classics: Charles Warren Stoddard [Contribution, p. 53]
  • Two Years Before the Mast [Contribution, p. 54]
  • The Dons of the Old Pueblo [Contribution, p. 56]
  • Tales of California Yesterdays [Contribution, p. 57]
  • Edmund Mitchell’s Call of the Bells — J. M. D [Contribution, p. 58]
  • On Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth [Contribution, p. 60]
  • An English Estimate of H. G. Wells’s Latest Work [Contribution, p. 63]
  • Almost a Great Book: Together — M. H. C [Contribution, p. 65]
  • A Little Brother of the Rich [Contribution, p. 68]
  • Ganton & Co — S. T. C [Contribution, p. 71]
  • The Testing of Diana Mallory — C. C. Parker [Contribution, p. 76]
  • Holy Orders [Contribution, p. 78]
  • The Trail of the Lonesome Pine [Contribution, p. 81]
  • The Hermit and the Wild Woman [Contribution, p. 83]
  • James Branch Cabell’s The Cords of Vanity [Contribution, p. 86]
  • Martin Eden [Contribution, p. 87]
  • It Never Can Happen Again [Contribution, p. 89]
  • The Old Wives’ Tale [Contribution, p. 91]
  • The Glimpse [Contribution, p. 93]
  • The Song of Songs [Contribution, p. 95]
  • Gertrude Atherton’s Tower of Ivory [Contribution, p. 97]
  • Crime and Punishment [Contribution, p. 100]
  • The Revolt of the Angels [Contribution, p. 102]
  • Jack London’s The Star Rover [Contribution, p. 104]
  • Mr. Britling Sees It Through — Bruce Bliven [Contribution, p. 105]
  • The Good Gray Critic: William Winter — R. H. C [Contribution, p. 107]
  • Stephen Phillips and The Sin of David — R. H. C [Contribution, p. 109]
  • Other Days [Contribution, p. 112]
  • Richard Mansfield — S. T. C [Contribution, p. 117]
  • The Great Divide [Contribution, p. 123]
  • John Synge’s Plays — M. H. C [Drama, p. 124]
  • Luke North’s The White Flame [Contribution, p. 126]
  • The Life and Art of Richard Mansfield — S. T. C [Contribution, p. 128]
  • Yeats, the World Musician of the Drama — Randolph Bartlett [Drama, p. 132]
  • Literary Drama and Jelf’s [Drama, p. 139]
  • Renaissance of Romance in Modern Drama — Randolph Bartlett [Drama, p. 141]
  • Hauptmann, Greatest Dramatist of a Generation [Drama, p. 146]
  • Lady Gregory and the Celtic Revival — David Gemmell Baillie [Contribution, p. 152]
  • Somber Play Conceals Sermon [Drama, p. 157]
  • Play Production in America [Drama, p. 158]
  • Russell Judson Waters—Poet [Contribution, p. 159]
  • John S. McGroarty’s Wander Songs — S. T. C [Contribution, p. 161]
  • The Great Fight [Contribution, p. 163]
  • Poets and Poetry of California, 1852–1904 — S. T. C [Contribution, p. 165]
  • An Introduction to Poetry [Contribution, p. 177]
  • In Behalf of Poets and Poetry [Contribution, p. 179]
  • George Rice Carpenter’s Walt Whitman [Contribution, p. 182]
  • Browsings in an Old Book Shop: Early Ballads [Contribution, p. 185]
  • Ida Frances Anderson’s Love’s Garden and Other Verses [Contribution, p. 187]
  • William Sharp’s Songs and Poems [Contribution, p. 188]
  • Poe and His Poetry — S. T. C [Contribution, p. 190]
  • True Mission of Our Poets — The Editors [Contribution, p. 192]
  • Madge Morris Wagner’s The Lure of the Desert [Contribution, p. 194]
  • Contemporary Poetry Survey [Contribution, p. 197]
  • Life and Edgar Lee Masters, with Notes on Poetry — Marguerite Wilkinson [Essay, p. 201]
  • Imagists of Today and Notes on Poetry — Eunice Tietjens [Essay, p. 206]
  • With the Passing of Poetic License and Thoughts on Robert Frost [Contribution, p. 212]
  • Primitive Chanting of Poetry [Contribution, p. 216]
  • Rhyme and Contemporary Poets — Marguerite O. B. Wilkinson [Contribution, p. 220]
  • Poetry’s Prize Winners [Contribution, p. 225]
  • Wanted—A Title — Harry B. Kennon [Contribution, p. 228]
  • Concerning Rabindranath Tagore and Notes on Poetry — Marguerite Wilkinson [Essay, p. 234]
  • Poets at Dinner — Marguerite Wilkinson [Contribution, p. 240]
  • Review Poetry: The Rhythms of Prose — Marguerite Wilkinson [Review, p. 242]
  • Sarojini Naidu’s The Broken Wing [Contribution, p. 244]
  • De Profundis [Contribution, p. 245]
  • Some Authors I Have Known [Contribution, p. 247]
  • The Saving of Bret Harte [Contribution, p. 249]
  • On Shakespearean Authorship — George A. Dobinson [Contribution, p. 250]
  • Josiah Flynt’s My Life — M. H. C [Contribution, p. 253]
  • Sidelights on Dr. Richard Garnett [Contribution, p. 256]
  • Chesterton’s George Bernard Shaw — M. H. G [Contribution, p. 260]
  • Some Aspects of Thackeray [Contribution, p. 262]
  • Samuel Johnson and His Dictionary — John T. Bramhall [Contribution, p. 264]
  • World of Letters the Poorer — The Editors [Contribution, p. 271]
  • Goodbye, ‘Jim!’ — The Editors [Contribution, p. 273]
  • Brooke’s Elizabethan Drama [Drama, p. 275]
  • Letters and Diary of Alan Seeger [Contribution, p. 277]
  • Twentieth Century Frivolity [Contribution, p. 278]
  • Books and Their Reading — R. H. Hay Chapman [Review, p. 280]
  • Over Bemerton’s — M. H. C [Contribution, p. 284]
  • Materials and Methods of Fiction [Fiction, p. 286]
  • Cemeteries of Dead Reputations [Contribution, p. 287]
  • Fairy Tales from the Old French [Contribution, p. 289]
  • Joy of the Mosher Books [Contribution, p. 291]
  • Andersen’s Fairy Tales Again [Contribution, p. 292]
  • The Joy of Gardens [Contribution, p. 294]
  • Chesterton’s A Miscellany of Men and the Return of the Essay [Essay, p. 296]
  • Criticism in Its Highest Form [Essay, p. 298]
  • The Year’s Ten Best Books [Contribution, p. 300]
  • Aesop’s Fables in a New Edition [Contribution, p. 302]
  • The Creative Will — J. M. D [Contribution, p. 303]
  • Suspended Judgments and Rodmoor — R. B. S [Contribution, p. 304]
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Copyright remains with the respective authors, artists, publisher, or successors.

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Rights in the individual contributions and the periodical compilation have not been fully resolved.

*The Graphic - Literary Criticism and Culture (1904-1918)*. Text/Tech Journals, digital edition, 2026.