A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature

Morgan, founder of the Chicago Review of Books, debuts with a comprehensive biography of Margaret C. Anderson (1886–1973), founder of the early-20th-century avant-garde magazine The Little Review. Following her privileged upbringing in Indiana, Anderson’s drive for “self-expression” took her to Chicago, where she immersed herself in the burgeoning literary scene. Launched in 1914, The Little Review was initially intended as “a monthly magazine of criticism,” but it eventually published some of the era’s biggest experimental writers, including Djuna Barnes, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound. Moving to New York and later Paris, Anderson remained staunchly dedicated to her editorial vision, even when it risked alienating her readership, such as with editorials in support of anarchist Emma Goldman and the serialization of James Joyce’s Ulysses. The latter, deemed obscene, led to criminal charges against Anderson and the U.S. Post Office burning issues of The Little Review. While tracking Anderson’s involvement with the more famous Ulysses obscenity trial, Morgan still keeps the story centered on her intriguing life story, including numerous creative and romantic relationships with women and her fascinatingly bizarre involvement with a commune that practiced the “Fourth Way,” a “labyrinthine system of manual labor, performance art, physical exercise, and psychological examination.” Readers will savor this enlightening depiction of a little-discussed but influential figure of both modernism and queer history. (Dec.)