Margaret Anderson

Margaret Anderson (1886-1973) was raised in Indianapolis. Those early years would be the only ones in which Anderson lived an ordinary life.

Leaving home as a young woman, she headed to Chicago where she became a book critic for the Chicago Evening Post. She founded the avante-garde literary magazine The Little Review which she co-edited with her lover, Jane Heap. This became the most influential literary magazine in the world in the 1910’s and 1920’s. New writers such as T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and William Butler Yeats among others were featured. Feminist and anarchist writings along with surrealist and Dada artwork were included in The Little Review as well. The 1918 serialization of James Joyce’s Ulysses proved to be so controversial that the US Post Office refused to deliver issues on the basis that the content was obscene. An obscenity trial ensued and the court forced Anderson and Heap to publish less controversial content.

Anderson and Heap moved to Paris where they published an “Exiles” issue of The Little Review followed by the final issue of “Confessions and Letters” from 50 writers and artists. As tensions grew in France, Heap evacuated to London and Anderson sailed back to the US (with her passage paid by Hemingway). On the ship, Anderson met Dorothy Caruso, widow of Enrico Caruso. A romantic relationship developed and they lived together until 1955 when Caruso died. Anderson returned to France where she lived for another 18 years.

Why this stop? The Argyle stop is a few blocks from where Anderson lived when she published the first issue of The Little Review.

Read about the publication of Ulysses in The Little Review.

Discuss —Censorship on the internet is an important topic today. Should misleading or false information be allowed under the posture of free speech? Where do you stand on the issue? Do some research on your own, get together with others and discuss.