Life, 1914-04-09 · page 10 of 40
Life — April 9, 1914 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page discusses literary periodicals and their role in publishing. The main illustration shows "Innocent Old Lady" commenting on what appears to be a fuss over "an old piece of hope" — likely satirizing public concern over trivial matters in periodicals. The smaller cartoon labeled "It's My Turn Now" depicts a figure being kicked or thrown, likely commenting on competition or conflict among publications or contributors. The text defends *Current Opinion* and the *Literary Digest* against being called "parasite publications," arguing they provide valuable editorial commentary and original content rather than simply borrowing from other sources. The satire targets the magazine world's internal rivalries and accusations of plagiarism common in early 20th-century publishing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
642 Notes on the Periodicals HE publisher quoted on this page several weeks ago (March 12th), who called the Literary Digest, the Review of Reviews and Current Opin- ton “ parasite publications”, provoked from a friend of the Review of Re- views the letter which will be found on page 638. The publisher, who spoke offhand, classed the Rez with the group that its name suggests, the maga- zines which devote themselves chiefly or considerably to disclosing what the other periodicals are talking about We believe that it was in that group that the Review of Reviews startet twenty-odd years ago, under a name that suited its aims at that time. The name remains, but the aims have de- veloped away from the original pur- pose, and the publication has long been more like a Review of the World, with a department, to be sure, devoted to “Jeading articles of the month”, and another to newspaper cartoons, but with the major part of its space filled with fresh discussion of the news of the world by its editor, and original articles on subjects of current interest. It is not a pa If it were the only magazine published, it could still ap- pear, almost undiminished, and_ its name would hardly be more misleading than it is at present. As for Current Opinion and the Literary Digest, let us not call them “parasite publications”, as the pub- lisher did, because that, whether true or not, is hardly polite. And let us not estimate what proportion of their matter is quoted, because figures are so apt to lic. A large proportion of asite. “i1's My TURN Now” Innocent Old Lady. Z } thliuizE GRACIOUS! IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THEY'RE MAKING AN AWFUL FUSS OVER AN OLD PIECE OF ROPE Current Opinion is fresh comment of its own, The Digest, a weekly publi- cation, is not all borrowed, though its pieces seem throughout to be based on matter from other publications. HE magazines, by and large, have been called the literary lunch- counter of our day. Those that tell what the others are talking about are the quick-lunch counter. They aim to tell people who have something to do be- sides read periodicals, enough of what is said, written and done to keep them within sight of the times. It is a work that needs to be done. Nobody can read all the magazines, or many of the newspapers. The quick-lunch periodicals are well concocted. They are brightened and illustrated by car- toons out of the newspapers, as well as by news pictures that they doubtless buy. They are lively, they are inter- esting, they get circulation, and, of course, they bite what they can out of the sacred and strictly limited fund that the advertisers devote to the sup- port of magazines. Of course, when the faithful pub- lishers of original-matter-only publi- cations*who have handed out bagfuls of money to writers to write for them and bagfuls to artists to draw for them, see the piece-borrowing maga- zines get their advertisers’ money, some of them feel that it is scandalous.