The Contemporary Review

The Contemporary Review is a British biannual, formerly quarterly, magazine. It has an uncertain future as of 2013.

History

The magazine was established in 1866 by Alexander Strahan and a group of intellectuals anxious to promote intelligent and independent opinion about the great issues of their day. They intended it to be the church-minded counterpart And in May 1877 published an article on the "Ethics of Belief" from a distinguished Cambridge Don on moral skepticism in law and philosophy. Prof Clifford developed scientific theories on metaphysical beliefs, rationalism, and the empirical value of scientific enquiry that underpinned advanced physics. By the end of the century his views had a practicable impact upon new social realism. Clifford was quickly rebutted by Prof Wase in June 1877. Articles by Rev R.F. Littledale, a regular contributor included "Christianity and Patriotism".

This contrasted to the radical artistic perspectives of the Fortnightly Review. The first editor-in-chief was Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury. The magazine rapidly acquired distinction as a forum for intellectual discussion. It was one of the first periodicals to devote considerable space to the arts. More particularly, it became an arena for the theological and ecclesiastical disputes which at that time rent the Church of England. Dean Alford retired in 1870 and his successor, J. T. Knowles, greatly enhanced the already established international standing of the journal. He widened the coverage and attracted contributors of great distinction, including Cardinal Manning, John Ruskin, Aldous Huxley, Robert Spence, Henry Stanley, W.E.Gladstone, Matthew Arnold, F. D. Maurice and J. M. Barrie.

Sovremennik

Sovremennik ("Современник", literally: The Contemporary) was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836-1866. It came out four times a year in 1836-1843 and once a month after that. The magazine published poetry, prose, critical, historical, ethnographic and other material.

Sovremennik originated as a private enterprise of Alexander Pushkin who was running out of money to support his growing family. To assist him with the magazine, the poet asked Nikolai Gogol, Pyotr Vyazemsky and Vladimir Odoyevsky to contribute their works to the journal. It was there that the first substantial assortment of Fyodor Tyutchev's poems was published. Soon it became clear that Pushkin's establishment could not compete with Faddey Bulgarin's journal, which published more popular and less demanding literature. Sovremennik was out of date and could not command a paying audience.

When Pushkin died, his friend Pyotr Pletnyov took over the editorship in 1838. A few years later the magazine fell into decline, and Pletnyov handed it over to Nikolay Nekrasov and Ivan Panaev in 1847. It was Nekrasov who really made the magazine profitable. He enlisted the services of Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Goncharov, Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogaryov. Sovremennik was the first to publish translated works by Charles Dickens, George Sand and other best-selling foreign writers.

Contemporary review

Contemporary Review has been used as a name for a number of magazines:

Contemporary review (Chinese magazine)

Contemporary Review (现代评论) was a Chinese literary weekly magazine founded in 1924 and ceased December 1928.

Publication history

"Contemporary Review"(现代评论) debuted in Beijing December 13, 1924. After 209 issues, it ceased in 1928. There were 3 extra issues and a series of specials. This is a general weekly spanning politics, economics, law, the arts, philosophy, education and science. Closely affiliated scholars include Hu Shih 胡适、Gao Yihan 高一涵、Tang Youren 唐有壬、 Chen Yuan 陈源、Xu Zimo 徐志摩 and others。 Most of them studied in Europe or United States. "Contemporary Review" valued individualism and freedom of style. While it was a general magazine, it published a large number of new literature writers introducing them to an eager audience. Zhang Dinghuang 张定璜 published "Mr. Lu Xun" 鲁迅先生 as a comprehensive two part review of all Lu's writings in the journal, January 24 and 31 issues of 1925. Zhang's essay defined Lu Xun's historic significance in the transition of modern Chinese literature.