Introduction: Clemence Dane, Modernity and Interwar Periodical Culture

“Introduction: Clemence Dane, Modernity and Interwar Periodical Culture” argues that Clemence Dane’s literary and social criticism for Good Housekeeping , disseminated in monthly essays between 1922 and 1933, constitutes a significant record of the periodical production and reception of literary criticism for common readers. The introduction confirms Dane’s central role in twentieth-century literary and theatrical circles and analyses her influential contributions to interwar intellectual and literary journals. It argues that Dane’s book columns were the major force behind Good Housekeeping’s underappreciated influence on interwar literary culture, and shows how Dane made reading the centre of a forward-looking, female modernity. The introduction outlines Dane’s critical principles, demonstrating her challenges to the authority of the academic critic, and discusses her innovative essay craft. It links Dane’s strategic use of magazine seriality to her exploratory essay forms and illustrates her conception of modernity as an opportunity to bring the new into dialogue with tradition. The introduction contends that histories of twentieth-century literary criticism should incorporate the substantial, influential productions of criticism in quality women’s magazines.