J. C. Squire

For British late 20th century musician of the same name, see John Squire

Biography

He was born in Plymouth, and was educated at Blundell's School and St. John's College, Cambridge. He was one of those published in the Georgian poetry collections of Edward Marsh. His own Selections from Modern Poets anthology series, launched in 1921, became definitive of Georgian poetry as a conservative style (whether or not that was fair). From 1919 to 1932, Squire was the editor of the important monthly periodical, the London Mercury, a publication which showcased the work of the Georgian poets and was an important outlet for many new writers.

Related Topics:
Plymouth - Blundell's School - St. John's College, Cambridge - Georgian poetry - Edward Marsh - Anthology

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In 1932 in book If It Had Happened Otherwise he collected a series of essays, many of which could be considered alternative history stories, from some of the leading historians of the period (like Hilaire Belloc and Winston Churchill).

Related Topics:
1932 - Alternative history - Hilaire Belloc - Winston Churchill

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Since his death the reputation of Squire has declined as modernist scholarship has absorbed the criticism's of his contemporaries. The Bloomsbury group nicknamed the coterie of writers that surrounded Squire as the Squirearchy and Eliot accused Squire of using the London Mercury to saturate literary London with journalistic and popular criticism. However, since the 1990s there has been a gradual reappraisal of the periodical network of early twentieth-century literary London and increasing interest in the Georgian poets. The problematisation of the term modernism has encouraged scholars to cast their nets beyond the traditional venue of modernism, the little magazine, and to seek to understand better the role mass-market periodicals such as the London Mercury played in promoting new and progressive writers.

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