
Title:
Dana: An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought
Date of Publication:
May 1904 (1:1) – April 1905 (1:12)
Place(s) of Publication:
Dublin, Ireland
London, England
Frequency of Publication:
Monthly
Circulation:
Unknown
Publisher:
Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd., Dublin
David Nutt, London
Lemma Publishing Co., New York
Physical Description:
8 3/4″ x 5″. Plain cover with title and table of contents.
Price:
Single issue: 6 pence
Editor(s):
John Eglinton
Frederick Ryan
Associate Editor(s):
None
Libraries with Original Issues:
British Library; Cambridge University Library; National Library of Scotland; Harvard University Library; New York Public Library.
Reprint Editions:
Searchable PDFs of full run available online at Brown University’s Modernist Journals Project.
Dana: An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought was published monthly in Dublin and London from 1904 until 1905. John Eglinton and Frederick Ryan, who edited and contributed to Dana, “shared a deep suspicion of the growing interest in a narrowly conceived vision of Irish culture that looked toward a mythic past of obscure warriors and heroes whose deeds were recorded in a language now spoken only by a small, rural minority” and they were intent on their magazine not seeming overly concerned with a romantic idea of nativism (Latham). Nevertheless, the Irishmen exhibited a consideration of the modern Irish State and of its people. Many of their contributors were Irish writers, such as George William Russel (A.E.), Jane Barlow, Oliver Gogart, and George Moore. Through them, Eglington and Ryan “sought to bring forth a fundamentally new and regenerative Irish culture” (Latham). Although in its twelve issues Dana did not achieve a wide following, it often gains contemporary recognition for having published one of James Joyce’s earliest poems, “Song.”
Wanting their magazine to help forge a fresh Irish voice that diverged from typical nativism, the editors concluded their “Introductory” passage in the first issue of Dana with the following statement of purpose:
“We would have our magazine, however, not merely a doctrinaire but a literary, or rather a humanist, magazine; and we would receive and print contributions in prose and in verse which are the expression of the writer’s individuality with greater satisfaction than those which are merely the belligerent expression of opinion. Each writer is of course responsible for the opinions contained in his own contribution, and the editors, beyond the responsibility of selection, are by no means bound by the views of any contributor. We invite the thinkers, dreamers and observers dispersed throughout Ireland and elsewhere, who do not despair of humanity in Ireland, to communicate through our pages their thoughts, reveries and observations; and we venture to hope that a magazine, starting with such general designs, should profit by whatever is genuine in the new life and movement which of late years have manifested themselves in the country.” |
“Introductory.” 1:1 (May 1904): 3.
John Eglinton (1868 – 1961)
Co-Editor: May 1904 – Apr. 1905
John Eglinton (1868-1961) was the pseudonym of William Kirkpatrick Magee. Magee was a literary journalist before helping to found Dana. In his frequent contributions to the magazine he “focused distinctly on the problem of defining a new cultural identity for Ireland that avoids a romanticized nativism” (Latham). He tended to avoid politically-aimed art and sought instead a new Irish voice.
Frederick Ryan (1876 – 1913)
Co-Editor: May 1904 – Apr. 1905
Frederick Ryan was an economist, journalist, and playwright, as well as the secretary of the Irish National Theatre Company. He is known to have “moved widely in the cultural circles and institutions that would later come to play a central role in Irish national life” (Latham). Like Eglinton he hoped that Irish artists would move from the antiquated modes of Irishness and seek a fresher artistic angle.
James Barlow
“Wayfarers”
“Where Time Hangs Heavy”
“Port After Stormie Seas”
“Michael, A Meditator”
A. E.
“In As Much”
“Shadows”
James Joyce
“Song”
George Moore
“Moods and Memories I – VII”
“Preface to a New Edition of Confessions of a Yound Man”
Seumas O’Sullivan
“The Monk”
“Glasnevin, October 9th 1904”
“In the City”
Oliver St. John Gogarty
“Literary Notice”
“To Stella”
“Winifred”
“Molly”
“Dana.” Modernist Magazines Project. De Montfort University. 31 Oct. 2008.
Hoffman, Frederick J., Charles Allen, and Carolyn F. Ulrich. The Little Magazine: A History and a Bibliography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1947.
Images. “Dana.” The Modernist Journals Project. 2007. Brown University. 27 Oct. 2008.
Latham, Sean. “General Introduction to Dana: An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought.” The Modernist Journals Project. Brown University. 27 Oct. 2008.
The Modernist Journal Project. Brown University. Web. 27 Oct. 2008.
“Dana” compiled by Natalia Kennedy (Class of ’09, Davidson College)