by Kaylie Yaceczko
While UA’s inaugural publication the Acheronic was only published from 1924 to 1927, literary magazines on campus did not end there. One literary magazine, Scope, began in 1966 under the auspices of the Johnson Club, but the title appears to have been rather short-lived. Still, Scope not only published poetry and prose, but for the first time, the literary magazine published artwork by students. It was published biannually and was fairly successful during its publication, selling for 25 cents. In fact, the Buchtelite published the poem “Time for a Lion Fish” by Helen E. Zimmerman on its editorial page, noting that the poem had appeared in the first edition of Scope. The Buchtelite also pushied advertisements calling for students to submit their work to the journal, one even playfully saying, “One in every 8,000,000 New Yorkers read Scope (on sale soon).”
One of the most recent literary magazines at the University spanned almost thirty years, with over thirty editions, the Akros Review. This journal began in the spring of 1979 and annually published works of poetry, fiction, essays, artwork, photography, and even composition essays by freshman. The journal was run by student editors and had a long-time UA professor and author, Robert Pope, as the faculty advisor throughout its tenure. The journal was sold in the Department of English for two dollars apiece. What was especially interesting about the Akros Review was the variation in styles of both cover and size. No two editions look the same, at least from what editions have been available. While the Acheronic and Scope had similar sizes and styles in their journals, the Akros Review offered a uniqueness to its readers and provided yet another outlet for creativity and expression.
Perhaps the most interesting part of literary magazines—and artistic expression in general—is that they are always evolving and growing. We saw how the literary societies changed over time as well how the work poetry students wrote became more personal over the years, and we see this trend with literary magazines. When one comes to a close, another journal comes out of the woodwork to leave its mark on the University’s campus, students, and history.