The Fortnightly Review

Overview

From April-December 1901, The Fortnightly Review published H.G. Wells’ first non-fiction novel, Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought, commonly known as Anticipations. Besides being a bestseller, its last chapter is also the most infamously strong stance Wells ever took in support of eugenics, the selection of desired heritable characteristics in order to improve future generations, typically in reference to humans (Wilson). This 20th century pseudo-science entered international conversation to eventually include major figures in science, literature, art, and politics. Before rising German political leader, Adolf Hitler, commended leading eugenicist Madison Grant on his book, Defending the Master Race, by saying “this book is my Bible, ” most major literary figures participated in some way in the eugenics conversation (Humber 2). H.G. Wells’ first notable contribution to the conversation through a serial periodical publication, however, was unusual. In this way, his last chapter of Anticipations is an exception.

The 1901 compilation of The Fortnightly Review includes the original cover and first few pages of each monthly edition. The Table of Contents of each issue remains intact, as well as the occasional full-page ad for Prudential Insurance or combination of ads for typewriters, stoves, and “highest quality” pens. Thumbing through the pages, notable names include Theodore Roosevelt, H. Buxton Forman, Demetrius Charles, Thomas J Macnamara, Stephen Gwynn, and Maxim Gorky. Each issue appears to feature at least one article written by a woman. One, by Elizabeth Lewthwaite from October 1901, is titled, “Women’s Work in Western Canada,” and argues for the employment of women in England as domestic servants in the colonies.

From 1865 to 1954, The Fortnightly Review ran independently before being absorbed by The Contemporary Review. At first, it sold for two shillings and was published twice a month, as its name entails; it soon transitioned, however, into only monthly publications (Sullivan 133). It was originally financed by nine people through a £9,000 investment, roughly $1.4 million today (Turner 74), and by 1901 each issue cost 40 cents, or £4.50 for a yearly subscription (Fortnightly Review). By 1872, John Morley had increased monthly sales to 2,500 (Houghton 176).

Over the course of its publication, The Fortnightly Review served as a platform for varying voices, doing “most to provide the late-Victorian intelligentsia with open forums for debate on science, literature, politics and religion. The Fortnightly enshrined independence from party affiliation and church doctrine in its 1865 prospectus” (Small 56). Additionally, it “[s]ought to create a new middle-class reading market, one that would accept serial fiction alongside weighty articles and reviews [... It] became known as a Liberal, free-thinking journal [...] serious, often reformist” (Howsam 1). Depending on the editor, the publication fluctuated from nonpartisan to very liberal, and back to nonpartisan. The 1901 edition was edited by W.L. Courtney, the Fortnightly’s fifth editor following Frank Harris, who is notable because “almost every distinguished English writer and critic of the day was among his contributors” (Houghton 180). After becoming editor, and over the course of the next thirty four years until his death, Courtney continued this distinguished reputation by publishing works by H.G. Wells, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and W.B. Yeats.