Margaret Anderson (1886-1973)

---

Margaret Carolyn Anderson (American 1886 - 1973)

Although Margaret Anderson was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, she spent her youth in Youngstown, Ohio, where her life was marked with privilege. There her father, Arthur Aubrey Anderson, managed Youngstown's utilities and street railway system. As a result, Margaret and her two sisters, Lois and Jean, had a trolley car for a playhouse. They also enjoyed outings with their father in a private rail car complete with saloon, observation parlor, and kitchen. The family summered at Lake Wawasee in Indiana, and here Margaret experienced her first romantic longings. Although her life had advantage, Margaret did not always live in a happy household. In Ohio Mrs. Anderson felt cut off from her friends in Indianapolis and unfulfilled in her musical ambitions. Her unhappiness reportedly caused tyrannical behavior toward the family. The lack of connection between the Anderson parents did not escape Margaret, prompting her to search for something different in life.

By 1914 that search lead Margaret to Chicago where she founded and edited The Little Review, a pioneering literary magazine. Then in the summer of 1915 while Margaret and her Little Review staff were struggling financially and, therefore, camping at Highland Park on Lake Michigan, Margaret met Jane Heap, an artist from Kansas who was teaching at Lewis Institute. Margaret later wrote, "I know that my real life began with my discovery of Jane's mind- its quality and extensions." Since Margaret was convinced people who created art were more interesting than those who did not, the Review's credo was 'Art for Art's sake,' but the publication also explored philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism, and politics. Anderson and Heap consistently pushed the limits of art and literature publishing such 20th-century notables as Djuna Barnes, T.S. Eliot, Emma Goldman, William Carlos Williams, Amy Lowell, and James Joyce. The Review's choice of material coupled with Ezra Pound as the magazine's Foreign Editor often led the United States Postal Service to seize publications, and when The Little Review began to serialize Joyce's Ulysses in 1918, it found itself in an obscenity trial. In 1921 Anderson and Heap were convicted of publishing obscene literature. Margaret and Jane continued to edit and publish The Little Review until 1929.

If The Little Review was characterized by spunk and controversy, Margaret's personal life was no less so. When Margaret and Jane met that summer in 1915, Jane was rebounding from another woman, and her solution to recovery was to put all of her energy into Margaret and The Little Review. As their relationship advanced, Margaret felt trapped by Jane's extreme jealousy and brooding personality. In 1918, frustrated with Jane's moods, Margaret had an affair with a young aspiring actress. Although Margaret did not profess to be in love with the young woman, Jane was severely distraught. Margaret's affairs with other women would continue to punctuate her search for the perfect love, and Jane's despair would continue, too. In 1923 Margaret sailed to France with Georgette Leblanc, with whom she was deeply in love. Jane followed, arriving a week later. Then that summer when Lois Anderson became seriously ill, Jane and Margaret co-adopted her two sons, giving Jane a legal bond with her lost love. Margaret Anderson went on to know great love and tragedy in her life. Perhaps one of her most ardent loves was Dorothy Caruso with whom she lived thirteen years until Dorothy's death from breast cancer in 1955. It was a loss from which Margaret never completely recovered. On October 19, 1973, Margaret Anderson died of emphysema.

Works by Margaret Anderson: My Thirty Years War, The Fiery Fountains, The Little Review Anthology (ed.), Forbidden Fires, The Unknowable Gurdjieff, The Strange Necessity

Online Review of Forbidden Fires (unavailable)

Information compiled from Guide to Women's Literature and Mathilda Hill's introduction to Forbidden Fires; article written by Margaret Pomeroy

Last Update: January 28, 1999
WebMaster: Paula DiTallo plditall@sprynet.com
© Copyright 1996 - 1999 Metropolitan Design and Development, Inc