The Yellow Book; Volume 1

by Henry Harland, Aubrey Beardsley

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278 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1894

About the author

Henry Harland was a novelist and editor. In addition to his books, he is known for having been the editor of the magazine The Yellow Book.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like to commit myself to much in the days right before a trip, but I have to be reading Something, so I looked through my lists of periodicals from Gutenberg and chose this 1894 issue of The Yellow Book.

When I first added it to my lists a few years ago I had no idea of the reputation this magazine had during its heyday. It was supposed to have been considered decadent and even a little obscene.

I did not see any evidence of such things here. The issues offered short stories, poems, short plays, literary commentary, and quite a few reproductions of various drawings. There were some things I did not care for so skimmed or skipped: I can't handle serious reading right before a trip, too many other details floating around my head. So I might come back to the literary criticism pieces later.

I only recognized a couple of the contributors, but learned about most of the others as I went along. They had fairly sad lives, like many talented people. I would like to read more work by Henry Harland, the founder/editor of the magazine. His two sketches here (Mercedes and A Broken Looking-Glass) were by far the best of the bunch.

Edmund Gosse has a few titles at Gutenberg as well, so I'll try his novels at some point, thanks to the two poems he contributed to this number.

All of the writing here was pretty tame compared to any average modern day literature, but I might have seen it all differently back in 1894!

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to reading the one other issue that Gutenberg has available. Someday after my trip, of course.

[Martine Gjermundsen Ræstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting a star rating for this book is difficult, as it isn't one continuous story - in fact there's not even a continuous form, or genre. This first issue of The Yellow Book is a collection of short stories, short plays (or play excerpts), illustrations, essays, poems and analyses. Not everything was as exciting, but nothing stopped me from briefly skimming through the parts I thought were less interesting - and it's on this background that I give it four stars. If I was forced to close read every part it would have gotten less, but my experience of it included that I took short cuts where I wanted. In-between the skimming were some stories I genuinely really enjoyed. The collection gives insight into a variety of different scenarios, like a little glimpse into the lives of a group of people - a boy playing with his pet mice, a man marrying the wrong woman and regretting it, an old academic facing his last hours, a woman dealing with her fiancé's author career finally taking off... Many lack a clear conclusion and it simply feels like a peek into daily life - which is quite refreshing and nice for the era.

[Teal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the short story "A Responsibility" by Harland in this volume. I thoroughly enjoyed the piece especially the language. I found his scientific prose to be an interesting take on understanding people, and became interested in the subtle use of scientific observation and physiognomy displayed in the story. Since it was published in the Yellow Book, the homosexual undertones become much more overt. Overall an easy and lovely read.

[LulziReads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Painful to get through. I wouldn't have read this book in a million years if I wasn't assigned to.