- Literary society
A literary society is a group of people interested in
literature . In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote onegenre of literature or a specificwriter . Modern literary societies typically promoteresearch about their chosen author or genre, publishnewsletter s, and holdmeeting s where research findings can be presented and discussed. Some are moreacademic andscholarly , while others are more social groups ofamateur s who appreciate a chance to discuss their favourite writer with other hobbyists. Historically, literary society has also referred to salons such as those ofMadame de Stael ,Madame Geoffrin andMadame de Tencin in pre-RevolutionaryFrance , and student groups atcollege s and universities in theUnited States .Modern literary societies
Modern examples of literary societies include:
* in the United States, thePhilolexian Society , thePhilomathean Society , thePeucinian Society , theDemosthenian Literary Society , thePhi Kappa Literary Society , and theJefferson Society
* in France,Parnassian poets andLa Pléiade
* inGermany , theTunnel über der Spree , theGeorgekreis and theGroup 47 .Literary societies in American colleges
A usage of the term peculiar to the United States refers to the societies organized at colleges and universities."College Literary Societies: Their Contribution to Higher Education in the United States", 1815-1876 by Thomas S. Harding] In the period from the late
eighteenth century to the Civil War, collegiate literary societies were an important part of campus social life. In a typical setting, a college would have two competing societies, often but not always with Latin names. Some examples include thePeucinian Society atBowdoin College , Social Friends, United Fraternity atDartmouth College ,Cleo of Alpha Chi literary society at Trinity College, thePhilorhetorian andPeithologian societies atWesleyan University , thePhilologian andPhilotechnian societies atWilliams College , thePhilomathean and Zelosophic societies at theUniversity of Pennsylvania , thePhilolexian andPeithologian societies atColumbia University , the Clariosophic and Euphradian societies at theUniversity of South Carolina , theDemosthenian andPhi Kappa societies at theUniversity of Georgia , theLinonia andBrothers in Unity atYale University andDialectic and Philanthropic Societies at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .Membership in these societies was not only open to all the students in the college, but in many cases membership was all but required. In some cases, intense
recruitment battles would ensue over new students, and to avoid problems some colleges chose to assign incoming students to one or the other literary society. Having two societies on a campus encouragedcompetition , and a thriving society would have interesting enough meetings to attract full attendance from its membership and perhaps even people from the community. These societies met publicly, sometimes in large lecture rooms, and in most instances the literary exercises would consist of adebate , but could also include speeches,poetry readings, and other literary work. Topics could include Classical history,religion ,ethics ,politics , andcurrent events . Controversial topics not covered in the officialcurriculum were often the most popular. Studies have been done, for example, finding an increasing discussion ofslavery at literary society meetings through the 1850's.In the 1830's and 1840's, students began to organize private literary societies for smaller groups, and these more intimate associations quickly developed into wholly secret associations. These groups are the earliest college fraternities.
Kappa Alpha ,Sigma Phi ,Delta Phi , Mystical Seven,Alpha Delta Phi ,Psi Upsilon , andDelta Kappa Epsilon , in fact, virtually all the pre-Civil War college fraternities were either first organized as literary societies or derived from factions split off of literary societies. These new organizations held meetings and were organized on identical lines to the large literary societies. Soon, the existence of these smaller private Greek letter organizations undermined the large Latin literary societies. Competition from athletics and other entertainments also took a toll, so that many dissolved or existed in name only by the 1880's. A literary society almost always provided its members with an extensivelibrary , either available to members only, or to the campus at large. When the societies dissolved, their libraries were transferred to the college libraries, and in many colleges the acquisition of the literary societies' libraries was a significant change in their collection, usually broadening the colleges libraries' scope into popular literature, but often also adding important and rare works.For convenience, the large literary societies are often called Latin literary societies because they typically had Latinate names, while the smaller
secret societies are called Greek letter societies. This rule is not absolutely uniform, however;Phi Phi Society atKenyon and thePhi Kappa at Georgia are examples of large literary societies with Greek names. The Clariosophic and Euphradian societies at the South Carolina both had Greek letter aliases, Mu Sigma Phi and Phi Alpha Epsilon, respectively, which appeared on their seals, but which were not used in normal conversation or writing.College literary societies today
The three oldest literary societies extant in the United States are the
American Whig-Cliosophic Society , formed from the Whig (1769) and Cliosophic (1765) Societies ofPrinceton University , thePeucinian Society (1805) ofBowdoin College , and theUnion-Philanthropic Society , formed from the Union (1789) and Philanthropic (1805, 1807) Societies ofHampden-Sydney College . ThePhilomathean Society (1813) of theUniversity of Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously-existing literary society in the United States. TheUniversity of Georgia hosts two literary societies (both of which were temporarily disbanded during the Civil War and the subsequent Union occupation): theDemosthenian Literary Society , founded in 1803, and thePhi Kappa Literary Society , founded in 1820 and dormant from the 1970s until its official re-establishment in 1991. Similarly, thePhilolexian Society ofColumbia University , established in 1802, operated more or less continuously until the early 1950s when it sputtered out and, except for a brief revival in the early 1960s, was not revived until 1985. Some early college social fraternities still meet in a literary society format, including Kappa Alpha, Alpha Delta Phi, and Mystical 7.Illinois College inJacksonville, Illinois is home to seven literary societies including,Phi Alpha Literary Society andSigma Pi Literary Society . The Literary and Historical Society ofUniversity College Dublin ,Ireland , listsJames Joyce as as former member.Notes
Bibliography
*Morton, Clay, 2006. "South of 'Typographic America': Orality, Literacy, and Nineteenth-Century Rhetorical Education," "South Atlantic Review" 71.4.
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