Three Editors Bring Out New 'Wake'

Finally shaking free from the laughter that greeted the first three issues of the Harvard Wake back in 1944-45, the present editors of the literary quarterly have decided to take the magazine with them when they graduate.

Currently putting out Wake number six, the first issue to appear minus the Harvard name, Seymour Lawrence '48, John Hawkes, Jr. '47, and John A. Rogers '49 have transformed what was originally a puny effort to replace the wartime expired Advocate into a literary magazine with a national and international reputation.

A year after the Advocate went into its wartime hibernation, and ambitious group of Sophomores brought out the first issue of the Harvard Wake. Admittedly overly morbid, the editors tried to raise their standards and called for more student contributions.

Fourth Wake Improved

But it wasn't until the fourth issue, in June of 1945, that Harvard stopped laughing and started to read. The change in attitude was largely due to the appearance of Lawrence and to the publication of stories and poems by accepted writers outside of the University alongside the work of student unknowns.

Conrad Aiken '12, E. E. Cummings '15, Jose Garcia Villa, and Kenneth Patchen were some of the drawing cards that launched the quarterly on the way to becoming something more than an undergraduate effort.

But in spite of the improvement in quality, financial troubles delayed the next issue for nearly a year. The fifth Wake, a 90-page number devoted entirely to works and criticism of E. E. Cummings, came out in the spring of 1946. In addition to Cummings, John Dos Passos '16, Theodore Spencer, Wallace Stevens, and Mark Van Doren contributed. Copies of the issue, which sold over 2000 in the U.S. and Europe, are now collectors' items.

No More Harvard

The latest number, the editors explain, will maintain the unique policy of printing both student and professional writing. Harvard will not appear in the masthead and the magazine will be sent to England and France, as well as to bookstores throughout the U.S.

The second revival of the Wake came about when Hawkes, a member of the original 1944 staff, returned to College from a stint with the American Field Service and met Lawrence, who had joined the publication after Hawkes had left. With Rogers, they saw the chance to re-publish the Wake as a magazine furnishing a non-commercial outlet for good, unknown writers whose work "has passed the experimental stage."

All Have Training

Lawrence, class poet of '48, spent some time before entering Harvard under the tutelage of Jose Garcia Villa, who instructed him in "the craft of poetry." Hawkes, the only married man among the editors, was influenced by Robert H. Hillyer '17 in his early years at Harvard. Rogers has received some writing training from John Dos Passos, whom he has known since childhood.

Beyond making the Wake a post-graduate venture, the editors are considering publishing "a few short novels" next year. A flood of material since the Cummings issue has turned up some excellent work, the editors say, including some pieces too long for inclusion in their magazine.

The question of just what the name "Wake" means stumps the editors. Irish wakes, wakes of ships, and just plain waking up are all symbolized in the title. Hawkes, who claims the distinction of having picked the name back in '44 looks up from a pile of galley sheets and smiles. "It could mean anything," he concedes.