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The Fugitives

The Fugitives were a group of writers associated with Vanderbilt University in Nashville in the 1920s. They produced a magazine called The Fugitive, which was edited by Allen Tate and John Crowe Ransom, containing poetry and criticism reflecting their views. The poetry was selected by secret ballot and tended to be more formal and traditional than modernist in form. Indeed, their aim was primarily to show the a group of Southerners could produce poetry of this type. The magazine continued from 1922 up to 1925. An anthology was published in 1928. By this time, the group had started to focus on wider issues, such as the socio-economic situation of the South and cultural life in general and had morphed into the group known as the Agrarians. As well as Ransom and Tate, other writers associated with the group included Robert Penn Warren, Donald Davidson, Merrill Moore and Laura Riding. Ransom, in particular, was to be one of the exponents of what came to be called New Criticism.

Books on The Fugitives

John M. Bradbury: The Fugitives: A Critical Account
Charlotte H. Beck: The Fugitive Legacy: a Critical History
Louise Cowan: The Fugitive Group: A Literary History
W C Curry et al.: The Fugitive
William Pratt: The Fugitive Poets: Modern Southern Poetry
Louis D. Rubin Jr.: The Wary Fugitives: Four Poets and the South
John L. Stewart: The Burden of Time: The Fugitives and Agrarians

Other links

The Fugitives
A Brief Guide to the Fugitives
Fugitives and Agrarians Brief Biographical Sketches
Fugitives (poets)