The role and impact of modern Greek literary periodicals in twentieth century Greek American literary market

While the role of anthologies in the canonisation of translated literature has been long established, the role of periodicals in the introduction, diffusion and canonisation of translated literature is still underexplored. This paper argues that literary periodicals act as initial gatekeepers in the process of introducing literature A to culture B. Three literary periodicals, Athene (Chicago, 1940-1967), The Charioteer (published by the Greek Cultural Society of New York, 1960-2012) and The Coffeehouse (San Francisco, 1975-1982), covering a period of 42 years (1940-1982), are examined. The periodicals were published in mid - to late twentieth-century USA, through the auspices of, and primarily for the benefit of, the Greek diasporic community there. The paper examines the overlap between the published material in these periodicals and the Modern Greek literature anthologies published during the same period (1940-1982) by US publishers. Using the distant reading of metadata from online archives, literary periodicals are classified as initial gatekeepers because they ushered in translated literature within a lower risk and lower cost context compared to the publication of translated books. As such, the article recognizes the role of periodicals as key actors responsible for the introduction and circulation of translated literature.