Imagining Gender, Nation and Consumerism in Magazines of the 1920s

Offering the first comparative study of 1920s’ US and Canadian print cultures, ‘Imagining Gender, Nation and Consumerism in Magazines of the 1920s’ examines the highly influential ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’ (1883–2014) and the often-overlooked ‘Canadian Home Journal’ (1905–1958). American magazines were, in the main, established earlier than their Canadian counterparts, and the ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’ was pioneering in the development of the stylistic and economic model of the modern mass-market magazine. Unsurprisingly the ‘Canadian Home Journal’ – and Canadian magazines more generally – made use of the tried-and-tested methods developed south of the 49th parallel. This, combined with comparatively far smaller circulations, has led to the unflattering assumption that Canadian magazines were merely derivative of their American predecessors. The present book argues that this is not the case, but that both magazines make use of – and manipulate – the conventions of the magazine form in notably different ways, as they work to construct their imagined audiences.

The issues published during the 1920s are particularly fascinating in this respect, since at this time both magazines were changing rapidly in response to technological modernity, altering gender economies and the burgeoning of consumer culture. This context underpins the presentation of ideals in each magazine: of self-improvement and aspiration, the home and domesticity, and fashion and beauty. Through detailed multilevel analysis, the book uncovers the complexities of the two magazines, opening out into broader conclusions about interwar mainstream magazines more generally. In the process, it also demonstrates the value of working at the intersection of humanities and social science disciplines.

Engaging with the latest advances in periodical studies, ‘Imagining Gender, Nation, and Consumerism in Magazines of the 1920s’ considers these magazines as collaborative literary texts, cultural artefacts and commercial products. It brings together literary perspectives with consumer culture theory in order to analyse how the ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’ and ‘Canadian Home Journal’ negotiated competing literary and commercial demands and how they constructed their imagined audience as readers, consumers and citizens.