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 one genre of literature or a specific writer. Modern literary societies typically promote research about their chosen author or genre, publish newsletters, and hold meetings where research findings can be presented and discussed. Some are more academic and scholarly, while others are more social groups of amateurs who appreciate a chance to discuss their favourite writer with other hobbyists. Historically, literary society has also referred to salons such as those of Madame de Stael, Madame Geoffrin and Madame de Tencin in pre-Revolutionary France, and student groups at colleges and universities in the United States.

Modern literary societies

Modern examples of literary societies include:
* in the United States, the Philolexian Society, the Philomathean Society, the Peucinian Society, the Demosthenian Literary Society, the Phi Kappa Literary Society, and the Jefferson Society
* in France, Parnassian poets and La Pléiade
* in Germany, the Tunnel über der Spree, the Georgekreis and the Group 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 the Peucinian Society at Bowdoin College, Social Friends, United Fraternity at Dartmouth College, Cleo of Alpha Chi literary society at Trinity College, the Philorhetorian and Peithologian societies at Wesleyan University, the Philologian and Philotechnian societies at Williams College, the Philomathean and Zelosophic societies at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philolexian and Peithologian societies at Columbia University, the Clariosophic and Euphradian societies at the University of South Carolina, the Demosthenian and Phi Kappa societies at the University of Georgia, the Linonia and Brothers in Unity at Yale University and Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies at the University 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 encouraged competition, 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 a debate, but could also include speeches, poetry readings, and other literary work. Topics could include Classical history, religion, ethics, politics, and current events. Controversial topics not covered in the official curriculum were often the most popular. Studies have been done, for example, finding an increasing discussion of slavery 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, and Delta 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 extensive library, 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 at Kenyon and the Phi 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 of Princeton University, the Peucinian Society (1805) of Bowdoin College, and the Union-Philanthropic Society, formed from the Union (1789) and Philanthropic (1805, 1807) Societies of Hampden-Sydney College. The Philomathean Society (1813) of the University of Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously-existing literary society in the United States. The University of Georgia hosts two literary societies (both of which were temporarily disbanded during the Civil War and the subsequent Union occupation): the Demosthenian Literary Society, founded in 1803, and the Phi Kappa Literary Society, founded in 1820 and dormant from the 1970s until its official re-establishment in 1991. Similarly, the Philolexian Society of Columbia 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 in Jacksonville, Illinois is home to seven literary societies including, Phi Alpha Literary Society and Sigma Pi Literary Society. The Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin, Ireland, lists James 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.