Egoist, The

a literary periodical strongly associated with the development of Modernism in England from 1914 to 1919. Dora Marsden had formed the Freewoman in 1911, a magazine devoted to issues facing the ‘new woman’ and to philosophical discussion; in 1913 it became the New Freewoman, subtitled An Individualist Review, and attracted the attention of Ezra Pound, who persuaded Marsden that innovative literary material should be included. The first issue under the title The Egoist appeared early in 1914; later that year Harriet Shaw Weaver succeeded Marsden as editor, the latter continuing to supply each issue with her singular philosophical essays. Richard Aldington was assistant editor from 1914 to 1916, when his wife Hilda Doolittle took over the position, which was occupied by T. S. Eliot from 1917 to 1919. Pound ensured that Imagism was strongly promoted in the magazine and contributed many critical articles cogently arguing in support of the writing he favoured; although he was responsible for the magazine's sometimes arrogant tone, he also arranged the publication of much of its best material: James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as Young Man was serialized in 1914 and 1915, and extracts from Ulysses were later published. Poetry from America was supplied by Marianne Moore, W. C. Williams, and others. Eliot's critical essays, which began appearing regularly in 1917, contained some of his most provocative and iconoclastic criticism; his ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ was featured in the last issue of The Egoist, which was discontinued as a result of increasing financial difficulties in 1919.