Encounter (magazine)

Encounter
CategoriesLiterary magazine
FrequencyMonthly
FounderStephen Spender and Irving Kristol
First issueOctober 1953 (1953-10)
Final issue1990[1]
CompanyCongress for Cultural Freedom (1953–1964)
International Publishing Corporation (from 1964)
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inLondon
LanguageEnglish
ISSN0013-7073

Encounter was a literary magazine founded in 1953 by poet Stephen Spender and journalist Irving Kristol. The magazine ceased publication in 1990 and the operations closed in 1991. Published in the United Kingdom, it was an Anglo-American intellectual and cultural journal, originally associated with the anti-Stalinist left. The magazine received covert funding from the Central Intelligence Agency who, along with MI6, discussed the founding of an "Anglo-American left-of-centre publication" intended to counter the idea of Cold War neutralism. The magazine was rarely critical of American foreign policy and generally shaped its content to support the geopolitical interests of the United States government.[2][3]

Spender, who served as co-editor until 1965 and then as a contributing editor, resigned in 1967, together with his replacement Frank Kermode, after the covert CIA funding for the magazine was revealed.[2][4][5][6] Thomas W. Braden, who headed the CIA's International Organisations Division's operations between 1951 and 1954, said that the money for the magazine "came from the CIA, and few outside the CIA knew about it. We had placed one agent in a Europe-based organization of intellectuals called the Congress for Cultural Freedom."[4][7] Roy Jenkins observed that earlier contributors were aware of U.S. funding but believed it came from philanthropists, including a Cincinnati gin distiller.[8]

Encounter experienced its most successful years in terms of readership and influence under Melvin J. Lasky, who succeeded Kristol in 1958 and would serve as the main editor until the magazine ceased publication in 1991. Other editors in this period included D. J. Enright.

  1. ^ Encounter, Search Oxford Libraries Online, retrieved 20 November 2024
  2. ^ a b Frances Stonor Saunders (12 July 1999), "How the CIA plotted against us", New Statesman., archived from the original on 10 October 2014
  3. ^ "Robert Fulford: When the CIA had a magazine". nationalpost. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b Fox, Sylvan (8 May 1967), "Stephen Spender Quits Encounter; British Poet Says Finding of C.I.A. Financing Led to His Leaving Magazine Encounter Editor Quits His Post Over Disclosure of C.I.A.'s Role", The New York Times.
  5. ^ Lewis, Rhodri (21 July 2022), The mystery behind “Encounter” magazine, Prospect, archived from the original on 15 February 2024
  6. ^ Mullan, John (18 August 2010), Sir Frank Kermode obituary, The Guardian, archived from the original on 14 February 2014
  7. ^ Braden, Thomas W. (20 May 1967), "I'm glad the CIA is 'immoral'", The Saturday Evening Post
  8. ^ Jenkins, Roy (2006). A Life at the Centre. Politico's. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-84275-177-0.