AustLit

As writers who had been living in Europe during the 1920s began to settle in Melbourne in the early 1930s, the radical ideas of modernism began to take root. This is reflected in the foundation of the avant garde magazine Stream, first published in June 1931. Edited by Cyril Pearl, Stream was self-consciously un-Australian, drawing inspiration from a European aesthetic in reaction to the conservative nationalism of main-stream magazines. Few well-known writers contributed to Stream (Nettie Palmer being the notable exception) and much of the magazine comprised of translations of articles first published in European magazines. Original poetry and articles were contributed by writers such as Pearl, Ernest Harden, Edgar Holt and Bertram Higgins, reflecting their appreciation of modern writers such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Aldous Huxley and other European and Soviet writers. But, despite the enthusiasm of its editor and contributors, Stream failed to find an audience to sustain its publication. Only three issues were published, the last appearing in August 1931.