Genius fails to appear: the Atlantic Awards in literature, 1946–1950

ABSTRACT

A recurring problem in arts policy concerns support for individual artists and authors. The Atlantic Awards in Literature, a little-known experiment by the Rockefeller Foundation in the years immediately following the second world war, aimed to encourage younger British writers whose careers had been interrupted by the war. By the end of the five-year grant period, a total of 58 authors had received support; among the best-known perhaps were W.S. Graham, Kathleen Raine, Laurie Lee, Philip Toynbee, and Robert Kee. Although the Rockefeller Foundation considered its initial grant a success and indeed renewed support for the project in 1948, no British patrons agreed to continue the project and critical opinion about postwar literary work remains largely unfavorable. Despite this apparent failure, the Atlantic Awards may have had a lasting impact on the evolution of American support for creative writing and the arts. The Rockefeller Foundation soon provided grants for fellowships to leading American literary reviews and to the creative writing program at the University of Iowa. In this respect, the Atlantic Awards pointed the way to increased foundation support for creative writing and the arts at a time when the federal government provided no direct support for the arts in the United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Creative writing
• patronage
• philanthropy
• postwar literature
• Rockefeller Foundation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.