Little Magazine

The Quest was founded in the fall of 1965 by Alexis Levitin. The original editorial staff and board comprised--like Levitin--graduate students at Columbia University. Levitin created a literary magazine which attempted to avoid a narrowly-defined focus and to encourage good writing from contributors of many viewpoints. We expect (read the magazine's entry in the Directory of Little Magazines) of the artist not only a well-wrought structure, but, within it, a creative and meaningful reflection upon the essential truths of our existence as well.

After Levitin left New York in 1968 for a teaching position at Dartmouth, most of the work of editing the magazine was carried on by David Hartwell and Tom Beeler. This led to the purchase of the magazine from Levitin by Hartwell and Beeler in late 1969. Hartwell and Beeler had never liked the name Quest and renamed it The Little Magazine, under which title the magazine first appeared with the spring 1970 issue. Of the new title Beeler later wrote no harm in a little cockiness when you are regenerating a literary periodical.

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