Founding a magazine, a literary magazine in particular, on the eve of war is a perilous venture, yet this is what has been undertaken by the editors of Trend, the University of Chicago's latest publication. As a mouthpiece for all of America's "up and coming" writers, Trend will publish works of students from all universities (the first issue contains a poem by Harvard's John Crockett) alongside of contributions from nationally known literary figures. The editors wish to bring together all the writers "who are trying to do new and vigorous things in verse and prose" and, simultaneously, to publish criticism on all the arts which will attempt to examine and evaluate the contemporary pattern. Trend aims to "find out just what is happening" in the world of art.

The first copy more than fulfills this promise. Starting with an article by William Carols Williams--the first piece in a Symposium to represent the Poet, the Teacher, and the Student--the issue proceeds with "An Essay at Theater" by William Saroyan, a group of varied short stories, a collection of poems, and a series of excellent illustrations. Each piece is different and to a great extent new. Williams' "The Invisible University" is a cogent discussion, aptly illustrated by the perhaps exaggerated example of T. S. Eliot, of the evils which may lie in a university education. It is a challenging article, for bewailing much, it does not negate all, and the reader is left with a thought which may be of use in his future classes.

The stories, too, are provocative, for they have a simplicity within variety which promises much in an age which has to date been dominated by negative complexities. They are, perhaps, not important tales, but in each one there is something good, a touch of skill, a bit of freshly original thought, a hint of stability and understanding prevailing over modern themes and techniques. Best of them all is Marian Castleman's "Helen," a story which combines psychology and modern technique with a real narrative and objective character portrayal. Symbolically enough, all these stories are told through the months of children. A new generation is coming of age, looking at the world through its own eyes, and lending a new freshness to its approach.

Much the same might be said of the poetry of which Edward Fritz's "Balch Hill" is perhaps the best. Retaining some of the recently developed techniques and issues, it has roots of feeling in the past and thus maintains a lightness and an affirmative mood foreign to most of our recent work.

There is an easy-going variety in the selection of these poems, as indeed there is throughout the issue, and although this lightness occasionally becomes almost sloppy, the reader cannot help but like the young and candid tone of Trend. University literature has long needed such a publication, and Trend's rapidly growing public can only hope that this new sprout among magazines may be spared as the colleges prepare for the all-out war effort.