Journal Issue
Towards Print (from Individual Norm to Primal Norm) by Wai-lim Yip gives Trace no. 54 its clearest point of entry, while IV and V widen the issue’s field. Dated Autumn 1964, this substantial number indexes 38 pieces or named sections, moving between literary argument, creative work, reviews, correspondence, and the practical business of little-magazine culture. The order matters: recurring editorial features sit beside contributions with their own formal and critical demands, so the magazine reads as an active conversation rather than a neutral container. The reader’s edition makes that sequence easy to follow; the original scan preserves the cover, page design, advertisements, visual material, and directory apparatus that locate the writing in its first publication. Together, the two editions show James Boyer May sustaining both a literary forum and a working map of the independent publishing network.
Contributors
Publication details
Full contents
- Towards Print (from Individual Norm to Primal Norm) — Wai-lim Yip [Essay, p. 5]
- IV [Contribution, p. 8]
- V [Contribution, p. 10]
- VI [Contribution, p. 13]
- Editors (and others) Write [Correspondence, p. 16]
- A Third Answer to the Problem of Form? — Gene Fowler [Correspondence, p. 16]
- The Critic Reacts in Verse (so titled) — Dovey L. Dowdle [Correspondence, p. 18]
- Discourse on & Expansion of Speedie Method — David Lyle [Correspondence, p. 19]
- James Baldwin [Contribution, p. 21]
- In Black and White — Milton VanSickle [Contribution, p. 22]
- ‘they Had Many Words for It’ — Derral Pilgrim [Essay, p. 28]
- ROT — Louis Gallo [Essay, p. 31]
- Axioms [Contribution, p. 32]
- Argument [Contribution, p. 32]
- 139 [Contribution, p. 36]
- The Problem (from ‘the Journal’—later) [Contribution, p. 38]
- Encounter (next year, in ‘the Journal’) [Contribution, p. 40]
- Concluding Retrospect (letter for ‘the Journal’) [Contribution, p. 43]
- Lo-yang . 1942 . in Time of War — Ya Hsien [Contribution, p. 45]
- On the Streets of China — Ya Hsien [Contribution, p. 46]
- Taipei, 1960 — Shang Chin [Contribution, p. 50]
- Emotion Above Sea Level — Shang Chin [Contribution, p. 51]
- from Death in the Stone-cell — Mo Lo-fu [Contribution, p. 52]
- The Mount of Might : Impressions — Cheng Chou-yu [Contribution, p. 60]
- from the Way of the Bird — Yuan Teh-hsing [Contribution, p. 61]
- The White Spurt — Hsiu Tao [Contribution, p. 65]
- The Man Who Rubbed His Face with Fireflies — Kuan Kuan [Contribution, p. 66]
- death came and whispered in my ear — Dave Margoshes [Artwork, p. 77]
- Live — Dave Margoshes [Contribution, p. 77]
- Dave Margoshes [Contribution, p. 79]
- Dave Margoshes [Contribution, p. 86]
- A Moveable Feast — Eric Cashen [Artwork, p. 90]
- Frankenstein’s Monster: Paragon or Paranoid? — Donna Arnold [Contribution, p. 92]
- Oyster Pirates — James Hiner [Essay, p. 96]
- Reductive Poetry Summary, Continued — James Boyer May [Review, p. 99]
- Magic-lantern Moments Toward Meaning — Carl Larsen [Review, p. 106]
- ‘Accurate’ and Insalubrious — Carl Larsen [Review, p. 107]
- The Chronicle [Reference, p. 115]
Rights and citation
Copyright remains with the respective authors, artists, publisher, or successors.
Copyright Status Unresolved
Rights in the individual contributions and the periodical compilation have not been fully resolved.
Trace, no. 54 (Autumn 1964). Text/Tech Journals reader’s edition, 2026.