Literary criticism in The New Age was apparently quite paradoxical, simultaneously bearing traces of predictability and spontaneity. In support of such a bold statement from a non-expert on Modernist writing, this piece examines the “Book of the Week” and “Book Notes” sections in the first five editions of The New Age, Volume One. With regards to the aforementioned predictability, examinations of the following reviews and notes demonstrate that as radical as their writers professed themselves to be, they maintained some consistency. After the first two book reviews, one almost comes to expect panegyrics or denunciations based on the book’s treatment of social conditions that the writers and their readership deemed key. Frequently, the reviews and notes place minor emphasis on the actual text and appear interested only in those aspects of the text that concern themselves with the general British welfare (from a Socialist perspective). Additionally, the aforementioned reviews in The New Age unfailingly elicit multi-vocal responses. Each piece could logically receive responses to the book reviewed; the reviewer; the author of the text; society in general; or even to the addressed social condition itself. Lastly, the book reviews and notes evidence a continual discourse between society and the literary art it produced (or that produced it, as some would undoubtedly argue). This last claim will be addressed as the articles are examined in detail.             The “Book of the Week” column of Issue No.1 is clearly much more than a book review. In it, Holbrook Jackson includes lots of extraneous information that though ends up being relevant, evidences the need for readers of The New Age to be well versed in the literary and historical happenings of the time. Though the review gives a very precise synopsis of “The Playboy of the Western World,” it nonetheless teems with allusions to the social compositions of England and Ireland and ends didactically with regards to the betterment of the nations’ social conditions. In support of the notion that the magazine’s literary critiques maintained the discourse between early 20th century English art and society is the “Book Notes” column of Issue No.1 in its recommendation of Oscar Wilde’s “Souls of Man Under Socialism.” Here, social conditions determine the topics that the writers address and those same topics in effect go to determine what society reads, writes, and no doubt talk about.             Issue No.2’s “Book of the Week” column exemplified the spontaneity this paper earlier accused The New Age of possessing. Unlike the detailed synopsis given in Issue No.1, only five sentences directly address the book being reviewed: Ramsay McDonald’s Labour and the Empire. The remainder of the review, however, remains consistent with that of Issue No.1 in its excessive treatment of aspects of Imperialism and local British history and sociopolitical culture. The “Book Note” for Issue No.2 is also in keeping with its Issue No.1 counterpart in that it recommends texts either related to Socialism, “modern commerce,” or the Fabian Society, important facets of early 20th c. Britain. The “Book of the Week” column of Issue No. 3 is both similar to and different from the previous two in that it addresses social concerns whilst paying almost equal attention to Tolstoy’s The Russian Revolution. This review actively engages in dialogue with the text, presenting direct excerpts that allow the reader to clearly see the bases of the reviewer’s arguments. The “Book Note” for this issue does nothing unique save that it blends professional mention with character dissection in its recommendation of G.K. Chesterton. Rather than solely mentioning Chesterton’s authorial endeavors, the column seeks to present personal aspects of the man in encouragement of book sales on his behalf.             The “Book of the Week” columns for both Issues No. 4 and 5 go to further evidence the claim that such reviews served as platforms for more than just book discussions. Issue No. 4’s review is a tirade on the absence of and dire need for amiability in Socialism/between professed Socialists (it is not completely clear for which he argues). It alludes to the book, An Anthology of Friendship, only twice: to compliment the editor on his precision and to concur with his notion of the role of friendship.   The “Book Notes” for the same Issue maintains the columnist’s noted habit of recognizing texts that primarily address issues of then contemporary concern, namely “the social system;” “the social and architectural features of the American metropolis;” and “social questions.”   The “Book of the Week” article for Issue No.5, though it shows pertinence between the text, A History of Factory Legislation, and aspects of society such as “Royal Commissions, Cabinet Councils…factory legislation” and the like, is again used to intensely address social conditions. Indeed, the reviewer admits to recommending the book because it is “the story of a national drama.” The same Issue’s “Book Notes” is the only of the five examined that maintains an equilibrium between allusions to British society and recommendations of texts.