The Magazine Rack: The Paris Review, VQR, and New Reviews
By Steve Black, Coll. of Saint Rose, Albany, NY Nov 4, 2010The recent editorial shake-up at the Paris Review has set atwitter the creative writing community over some unusual reversals of prior editors' decisions. According to a July 16, 2010, account by Zeke Turner in the New York Observer, editor Lorin Stein brought in Robyn Creswell as the new poetry editor to replace Meghan O'Rourke and Dan Chiasson. Apparently several poems the old editors had in the queue for upcoming issues were canned by Creswell and Stein, who informed the unlucky authors, via "Dear John" letters, that there was regrettably no space to publish their already accepted works. To the affected poets this must have felt like getting bumped from their airline seat for a flight home to visit Mom, except there was no offer to make up the loss. For a more complete account and considerable commentary by writers keenly interested in this stuff, see my colleague Dan Nester's July 19 blog entry.
In a boon for readers, though, the Paris Review recently added to their artfully designed website the full archive of interviews with authors. It's an impressive collection of discussions with such luminaries of 20th-century literature as T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, Jack Kerouac, and Arthur Miller, just to name a few.
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On July 30, 2010, Kevin Morrissey, managing editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, called 911 to report gunfire then fatally shot himself in the head. Stories in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Washington Post suggested that VQR's editor Ted Genoways bullied Morrissey into feeling he couldn't bear the stress of his job, or life, any longer. The degree to which workplace bullying may have played a role in Morrissey's death is investigated in some detail by Emily Bazelon in Slate. She concludes that the story is complicated, and that the evidence available to her as a journalist leaves in doubt whether Genoways's expressed frustration over office dysfunctions classifies as bullying.
A New York Times article about the matter focuses on the uncertain future of VQR. The Fall 2010 issue has been published, but the Winter issue has been cancelled, and the journal's future is in some doubt. On October 20, the University of Virginia reported the results of its internal investigation (PDF). The report does not substantiate the charge of bullying but does point out some weaknesses in Genoways's editorial leadership. No definitive word is given on the future of VQR, but the report implies it will resume publication if a new organizational structure can be created by October 2011.
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Reviews this month are of three magazines of art, culture, and literature. All have attractive and intelligently designed web versions. Two of the three are also available in print.
Assembly. 2010. s-a. $15. free online. Aud: GA (Subject: Literature. Issue examined: Issue 1, 2010)
Not to be confused with the manufacturing trade journal Assembly Magazine (ISSN 1050-8171), this new journal of literature, culture, and the visual arts is free online and available in print by subscription. Submission guidelines call for "short stories, narrative nonfiction, essays, interviews, poetry, photography, art and design." The inaugural issue includes essays on digital sheet music, online stalking, and reflections on the role of modern medicine in childbirth. There are a photo-essay that captures impoverished lives in snowy Canada and a piece about indie rock musician Matthew Friedberger. The examined issue includes an entertaining and informative collection of contributors' five favorite books. The magazine's website is simple, clean, and easy to navigate. Assembly is a solid entry into the crowded but fluid market for literary magazines, so it's worth a look for collections of contemporary literature.
Burner Magazine (online). 2010. q. free online. Aud: GA (Subject: Pop Art. Issue examined: Issue 1, Sept. 2010)
Several publishers have employed Adobe Flash to re-create visually the experience of turning magazine pages, but with mixed success. Oftentimes the text on a typical screen is far too small to comfortably read. Burner gets it right by using an expansive design with lots of "white space" (actually variously colored) and sufficiently large fonts. Graphics and text have high enough resolution to remain sharp at various zoom levels. As for content, Burner features a mix of avant-garde short fiction, poetry, and visual art. The editors promise "to get your blood pumping, heart racing, and to induce literary and visual crushes." But for an avant-garde publication, the examined issue of Burner is actually quite inoffensive, sparing readers those "OMG, I didn't expect to see that!" moments upon turning a page. The examined issue is more funky than provocative, more wistful than salacious. Burner is well produced and fun to read, so it's a good publication to link to from catalogs in libraries with collections of contemporary arts.
Elephant. 2009. q. print €64.99, online €29.99. ISSN 1879-3835. Aud: Ac, GA (Subject: Art. Issue examined: Issue 3, Summer 2010)
The WorldCat record for this art journal indicates that it continues Graphic Magazine (ISSN 1569-4119), but the scope of the new offering by Netherlands-based Frame Publishers goes far beyond graphic arts. Editor in chief Marc Valli expresses a desire to present art that reflects contemporary culture, whether it's found in galleries, on film sets, in animation studios, as graffiti, or in magazines. Elephant brings a serious but informal attitude to works that might not otherwise be taken seriously. It is primarily made up of interviews with artists, accompanied by high-quality images of their works. A weakness of the otherwise expertly produced Elephant is that the interviewees sometimes refer to works not pictured. Some readers might wish for a little more critique to put the interviews into a critical context, but the format successfully gives each artist his or her voice. Elephant provides primary-source information about contemporary art. The print magazine has high-quality paper and printing on par with the likes of Flash Art (ISSN 0394-1493) and Communication Arts (ISSN 0010-3519), but it has much less advertising than those titles. Elephant's fresh perspective provides a fine addition to any collection of graphic or popular arts.
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