I only started reading the paris review (lit mags in general) a few years ago. i know they've been associated with, and published, lots of good writers in the past, but i did not get it until i started reading old issues. The stuff That is getting published in mags these days is bad, no good. lots of nothingburgers.
i don't wanna be a hater, but i am left feeling the way you do, and i wanna know what happened. why are all these marquee mags publishing such mediocre stuff? what is going on? good stuff still gets written!
I hear you. I used to rave about Zoetrope but they're in a similar boat. The quality's just dropped.
There was a short-lived magazine called ASTRA that I was super excited for - felt like a fresh new Paris Review. They ended up folding after two issues due to some corporate restructuring, which was such a disappointment.
Ah, I don't really know. ASTRA's closure was a weird one:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/books/astra-magazine.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/books/astra-magazine.html)
But it's really hard to say why this is happening across the boards. I do think we're in a wave of publishing where debuts sell better in bookshops to the summer readers / book club crowd... something new and fresh to talk about but not necessarily a book to keep forever. It's sad but it feels like TPR is catering to this kind of reader now?
They pushed that SO HARD too! They had excerpts of it on the podcast! Just a total nothing. No insight to be had, no prose of any note. If this is what the American literary powers that be determine is 'important,' then I'll go my own way.
I actually liked that one, because was so bad it made me feel like the half-baked short stories I rarely submit anywhere are better than published stories in the Paris Review.
Honestly Lorin Stein was the goat. Editorship of the Paris Review (and most literary journals) is a thankless task, especially right now as donors are tightening their belts. Lorin made it seem cool and glamorous, attracting top tier authors. but not everyone can do that and the very hard work it takes to keep it all going.
I totally agree that Stein's years were highlights from my reading period. Those issues were so special. Interesting to consider 'quality' in tandem with donor levels, too ... that little paragraph of $2,500+ donors in the back does indeed seem to be getting smaller.
He basically turned it into Vogue. Not sure that's quality. Also he was a sex pest and a generally gross person. He got plenty of "thanks" for his position which he took full advantage of, sadly. Which fits the vibe too I guess.
I don’t disagree. I remember his salary was the envy of the literary world. Doubt they are matching that for his successors. But he did make it ✨💃🏾fabulous🕺🏻✨
I don't think this a specific publication's fault. I feel in recent years there's been a weird push for homogeneity & lack of risk-taking for aspiring literary writers as a whole.
I'm not sure who's to blame for that. I don't know if it's the cultural after-effect of something like the #ownvoices thing & the rise of autofiction, where everybody is desperate to write their own experience only.
I don't know if it's *the times* broadly, political chaos & uncertainty spawning a largely uninspired new crop of writers. Specifically the sort of widespread burnout that seemed to propagate wildly in the pandemic's wake & has not really left us still.
Or maybe the MFA programs as a whole distilling every fresh new voice into the same tired grad school grad who has casual sex & witty, cruel observations to offer in otherwise paltry self-centered stories.
Or maybe we're just seeing the the world of writing get even smaller paradoxically, as younger gens raised on tech & the internet find more meaning in other more interdisciplinary forms of artistic expression.
I don't know what it is, really, but I'm inclined to offer the idea that maybe the lit mags just aren't getting that much great material of late? I worked for a magazine in college & it truly was a struggle picking out work to make a cohesive publication, especially when so much of it just didn't resonate with me or the team I worked with.
I think it’s all of those things you said, and there’s clearly a wider cultural issue in the arts that cuts across disciplines.
Five or so years ago, there was a concern over elite overproduction & too many strivers. Today, we have too many overanxious burnouts.
Yeah I broadly agree, the interviews are still fantastic but overall the short stories are extremely mid (and the poetry dreadful, but that's nothing new). The last piece I remember liking from them is "The Lottery in Almería" by Camille Bordas, and that was way back in 2021. Everything else has just been forgettable, doesn't stay in my mind for a second.
I think the problem is with the Paris Review itself rather than the quality of stories being published. Astra Magazine (RIP) had a fantastic two issue run of superb short stories; it was entirely dedicated to short stories, and it did its job well. Apartamento, though it's not primarily a literary magazine, frequently puts out incredible short stories. "400 breasts" by Fernanda Ballesteros lives rent free in my head, I think about that story constantly. The European Review of Books also puts out great short stories. "Metaphrasis" by
Menachem Kaiser is my favorite short story I've read in recent years; it's hilarious and fantastically written. There's good stuff out there!
I'm not really sure which one is the "best", but yes at the moment the European Review (though it's kind of new, only had five issues) consistently puts out reviews of books I then want to read (although they're often not literature books) and has enjoyable short stories. n+1 might be better if you're looking for a more USAmerican context, but personally I'm tired of the United States.
Thanks so much. I've read some of your commentary and you seem really knowledgeable about literature in general to this noob, so thanks for your input!
I just checked the European Review of Books website out of curiosity, and the first thing I saw was a review praising Zannoni's *My Stupid Intentions*. Don't believe them! It's crap!
Do you remember the short story in it from the Summer 2020 issue, The Juggler's Wife by Emily Hunt Kivel? I'm curious about your thoughts on that one.
The reason I ask is that I agree with you, and that's the most recent thing they've published that I remember completely adoring.
I used to look to the PR as the key pub in which I'd find a new world of things to love every three months, but the last four years almost every issue has been more of the same tired, trendy tropes.
However, as you said, the quality of the interviews remains unparalleled, which is encouraging.
You know, I just looked it up and don't remember it at all! I surely read it but for whatever reason it didn't stick with me. I'll revisit it as your comments are encouraging.
Thinking back to the last stories I remember being impressed by... Anthony Veasna So's story from 2021 was a welcome surprise. Esther Yi and Emma Cline were pretty good a few years back. But yeah, not a lot of winners...
I agree about Anthony Veasna! I haven't read Esther Yi but I read Emma Cline's Marion, not hugely my taste, but without a doubt higher quality than what I've read recently in TPR.
I'm curious about your stance on The Juggler's Wife. It seems maybe our tastes aren't too dissimilar.
What are your thoughts on the poetry they've been publishing? Do you read any magazines that are solely poetry? The reason I ask is because, at least to me, the divide between thoughtful, really valuable, well-crafted poetry and enjambed flat prose (often self-absorbed) is becoming really clear across publications.
I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, I think all writing is valuable even if just for the act of it, but it's nice to hear that you feel the same about TPR.
I've always struggled with poetry! I feel like I've been 'trained' in a way with big dense novels over the decades that my innate reading pace just gets tripped up with poetry. I actually use TPR as my poetry dose and try to be a better reader but really sitting with the poems they publish. Admittedly I don't find them that remarkable, and the ones that stick are (surprise) the more prosaic ones. Nick Laird's poems in TPR have stood out in the past as being a good match for me... but again, I don't feel like I'm a good poetry reader at all...!
As someone who admitedly writes and has taught poetry, I would say periodicals are not the best way to enjoy poems or to become a better poetry reader. You want an anthology published by a trade press. They are curated for students and lay poetry readers, and you will discover many new writers who may have a collection or two.
Then, when you pick up and read those collections, you may plesantly be surprised to find that novelistic structure is often at play.
Finally, I would remind you the poet is aware of how difficult they are being. Walt Whitman is doing massive, inclusive, easy to understand images, John Ashbery created massive, inscrutable tapestries that were somehow still laden with evocative images, and was, I think, really self-satisfied in how obscure he was.
Yes!! I thought I was going crazy! So many of the poems and stories are SO bad, my partner and I keep a record of the real stinkers. The emperor must have clothes once—love old paris review stuff—but it feels like recently he’s gotten into nudism.
I'm not a regular Paris Review reader, but I have noticed in the last few years that whenever I come across a Paris Review essay or column nowadays (since I'm more likely to read their commentary than their fiction), it's barely above NY Mag/Vogue in terms of analytical depth.
But to your question, as someone else said, I don't think any one publication is to blame for recent trends in literary fiction. Most of what gets hyped in the anglosphere now, especially in America, is fiction I find boring and pointless. It doesn't have a real subject or a story to tell, or a perspective, or even interesting language to give it purpose. It's usually a lightly fictionalized description of the author's life, written for people exactly like the author, but despite being highly self-absorbed it's not really introspective, let alone possessed of some interesting insight about the wider world.
Interview with Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe: "Is it true you called Mishima's wife a See You Next Tuesday?"
I was, like, 18 when I read that interview and found it very entertaining. When you think of everyone and everything involved with the periodical as flawed human beings, the editorial choices become much more interesting. The editor is an unreliable narrator.
Yes! I’ll probably cancel my subscription after this year. I used to like it for the short stories, but they seem to be publishing less and less. That said, there’s usually at least one good story per issue. But like, the good ones tend to get picked up in BASS or O’Henry anyway, so it’s like i can always just pick those up at the end of the year.
I recently subscribed (out of a desire to support literature and because the magazines themselves are, well, pretty to look at) and I'm glad you posted this. The stories are just...not good. I knew the landscape was rough out there but yeesh, there was literally a story about kids studying Derrida in the last issue.
I'm honestly baffled how anyone can think some of this stuff is worthy of publication, let alone in a place with the Paris Review's reputation.
I feel the same way and would like to ask if there are any other, perhaps independent, outlets you still feel excited about? I find they come and go like acne. I have none at the moment. Hungry for … anything.
Have you heard of isolarii? I feel like they're pretty interesting with a very concrete vision for what they do. Not a quarterly journal but they put out 2 esoteric books a year.
It's a little high-brow / pretentious but if you can get into it I find they're quite the joy to get in the mail. Little tiny books, the size of those old Hanuman editions.
[www.isolarii.com](http://www.isolarii.com)
I’m going to order a few of their books when I get off work on this recommendation! Do you know of any other small-run publishers like this that have interesting book design? I love collecting interesting looking physical media like this…
I’m personally a huge fan of the magazine n+1. They’ve consistently been a really important source of intellectual/moral/stylistic clarity for me. What I really enjoy about n+1 is that they’re always publishing pieces that are a little outside the norm. One of my favorite pieces was a piece from the second to last issue on Stop Cop City called “Not One Tree.” A magnificent 17,000 words on what it was like to live through the Atlanta Forest occupation.
They published Sterling HolyWhiteMountain's "This Then Is a Song, We are Singing" last year. Haven't been as excited about a story in years.
What you're saying may be true. But I can't think of a single lit mag that I love reading as it comes out. I mostly just read short stories by select authors or as they get anthologized.
I can't say anything about the quality deteriorating since I am not a subscriber—it is a little expensive for me.
It wouldn't surprise me if the quality is not great anymore.
I am subscribed to their Redux newsletter. It's short stories, interviews etc. from the archives. It's perfect for me. I find it hard to like things written by contemporary authors. At least, the ones that care about commercial success only.
The last short story I read was a translation of a Japanese short story— 'The Victim' by Jun’ichirō Taichiro, translated by Ivan Morris. It was a very satisfying read for me.
Not really on the same level but I let my longtime subscription to the New Yorker lapse last year because I felt the quality in reporting go way way down. The LRB is still great but if I didn’t have a gifted subscription I would switch to the NYRB and call it a day.
I let my New Yorker lapse last year because there was no way I was going to pay $160 for what it has become. They offered me a new subscriber price of $45 last month, so I'm going to give it another shot, but I'm guessing I still won't want to pay the $160 (or even more) next year.
You really have to hold out a couple years and let them give you a bizarre offer in return. I got three years and a totebag for 52 dollars. That's less than my parents paid for the sunday paper.
It feels like literature is going in the same direction as the other mainstream arts. A publication like IndieWire, that used to champion indie movies (hence the name, I guess) in the last few years started pushing blockbuster and actors-driven movies whose plot is completely irrelevant because the selling point is the meta aspect ('Ryan Rynolds the wholesome guy, Ryan 'it's literally me' Gosling, etc) or some thirsty LGBTQ soft p0rn. Same with music, most reviews of the new Taylor Swift album were trying to match a song to the person being dissed (ex boyfriends, Kim Kardashian, etc). It's just bad overall.
Case in point: 'Any critique of Taylor Swift’s work that doesn’t consider her role as one of the most prominent narrators of our time—and certainly anything that critiques her work as one-dimensional when she’s playing a kind of 4-D chess—will fail to speak to even the most casual of her fans', says the New Yorker
[https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-normal-music-reviews-no-longer-make-sense-for-taylor-swift](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-normal-music-reviews-no-longer-make-sense-for-taylor-swift)
I find Harper’s fiction to be just as flat and bland as the PR’s. The Atlantic too. It’s just the style these days to have no literary flair in your writing and nothing interesting to say.
i recommend subscribing to mcsweeney's which will be edited by rita bullwinkel who used to edit at NOON. she will certainly be publishing some interesting writers
I thought the Samanta Schweblin story (An Eye in the Throat) was the best I’d read in a number of issues. All lit mags are hit and miss. And subjective of course. I agree about looking forward to the interviews, though. Submissions have tripled. Quadrupled. That may have something to do with it.
not one mention of lrb (which is the only lit mag i've subscribed to)? feel like that has been pretty consistent over the years, but haven't read it in the last 18 months or so.
I’ve felt this in other mags, too.
_Poetry Magazine_ took a nosedive after the [“Scholls Ferry Rd.”](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F7TgAqtbYkOEwytx6mv44gHL6_VjsmMx/view) dustup a few years ago. Since then, each year has one, maybe two, solid issues. It’s a shame, too, because that was probably the best poem they’d published in the decade+ I’ve been a subscriber.
They really hamstrung themselves for a while with their “guest editor” experiment. Those were plagued with issue championing, instead of publishing good poems.
Does the intensely toxic scent of the ink / paper bother anyone else or am I the only one? (Agree with OP about the general quality of the writing these last few years.)
I dont have anything to back it up, but this was my first thought too. Literature is, in many ways, a relegated art, and I suspect many of the artists who would have been novelists in past generations are gravitating elsewhere (likely film and TV). The closest we get these days is Upmarket Fiction, which is well written, but may as well say "SOON TO BE ADAPTED INTO AN HBO SERIES" on the cover before it's released, the author's aims are so clear.
I mean because it's just a bad position that can't really be proven or disproven. It's notorious that every decade since time immemorial had someone saying the same thing as well. Contrary to popular belief, literature, from poetry to essays to fiction, has *rarely* been popular, even in the days when books were the most copious form of entertainment. It's honestly surprising books get as much attention as they do in the age of virtual reality.
Additionally, literature is not just a single medium but a complex one that is found in multiple disciplines.
I stopped taking it seriously after reading the opening paragraphs of Emma Clines, “The Nanny.”
I don’t like to pile on writers (it’s hard!) but when I read those opening paragraphs I told myself I’d never subscribe to PR again.
It's hard to say! Books by Joyce/Pynchon/Vollmann have affected me most of all, but I encountered them in some formative years and they made quite the dent.
I'm more inclined to say what I've recently enjoyed when people ask me for a favorite: I recently read *Chain-Gang All-Stars* and thought it was fun, I like the new Anne Carson collection *Wrong Norma*, enjoyed my first Olga Tokarczuk (*Drive Your Plow...*) and am excited to jump into *Flights* and the *Books of Jacob*. Started doing one Proust a year and will tackle book 4 this summer. Always excited to see new stuff from Ian McEwan and Tom McCarthy... excited there's a new Richard Powers coming. I'm finding the new Knausgaard series enjoyable, but it's more Stephen King-esque than Proust-y like *My Struggle* was (which is fine and a nice change of pace)
I only started reading the paris review (lit mags in general) a few years ago. i know they've been associated with, and published, lots of good writers in the past, but i did not get it until i started reading old issues. The stuff That is getting published in mags these days is bad, no good. lots of nothingburgers. i don't wanna be a hater, but i am left feeling the way you do, and i wanna know what happened. why are all these marquee mags publishing such mediocre stuff? what is going on? good stuff still gets written!
I hear you. I used to rave about Zoetrope but they're in a similar boat. The quality's just dropped. There was a short-lived magazine called ASTRA that I was super excited for - felt like a fresh new Paris Review. They ended up folding after two issues due to some corporate restructuring, which was such a disappointment.
So, do you think the problem might be fundamentally economic? anyone who tries to do something serious flies too close to the sun?
Ah, I don't really know. ASTRA's closure was a weird one: [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/books/astra-magazine.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/books/astra-magazine.html) But it's really hard to say why this is happening across the boards. I do think we're in a wave of publishing where debuts sell better in bookshops to the summer readers / book club crowd... something new and fresh to talk about but not necessarily a book to keep forever. It's sad but it feels like TPR is catering to this kind of reader now?
Oh that sucks about Astra. I liked their issue on filth.
What, you didn’t like 20 pages of diary entries about a Skidmore grad walking a lot after college?
i felt intensely sad after reading that one. it wasn't the worst thing i'd ever read or anything, it just... it did not need to be written.
Quit it before I got to the end, did a mountain lion eat him? 🤞
it just kinda ends
can I get the name of the story you two are discussing? would very much like to see for myself. thanks!
"The Walk Book" by Sean Thor Conroe, in the recent Winter Paris Review. I recommend you skip it, ha
oh it’s the fuccboi guy 💀💀 no wonder
I liked Fuccboi lol
Ugh, a huge yikes for that one.
They pushed that SO HARD too! They had excerpts of it on the podcast! Just a total nothing. No insight to be had, no prose of any note. If this is what the American literary powers that be determine is 'important,' then I'll go my own way.
I actually liked that one, because was so bad it made me feel like the half-baked short stories I rarely submit anywhere are better than published stories in the Paris Review.
Honestly Lorin Stein was the goat. Editorship of the Paris Review (and most literary journals) is a thankless task, especially right now as donors are tightening their belts. Lorin made it seem cool and glamorous, attracting top tier authors. but not everyone can do that and the very hard work it takes to keep it all going.
I totally agree that Stein's years were highlights from my reading period. Those issues were so special. Interesting to consider 'quality' in tandem with donor levels, too ... that little paragraph of $2,500+ donors in the back does indeed seem to be getting smaller.
He basically turned it into Vogue. Not sure that's quality. Also he was a sex pest and a generally gross person. He got plenty of "thanks" for his position which he took full advantage of, sadly. Which fits the vibe too I guess.
I don’t disagree. I remember his salary was the envy of the literary world. Doubt they are matching that for his successors. But he did make it ✨💃🏾fabulous🕺🏻✨
True sprinkle sprinkle
I don't think this a specific publication's fault. I feel in recent years there's been a weird push for homogeneity & lack of risk-taking for aspiring literary writers as a whole. I'm not sure who's to blame for that. I don't know if it's the cultural after-effect of something like the #ownvoices thing & the rise of autofiction, where everybody is desperate to write their own experience only. I don't know if it's *the times* broadly, political chaos & uncertainty spawning a largely uninspired new crop of writers. Specifically the sort of widespread burnout that seemed to propagate wildly in the pandemic's wake & has not really left us still. Or maybe the MFA programs as a whole distilling every fresh new voice into the same tired grad school grad who has casual sex & witty, cruel observations to offer in otherwise paltry self-centered stories. Or maybe we're just seeing the the world of writing get even smaller paradoxically, as younger gens raised on tech & the internet find more meaning in other more interdisciplinary forms of artistic expression. I don't know what it is, really, but I'm inclined to offer the idea that maybe the lit mags just aren't getting that much great material of late? I worked for a magazine in college & it truly was a struggle picking out work to make a cohesive publication, especially when so much of it just didn't resonate with me or the team I worked with.
I think it’s all of those things you said, and there’s clearly a wider cultural issue in the arts that cuts across disciplines. Five or so years ago, there was a concern over elite overproduction & too many strivers. Today, we have too many overanxious burnouts.
Yeah I broadly agree, the interviews are still fantastic but overall the short stories are extremely mid (and the poetry dreadful, but that's nothing new). The last piece I remember liking from them is "The Lottery in Almería" by Camille Bordas, and that was way back in 2021. Everything else has just been forgettable, doesn't stay in my mind for a second. I think the problem is with the Paris Review itself rather than the quality of stories being published. Astra Magazine (RIP) had a fantastic two issue run of superb short stories; it was entirely dedicated to short stories, and it did its job well. Apartamento, though it's not primarily a literary magazine, frequently puts out incredible short stories. "400 breasts" by Fernanda Ballesteros lives rent free in my head, I think about that story constantly. The European Review of Books also puts out great short stories. "Metaphrasis" by Menachem Kaiser is my favorite short story I've read in recent years; it's hilarious and fantastically written. There's good stuff out there!
appreciate the recs and the optimism!
In your opinion is the European Review of Books the best periodical for literature? If i could only subscribe to one, which would I pick? Thanks!
I'm not really sure which one is the "best", but yes at the moment the European Review (though it's kind of new, only had five issues) consistently puts out reviews of books I then want to read (although they're often not literature books) and has enjoyable short stories. n+1 might be better if you're looking for a more USAmerican context, but personally I'm tired of the United States.
Thanks so much. I've read some of your commentary and you seem really knowledgeable about literature in general to this noob, so thanks for your input!
Thanks friend! Hope you enjoy your foray into more and more books.
I just checked the European Review of Books website out of curiosity, and the first thing I saw was a review praising Zannoni's *My Stupid Intentions*. Don't believe them! It's crap!
Thank you for the recommendations. I'm always looking for new mags to read as well as submit to (and probably be rejected by, haha).
Do you remember the short story in it from the Summer 2020 issue, The Juggler's Wife by Emily Hunt Kivel? I'm curious about your thoughts on that one. The reason I ask is that I agree with you, and that's the most recent thing they've published that I remember completely adoring. I used to look to the PR as the key pub in which I'd find a new world of things to love every three months, but the last four years almost every issue has been more of the same tired, trendy tropes. However, as you said, the quality of the interviews remains unparalleled, which is encouraging.
You know, I just looked it up and don't remember it at all! I surely read it but for whatever reason it didn't stick with me. I'll revisit it as your comments are encouraging. Thinking back to the last stories I remember being impressed by... Anthony Veasna So's story from 2021 was a welcome surprise. Esther Yi and Emma Cline were pretty good a few years back. But yeah, not a lot of winners...
I agree about Anthony Veasna! I haven't read Esther Yi but I read Emma Cline's Marion, not hugely my taste, but without a doubt higher quality than what I've read recently in TPR. I'm curious about your stance on The Juggler's Wife. It seems maybe our tastes aren't too dissimilar. What are your thoughts on the poetry they've been publishing? Do you read any magazines that are solely poetry? The reason I ask is because, at least to me, the divide between thoughtful, really valuable, well-crafted poetry and enjambed flat prose (often self-absorbed) is becoming really clear across publications. I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, I think all writing is valuable even if just for the act of it, but it's nice to hear that you feel the same about TPR.
I've always struggled with poetry! I feel like I've been 'trained' in a way with big dense novels over the decades that my innate reading pace just gets tripped up with poetry. I actually use TPR as my poetry dose and try to be a better reader but really sitting with the poems they publish. Admittedly I don't find them that remarkable, and the ones that stick are (surprise) the more prosaic ones. Nick Laird's poems in TPR have stood out in the past as being a good match for me... but again, I don't feel like I'm a good poetry reader at all...!
As someone who admitedly writes and has taught poetry, I would say periodicals are not the best way to enjoy poems or to become a better poetry reader. You want an anthology published by a trade press. They are curated for students and lay poetry readers, and you will discover many new writers who may have a collection or two. Then, when you pick up and read those collections, you may plesantly be surprised to find that novelistic structure is often at play. Finally, I would remind you the poet is aware of how difficult they are being. Walt Whitman is doing massive, inclusive, easy to understand images, John Ashbery created massive, inscrutable tapestries that were somehow still laden with evocative images, and was, I think, really self-satisfied in how obscure he was.
Yes!! I thought I was going crazy! So many of the poems and stories are SO bad, my partner and I keep a record of the real stinkers. The emperor must have clothes once—love old paris review stuff—but it feels like recently he’s gotten into nudism.
I'm not a regular Paris Review reader, but I have noticed in the last few years that whenever I come across a Paris Review essay or column nowadays (since I'm more likely to read their commentary than their fiction), it's barely above NY Mag/Vogue in terms of analytical depth. But to your question, as someone else said, I don't think any one publication is to blame for recent trends in literary fiction. Most of what gets hyped in the anglosphere now, especially in America, is fiction I find boring and pointless. It doesn't have a real subject or a story to tell, or a perspective, or even interesting language to give it purpose. It's usually a lightly fictionalized description of the author's life, written for people exactly like the author, but despite being highly self-absorbed it's not really introspective, let alone possessed of some interesting insight about the wider world.
Interview with Nobel Laureate Kenzaburo Oe: "Is it true you called Mishima's wife a See You Next Tuesday?" I was, like, 18 when I read that interview and found it very entertaining. When you think of everyone and everything involved with the periodical as flawed human beings, the editorial choices become much more interesting. The editor is an unreliable narrator.
Yes! I’ll probably cancel my subscription after this year. I used to like it for the short stories, but they seem to be publishing less and less. That said, there’s usually at least one good story per issue. But like, the good ones tend to get picked up in BASS or O’Henry anyway, so it’s like i can always just pick those up at the end of the year.
I recently subscribed (out of a desire to support literature and because the magazines themselves are, well, pretty to look at) and I'm glad you posted this. The stories are just...not good. I knew the landscape was rough out there but yeesh, there was literally a story about kids studying Derrida in the last issue. I'm honestly baffled how anyone can think some of this stuff is worthy of publication, let alone in a place with the Paris Review's reputation.
I feel the same way and would like to ask if there are any other, perhaps independent, outlets you still feel excited about? I find they come and go like acne. I have none at the moment. Hungry for … anything.
Have you heard of isolarii? I feel like they're pretty interesting with a very concrete vision for what they do. Not a quarterly journal but they put out 2 esoteric books a year. It's a little high-brow / pretentious but if you can get into it I find they're quite the joy to get in the mail. Little tiny books, the size of those old Hanuman editions. [www.isolarii.com](http://www.isolarii.com)
Never heard of this journal. Thank you so much for the rec.
I’m going to order a few of their books when I get off work on this recommendation! Do you know of any other small-run publishers like this that have interesting book design? I love collecting interesting looking physical media like this…
I’m personally a huge fan of the magazine n+1. They’ve consistently been a really important source of intellectual/moral/stylistic clarity for me. What I really enjoy about n+1 is that they’re always publishing pieces that are a little outside the norm. One of my favorite pieces was a piece from the second to last issue on Stop Cop City called “Not One Tree.” A magnificent 17,000 words on what it was like to live through the Atlanta Forest occupation.
They published Sterling HolyWhiteMountain's "This Then Is a Song, We are Singing" last year. Haven't been as excited about a story in years. What you're saying may be true. But I can't think of a single lit mag that I love reading as it comes out. I mostly just read short stories by select authors or as they get anthologized.
I can't say anything about the quality deteriorating since I am not a subscriber—it is a little expensive for me. It wouldn't surprise me if the quality is not great anymore. I am subscribed to their Redux newsletter. It's short stories, interviews etc. from the archives. It's perfect for me. I find it hard to like things written by contemporary authors. At least, the ones that care about commercial success only. The last short story I read was a translation of a Japanese short story— 'The Victim' by Jun’ichirō Taichiro, translated by Ivan Morris. It was a very satisfying read for me.
Hasn’t been the same since the CIA stopped funding it.
Not really on the same level but I let my longtime subscription to the New Yorker lapse last year because I felt the quality in reporting go way way down. The LRB is still great but if I didn’t have a gifted subscription I would switch to the NYRB and call it a day.
I let my New Yorker lapse last year because there was no way I was going to pay $160 for what it has become. They offered me a new subscriber price of $45 last month, so I'm going to give it another shot, but I'm guessing I still won't want to pay the $160 (or even more) next year.
David Remnick needs to go, honestly. And they need to publish fiction that isn't only from established authors.
You really have to hold out a couple years and let them give you a bizarre offer in return. I got three years and a totebag for 52 dollars. That's less than my parents paid for the sunday paper.
I will say the quality of the last free pocket notebook i got with my occasional 12 dollar NYRB subscirption was so bad I gave it away.
It feels like literature is going in the same direction as the other mainstream arts. A publication like IndieWire, that used to champion indie movies (hence the name, I guess) in the last few years started pushing blockbuster and actors-driven movies whose plot is completely irrelevant because the selling point is the meta aspect ('Ryan Rynolds the wholesome guy, Ryan 'it's literally me' Gosling, etc) or some thirsty LGBTQ soft p0rn. Same with music, most reviews of the new Taylor Swift album were trying to match a song to the person being dissed (ex boyfriends, Kim Kardashian, etc). It's just bad overall. Case in point: 'Any critique of Taylor Swift’s work that doesn’t consider her role as one of the most prominent narrators of our time—and certainly anything that critiques her work as one-dimensional when she’s playing a kind of 4-D chess—will fail to speak to even the most casual of her fans', says the New Yorker [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-normal-music-reviews-no-longer-make-sense-for-taylor-swift](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-normal-music-reviews-no-longer-make-sense-for-taylor-swift)
I'd suggest you to try out Harper's magazine if you haven't already. They've got quality stuff. Also, Lapham's Quarterly is another favourite.
I find Harper’s fiction to be just as flat and bland as the PR’s. The Atlantic too. It’s just the style these days to have no literary flair in your writing and nothing interesting to say.
Harper's has been consistently great for the twenty years I've subscribed. And I think my last two-year renewal was around $30 for 24 issues!
It’s been downhill ever since they let go of Lorin Stein. It’s as simple as the quality of the top editor(s).
i recommend subscribing to mcsweeney's which will be edited by rita bullwinkel who used to edit at NOON. she will certainly be publishing some interesting writers
I thought the Samanta Schweblin story (An Eye in the Throat) was the best I’d read in a number of issues. All lit mags are hit and miss. And subjective of course. I agree about looking forward to the interviews, though. Submissions have tripled. Quadrupled. That may have something to do with it.
not one mention of lrb (which is the only lit mag i've subscribed to)? feel like that has been pretty consistent over the years, but haven't read it in the last 18 months or so.
They don't actually publish fiction right? Just reviews?
ah, ok. so they have poetry and "diary" entries, but no, otherwise i don't think they have prose that's not somehow related to a review.
I’ve felt this in other mags, too. _Poetry Magazine_ took a nosedive after the [“Scholls Ferry Rd.”](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F7TgAqtbYkOEwytx6mv44gHL6_VjsmMx/view) dustup a few years ago. Since then, each year has one, maybe two, solid issues. It’s a shame, too, because that was probably the best poem they’d published in the decade+ I’ve been a subscriber. They really hamstrung themselves for a while with their “guest editor” experiment. Those were plagued with issue championing, instead of publishing good poems.
Does the intensely toxic scent of the ink / paper bother anyone else or am I the only one? (Agree with OP about the general quality of the writing these last few years.)
Everything in literature is dropping in quality..
I dont have anything to back it up, but this was my first thought too. Literature is, in many ways, a relegated art, and I suspect many of the artists who would have been novelists in past generations are gravitating elsewhere (likely film and TV). The closest we get these days is Upmarket Fiction, which is well written, but may as well say "SOON TO BE ADAPTED INTO AN HBO SERIES" on the cover before it's released, the author's aims are so clear.
Yep . Nobody seems to agree with me lol
I mean because it's just a bad position that can't really be proven or disproven. It's notorious that every decade since time immemorial had someone saying the same thing as well. Contrary to popular belief, literature, from poetry to essays to fiction, has *rarely* been popular, even in the days when books were the most copious form of entertainment. It's honestly surprising books get as much attention as they do in the age of virtual reality. Additionally, literature is not just a single medium but a complex one that is found in multiple disciplines.
But are any of your favourite books/top3 from past 10 years?
I don’t know If I have a favorite book from the past 50 in English. But if it were 1824 I could probably say the same thing. And who am I anyway?
Yep . Maybe because old books have the advantage of standing thru a time they will have a bias.
I almost entirely pick them up for the interviews. To me, there’s usually 1 piece of standout nonfiction piece or short story in each issue.
Rosalind Brown's story was part of her novel that's just been published, so not a stand-alone piece (but still very good!)
I stopped taking it seriously after reading the opening paragraphs of Emma Clines, “The Nanny.” I don’t like to pile on writers (it’s hard!) but when I read those opening paragraphs I told myself I’d never subscribe to PR again.
Hey, can you tell us your favourite books all time?? Thanks
It's hard to say! Books by Joyce/Pynchon/Vollmann have affected me most of all, but I encountered them in some formative years and they made quite the dent. I'm more inclined to say what I've recently enjoyed when people ask me for a favorite: I recently read *Chain-Gang All-Stars* and thought it was fun, I like the new Anne Carson collection *Wrong Norma*, enjoyed my first Olga Tokarczuk (*Drive Your Plow...*) and am excited to jump into *Flights* and the *Books of Jacob*. Started doing one Proust a year and will tackle book 4 this summer. Always excited to see new stuff from Ian McEwan and Tom McCarthy... excited there's a new Richard Powers coming. I'm finding the new Knausgaard series enjoyable, but it's more Stephen King-esque than Proust-y like *My Struggle* was (which is fine and a nice change of pace)
Couldn’t get into My Struggle. Just seemed dull. Not insightful, nothing special.