Some Words

There is an interview with Keith Gessen of n+1 in the NY Inquirer.

I had been on the fence about subscribing to n+1. I’ve got too many periodicals coming to my house. Gessen may have convinced me though.

Gessen also makes a point in the interview that does not relate to my subscribing or not subscribing. He says that there aren’t enough publishing points that young authors can aspire to. Blogs are not the answer, and he rightly points out that no one reads blogs about writing or literature, with the few exceptions being established authors. The New Yorker has become one of the few places that everyone knows about. It has thus become a barometer of success. If you’ve been in the New Yorker, it can be assumed that you’ve got some chops. The New Yorker, like all publishing ventures, has editors, and those editors have an idea of what is good. They do not cover all that is good, just what the editors like and have space to print.

Gessen says that this is part of the reason he works on n+1. There are other voices out there, voices that The New Yorker can’t cover. It wouldn’t hurt Slate, or other online periodicals like it, to take not of Gessen’s attitude. Just to pick on Slate for a moment, I can find one poem on their page, and that’s about it right now. More please.