Aug. 4, 2011

The Paris Review

From The Novelist Portent by Johnny E. Mahaffey (author's profile)

Transcription

July 19, 2011

I received my first issue of The Paris Review today in the mail, and I don't think many inmates get The Paris Review. Talk about some peculiar looks when people here in the inferno see me reading this type of material. All they're used to seeing in someone's hand is either an urban novel or a Maxim magazine. Now, don't get me wrong—I love Maxim, every issue. But the look when I get when reading The Paris Review, Tin House, The Sun, and Poets and Writers. I should be getting The Normal School soon too, another great literary magazine.

*https://www.thesunmagazine.org/
*https://www.thenormalschool.com/
*https://www.theparisreview.org/
*tinhouse.com/
*https://slicemagazine.org/
*https://www.pshares.org/
*https://www.one-story.com/

These are all really, really good magazines. And for anyone looking for guidance in writing, reading these is your best bet. As a matter of fact, a lot of the MPA programs for English and creative writing are starting to make these magazines and others like them part of the class.

This issue of The Paris Review did not let me down. The writing is great and the binding couldn't be better. It's made to last, that's for sure. And the prints of Laurel Nakadate, from the series 365 Days: A Catalog of Tears, made me feel a lot better and not so alone. Since I know now that on December 19, 2010, someone else was crying too...

[black-and-white profile drawing of a man crying in darkness.]

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