Interesting piece, John, as always. I struggle to know what to take away from this, though. On the one hand, yes -- it's a bummer to see the review go away. On the other, by your own admission, you didn't read it. I don't read it. Nobody really reads it. I've also subscribe to a few journals (Northwestern Review, Paris Review), but this was for similar reasons (to support & for reconnaissance mostly). I didn't read them much at all and ultimately the subscriptions expired -- which didn't feel like much of a loss.
You talk about a market for this kind of stuff. I wonder if the market actually exists. Is there supply and demand for academic creative writing? I'm not so sure. My faith is pretty much lost in small journals, for a few reasons. 1) I don't read that way -- I read online, on my phone, or by purchasing books: that literary journals are falling off is not surprising and doesn't feel like a huge loss in my life 2) better alternatives exist, like Substack or social media, where writers can directly interface with their audience and direct them to their writing a.k.a. every writer is their own literary journal 3) there doesn't seem to be a huge correlation today between publishing in literary journals -> becoming the 10% of financially comfortable writers. 4) literary journals represent a past where art must be curated and selected by people who "know better," thus giving them power, whereas today the "consumer" decides what it is beautiful and interacts with that directly
Finally, you mention Fosse as an shining example of government support. But what I read in that section was another description of one of those 10% writers. How are other, lesser known writers in Norway fairing, I wonder? (And any comparison here is undercut by the dramatic difference in size and government as compared to the US).
All in all, I'm not sure what to take away. Is it unfortunate that the review is closing? Yes. Is it the wrong thing to do? I can't believe I'm saying it but, I'm not so sure. Do I like the idea of the cinema? Yes. Do I go anymore? Pretty much no. I'm not seeing an proofs in my life, or in the lives of others, supporting the idea that university journals are essential to the state of literature -- not in the era of the internet.
Interesting piece, John, as always. I struggle to know what to take away from this, though. On the one hand, yes -- it's a bummer to see the review go away. On the other, by your own admission, you didn't read it. I don't read it. Nobody really reads it. I've also subscribe to a few journals (Northwestern Review, Paris Review), but this was for similar reasons (to support & for reconnaissance mostly). I didn't read them much at all and ultimately the subscriptions expired -- which didn't feel like much of a loss.
You talk about a market for this kind of stuff. I wonder if the market actually exists. Is there supply and demand for academic creative writing? I'm not so sure. My faith is pretty much lost in small journals, for a few reasons. 1) I don't read that way -- I read online, on my phone, or by purchasing books: that literary journals are falling off is not surprising and doesn't feel like a huge loss in my life 2) better alternatives exist, like Substack or social media, where writers can directly interface with their audience and direct them to their writing a.k.a. every writer is their own literary journal 3) there doesn't seem to be a huge correlation today between publishing in literary journals -> becoming the 10% of financially comfortable writers. 4) literary journals represent a past where art must be curated and selected by people who "know better," thus giving them power, whereas today the "consumer" decides what it is beautiful and interacts with that directly
Finally, you mention Fosse as an shining example of government support. But what I read in that section was another description of one of those 10% writers. How are other, lesser known writers in Norway fairing, I wonder? (And any comparison here is undercut by the dramatic difference in size and government as compared to the US).
All in all, I'm not sure what to take away. Is it unfortunate that the review is closing? Yes. Is it the wrong thing to do? I can't believe I'm saying it but, I'm not so sure. Do I like the idea of the cinema? Yes. Do I go anymore? Pretty much no. I'm not seeing an proofs in my life, or in the lives of others, supporting the idea that university journals are essential to the state of literature -- not in the era of the internet.