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The Paris Review

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Founded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in 1953, The Paris Review began with a simple editorial mission: “Dear reader,” William Styron wrote in a letter in the inaugural issue, “The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines and putting it pretty much where it belongs, i.e., somewhere near the back of the book. I think The Paris Review should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good.”

Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the importan...more Founded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in 1953, The Paris Review began with a simple editorial mission: “Dear reader,” William Styron wrote in a letter in the inaugural issue, “The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines and putting it pretty much where it belongs, i.e., somewhere near the back of the book. I think The Paris Review should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good.”

Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones, and Rick Moody. Selections from Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy appeared in the fifth issue, one of his first publications in English. The magazine was also among the first to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, with the publication of his short story, “The Mexican Girl,” in 1955. Other milestones of contemporary literature, now widely anthologized, also first made their appearance in The Paris Review: Italo Calvino's Last Comes the Raven, Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Donald Barthelme's Alice, Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.

In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review’s Writers at Work interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan, and Lorrie Moore. In the words of one critic, it is “one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world.”(less)

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The Paris Review's Blog

The Paris Review isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

Francisco Goldman, Mexico City

A series on what writers from around the world see from their windows.

My desk is snugly ensconced in a front corner of the living room, facing wall and bookshelves, a wide window overlooking a park in Colonia Roma to the right, and on my left, the narrow side-window drawn by Matteo. I’m sharing the apartment with my friend Jon Lee, who is almost always traveling but he needed a Latin America...

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Published on June 01, 2012 13:09 • 2 views

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Books by The Paris Review

Average rating: 4.26 · 1,228 ratings · 199 reviews · 11 distinct works

	The Paris Review Interviews, I by The Paris Review (Introduction), Philip Gourevitch (Introduction) 4.40 avg rating — 405 ratings — published 2006 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Paris Review Interviews, II 4.30 avg rating — 199 ratings — published 2007	My rating:
	The Paris Review Book: of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, ... Else in the World Since 1953 by The Paris Review (Editor), George Plimpton (Introduction), S.X. Rosenstock 4.15 avg rating — 207 ratings — published 2003 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Paris Review Interviews, III 4.34 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 2008	My rating:
	The Paris Review Interviews, IV 4.44 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 2009 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms by The Paris Review, Richard Powers (Introduction) 3.71 avg rating — 90 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Paris Review Book of People with Problems by The Paris Review, Paris Review (Editor) 3.82 avg rating — 78 ratings — published 2005	My rating:
	The Paris Review Interviews (Boxed Set) I-IV by The Paris Review (Manufacturer), Picador USA 4.65 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2009	My rating:
	Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, The Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World since 1953 by The Paris Review, George Plimpton (Introduction) 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2003	My rating:
	Object Lessons: The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — expected publication 2012	My rating: