n+1 Issue 8: Recessional

by n+1, Philip Connors, Nicholas Dames

Recessional, Fall 2009: the editors on Marxism, Mark Greif on gay marriage and abortion, Elif Batuman's epic "Summer in Samarkand" (Part One), Marco Roth on the rise of the neuronovel, Emily Witt on Mozambique's cinema, Nikil Saval on the New Left Review. Plus fiction by Mexico's best untranslated novelist and more interviews with the Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager.

Genres: Essays

216 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

n+1 is a print journal of politics, literature, and culture, published originally twice a year and now three times a year.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like N+1, because it challenges me and makes me feel dumb like I used to when I was an undergrad, a feeling I really don't get often enough. It's good for me, because I don't like to feel dumb and this mag really challenges me, creates the strong sense that there are whole categories of thought I don't have even a passing awareness of.... I mean, the editor's essay took me an hour to read, and it's like, ten pages!

On other more specific fronts, this issue continues a general trend that is a little worrying, that the mag is evolving toward becoming more like other mags-- too much fiction in this issue, for starters (I'm a fiction writer, I love fiction, including fiction from N+1 editors), and all cut from the same cloth, stories about foreign cultures.

Every issue I think is a little miracle and a little warning of the mag's continued decline into being indistinguishable from all other mags I like but which blur together. This issue is no exception, on either front.

[Flannelhead]

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