No. 01
The Debut Issue! Marilynne Robinson's argument for fiction; Charles D'Ambrosio's dead fish museum; Kelly Link's origin story; Lucy Raven digs a hole to China; Antoine Wilson eavesdrops; Ian Chillag on the Buffalo Creek flood; John Haskell on Bertolt Brecht; Peter Orner on Anton Chekhov; poems by Peter Gizzi, Katia Kapovich, Melissa Monroe, and others; Japan: America Inverted, a Focus portfolio; and introducing Tim O'Sullivan.
Feature
Letter from the Editor
No. 01 • Brigid Hughes
Over the course of the past year, the recurring debate over the value of fiction seems to have intensified. Why do we read it? Why do we write it? Does it still matter?If You See Something
Gob Damned
No. 01 • Ian Chillag
Chances are, if you lived in southern West Virginia in the middle of the twentieth century, my grandfather had his hands on you, either on your way in or your way out.If You See Something
In Boca
No. 01 • Antoine Wilson
Hungry from travel, we hit the hotel restaurant.If You See Something
Inspired by a True Story
No. 01 • Rick Moody
“Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.”If You See Something
And the Women Are Tutsi
No. 01 • Anna Deavere Smith
Hope Azeda is a beautiful woman.Poetry
Three Poems
No. 01 • Eamon Grennan
Might words like relish, savor, endure be a way to end the year?Poetry
A Panic that Can Still Come Upon Me
No. 01 • Peter Gizzi
If today and today I am calling aloud / If I break into pieces of glitter on asphaltFiction
Galileo
No. 01 • John Haskell
The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht was first performed in 1947 at a theater on La Cienega Boulevard, and Charles Laughton played the role of the famous scientist.Art
An Illustrated Guide to Copper Extraction
No. 01 • Lucy Raven
A closer look at one of the two manmade locations on earth astronauts can see from the moon (and a few things it has to do with the other).Fiction
Family Friend
No. 01 • Tim O’Sullivan
You haven’t been invited inside that house for three years because Sarah—and she mentions this often to Edgar—doesn’t like the way you look at their girls.Focus
Focus: Japan—America Inverted
No. 01 • Roland Kelts
In the early eighties, my Japanese grandfather, a poet named Ikuro Saeki, sent me an LP by a Japanese trio called The Yellow Magic Orchestra.Focus
Look, Here’s America: Part One
No. 01 • Roland Kelts
Well, we didn’t grow up to love who we are. We always wanted to become something else.Focus
Look, Here’s America: Part Two
No. 01 • Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami on Salinger, The Great Gatsby, and Why American Readers Sometimes Miss the PointFocus
The Maiden in the Manger
No. 01 • Kazushige Abe
With this trip looming over him, it was only natural that he should feel anxious about oversleeping.Focus
Masaya Nakahara: Interview
No. 01 • Justin Simon
I mean, I never cared about prestige. I was much more concerned with making money.Focus
Bloody Self-Portrait of a Beast
No. 01 • Masaya Nakahara
“Your play about the young aspiring boxer is getting glowing reviews, isn’t it? My sincere congratulations.”Focus
Backstroke
No. 01 • Yoko Ogawa
Sometimes I ask myself: How many swimming pools have I encountered throughout my life?Feature
You Need Not Doubt What I Say Because It Is Not True
No. 01 • Marilynne Robinson
We know that humankind has sat around its fires from time immemorial and told its tales, and told them again, elaborating and refining.Order A Public Space
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