Speaking of N+1

I hadn't ever heard of the magazine with the curious name of N+1 until  I stumbled upon it in connection with the work of Elif Batuman--and I'd only stumbled upon her by accident, as one of her books came up when I was searching for books published under the designation "The Hungarian List." But the Louisville Public Library had a copy of Happines: 10 Years of n+1, and instead of going straight to the Elif Batuman essay contained therein, I began to read the Introduction. It was a good piece of writing...by a writer of whom I'd never heard before, Mary Karr. She's a famous poet (and "memoirist"), and I liked her writing well enough to check out one of her poetry books--Tropic of Squalor.  Yes, it's the reading fission process once again.

At any rate, in the course of her most excellent introduction, Ms. Karr quotes from something or other (it's not identified) from the first issue of the n+1 magazine: 

"Thought adds something new to the world; simple intelligence wields hardened truth like a bludgeon."

Well. That's well said, ennit? So now I'm thinking that I'll probably need to read the rest of this anthology once I finish the Elif Batuman piece. 

So now I've got a whole passel of new writers to explore. 

And of course I'm thinking that I probably need a subscription to N+1. 

Sigh. If only I were richer. 

And younger.

🗞 as it happens.