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I’m quite fascinated by these literary magazines… London review, paris review... I never understand what’s going on. I never know _what_ I’m reading. Is it an a

I’m quite fascinated by these literary magazines… London review, paris review... I never understand what’s going on. I never know _what_ I’m reading. Is it an actual review? A short story? An article? I find being in this state as a reader quite interesting. It’s what drew me to HN in the first place — programming seemed like a wondrous, mysterious new thing to me, a new frontier, and it’s quite clear the makers are very intelligent, just as the writers of these magazines seem like a notch over news journalists.

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pmyteh 5y ago
It's a fascinating form, isn't it? I mean, nominally they're book reviews. And they will at least mention and comment on the book. But the best of them are really a special kind of literary essay written by someone who knows the subject (of the book and of the essay) very well and is making their own argument. Sometimes the books 'reviewed' are merely a parenthetical jumping-off point. So the LRB, for instance, might publish a review by Hilary Mantel of a book about Danton [0] which is actually a meditation on what it means to be a revolutionary and how place might fit into that. Mantel, having researched and written A Place of Greater Safety[1], is not exactly a historian but does have some fascinating things to say. I subscribe to the LRB. I don't know tons about most of what is written, but having smart people who can write well pitching engaging pieces about all kinds of randomiana is, as you say, a wondrous thing. [0]: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n15/hilary-mantel/he-roared https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n15/hilary-mantel/he-roa... [1]: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Place-of-Greater-Safety-by-Hilary-Mantel/9780007250554 https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Place-of-Greater...
ghaff 5y ago
It's probably fair to say that they're very different than news journalists. The journalist who is on the ground at whatever the interesting foreign bureau is at the moment (or even just covers domestic agricultural policy or whatever) and writes about it straightforwardly is very different from the person writing with flair about topics of historical or literary importance even if both doubtless involve significant research. And I will say the latter often leads to people on sites such as this bemoaning the lack of the bullet points version.

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pmyteh 5y ago

It's a fascinating form, isn't it? I mean, nominally they're book reviews. And they will at least mention and comment on the book. But the best of them are really a special kind of literary essay written by someone who knows the subject (of the book and of the essay) very well and is making their own argument. Sometimes the books 'reviewed' are merely a parenthetical jumping-off point. So the LRB, for instance, might publish a review by Hilary Mantel of a book about Danton [0] which is actually a meditation on what it means to be a revolutionary and how place might fit into that. Mantel, having researched and written A Place of Greater Safety[1], is not exactly a historian but does have some fascinating things to say. I subscribe to the LRB. I don't know tons about most of what is written, but having smart people who can write well pitching engaging pieces about all kinds of randomiana is, as you say, a wondrous thing. [0]: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n15/hilary-mantel/he-roared https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n15/hilary-mantel/he-roa... [1]: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Place-of-Greater-Safety-by-Hilary-Mantel/9780007250554 https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Place-of-Greater...

ghaff 5y ago

It's probably fair to say that they're very different than news journalists. The journalist who is on the ground at whatever the interesting foreign bureau is at the moment (or even just covers domestic agricultural policy or whatever) and writes about it straightforwardly is very different from the person writing with flair about topics of historical or literary importance even if both doubtless involve significant research. And I will say the latter often leads to people on sites such as this bemoaning the lack of the bullet points version.