March 24, 2005
Changes at the Paris Review
Philip Gourevitch, of Rwanda fame, is taking the reins at Paris Review. He's not a ribald, raconteur boozer in the old Plimpton high-Eliotic Harvard Porcellian mode, of course. But that's a bygone era, regardless. It appears the magazine will retain some focus on letters and poetry--but looks to expand into non-fiction more than some of the Old Guard might like. So will the magazine start featuring tales from Darfur and Harare and such going forward? Likely, and note this soundbite from Gourevitch:
He described a possible, ideal issue of the future: “Let’s say you have three or four or five short stories, two or three pieces of nonfiction, one or two interviews, a portfolio of photography, and three or four or five poetry portfolios.” Mr. Gourevitch added that the board had been receptive to his ideas.
Diversification! It's good for your portfolio!
UPDATE: Did I mention that I once saw Gourevitch roundly booed at a talk he gave? Why? He was complaining a hell of a lot about something--but when asked to recommend a solution--kinda passed saying he wasn't a policymaker but just a journalist. Came off way weak. He merited the scolding. Happens to the best of us though...
Posted by Gregory at March 24, 2005 04:55 AM
| TrackBack
(8)
Sounds like he wants to do a NY-based Granta. I would welcome it. I subscribed to Granta for years, but its snotty anti-Americanism became intolerable, culminating in the issue misleadingly entitled "What America Thinks of the World". More like, "Why Some Americans Hate Themselves and You Should Too". And the writing had gotten dull.
A bit of shameless semi-self-promotion (I help run the site):
If you're interested at all in Gourevitch in the "first person", here's a writeup of a talk he gave in the NYU journalism department. You can get an idea of some of his views on topics and journalism in general.
thanks TG. Clay, i kinda agree--a NY-based Granta would be OK by me.
