Editor Interview: The Esthetic Apostle

The beautiful and sublime

Poetry Magazine
The New York Review of Books
The Paris Review
James Joyce Quarterly
The New Criterion

Our favorite writers and artists express a universal beauty or sublime nature with a unique voice and perspective.

Our publication does our best to provide handwritten feedback to contributors and offers an Artist Tip feature so readership can support artists directly.

Vonnegut's Eight Rules for Writing
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them – in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

The ideal submission changes me, I should not be the same person after reading or viewing. As Vonnegut said, the plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. [When] asked if [he knew] of any artists who pulled that off. [he replied], 'The Beatles did'. But as Wilde said, I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Proof read, proof read, proof read.

We read submissions blind. While identity is important, we follow Baldwin's words, Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes. We look for pieces of exploration, not explanation.

We read every piece to the end, usually twice, and if it's poetry, usually aloud.

Awe-inspiring appreciation.

It really depends on the submission.

Yes, we nominated six pieces for the Puschcart prize this year.