It’s hard to argue that we’re living in an era of
anti-intellectualism; to catalog the evidence of this would be a
depressing voyage into superficial mediocrity. One needs only a
sidelong glance at our commander in chief to be reminded of our
national celebration of faux-populist Philistinism.
This collective suspension of critical thinking is an issue close to
the heart of n+1, a meaty, biannual magazine based out of New
York. The debut issue of n+1, published in the fall of ’04,
opened with a now-famous takedown of America’s leading cultural
magazines; their critiques provided readers with a negative definition
of n+1‘s mission. Among the charges: The New Republic “lets authority fill the place of thinking”; McSweeney’s created
a “regressive avant-garde” with a “juvenile, faux-naïf” tone; and
the Weekly Standard hawks a confusing but “determined sense of
aggrieved entitlement.”
But far from settling into the role of cultural sniper, n+1 rises to its own challenges: The magazine isn’t one for celebrity
gossip or fluffy CD reviews, but neither is it a stuffy, joyless
journal. With a decidedly anti-academic tone, n+1 raises the
banner, as the New York Times put it, “of creative enthusiasm
and intellectual engagement.”
(Speaking of anti-academic, one of n+1‘s recent projects is a
pocket-sized publication called What We Should Have Known, an
engaging critique of the adverse effects that collegiate influence can
have on impressionable minds. N+1 is making WWSHK free to
all college freshmen and 18-year-olds.)
This weekend, n+1 Editors Keith Gessen and Chad Harbach will
be in Portland for two events, including a launch party for n+1 #6. Highlights from the new issue include a sharp editorial about the
rapidly tightening artistic hype cycle; the first English translation
of a Russian poet who promises that “Literature Will Be Tested”; and a
piercing essay by Wesley Yang about race, social competition, and
school shooters.
People singularly devoted to the lowbrow, snarky, and flippant
should look elsewhere. In its stead, n+1 provides a provocative
antidote to those cultural symptoms—one that is resoundingly more
nourishing (and palatable) than the frivolity it sets itself against.