This is an interesting article, and at first I was WAY into The New Inquiry (as per this article, since I’d never heard of it before) and what they seem to be doing.  Then I just got really bummed, because they seem to be perpetrating all the ills they rail against: elitism, isolation, etc.  They all seem to come from some sort of privilege, and the result of that is a profile in the NYT.  There are TONS of awesome online lit mags not getting this star treatment, and they will now be successful because if it.  I am happy for any literary mentions in mainstream publications, especially fledgling ones by young people.  But perhaps The New Inquiry could see fit to de-secret-ize their meetings, include a few state school graduates, and appreciate their luck instead of talking about how hard it is to get a job in publishing.  It seems like they’ve found an interesting way to get noticed, a creative and difficult way to do so, and that should be more a focus of theirs instead of bemoaning their relatively good situation. 

Posted at 9:59am and tagged with: lit, The New Inquiry, NYT,.