New issue of N+1 Magazine

Well, new in the UK anyway. Mine landed on my doormat yesterday.

This issue is really excellent. For me the highlight so far has been Thomas Bernhard’s hilarious Beckett-esque dialogue, translated for N+1 by Damion Searls and mostly concerned with the emotional strain of trying on trousers. There’s also “Confessions of a DJ” by every Humanities graduate’s favourite DJ, Jace Clayton (better known as DJ/Rupture), a great piece on our strange, modern obsession with food; another on how the internet has affected public life; plus lots more great stuff I’ve yet to read – on Bolano, Iraq in Hollywood, 3 interviews with “Anonymous Hedge Fund Managers”, etc.

It’s definitely a magazine worth getting to know. The previous issue was infuriating for me, mainly because of the Helen Dewitt and Ilya Gridneff extract (shorter extract here) which I found unbearably fussy, self satisfied and whimsical, and which gave rise to this even more infuriating article in the LRB (upon which I might write something more substantial soon). But barring a couple of pieces perfectly calibrated to yank my chain, N+1 does have an unusually high hit rate. At the very least there’s always something worth arguing with.

Their website is here, though most of the material is only available in the print edition. I think the only way of getting hold of it over here is to buy a subscription. Well worth it though.

D