New Journal Attempts to Plug Readers in to “Electric Literature”

Image via Flavorwire

To start a literary journal in any economy one must posses a certain degree of fearlessness and usually a chunk of investment ready to be tossed to the wind for the sake of creative chance. To start one in this economy, one must be mad, or have an idea so revolutionary it could not be suppressed in any economic climate. It’s too early to tell, but the new literary journal Electric Literature may fall into the latter category. I first discovered the journal as I was on my way out of a bookstore one afternoon. Entering the chaos of the street, I was asked “Do you read fiction?” by a young man with copies of a publication and several dozen postcards in his hands. I saw he had a cohort asking passersby the same question. It seemed bold. Not many read fiction anymore. He turned out to be a representative of the aforementioned journal Electric Literature, sent out to the streets to promote the inaugural issue of the publication. It was a grassroots campaign, but what I found interesting about the journal, as it was explained to me, was that its mission was to connect fiction lovers to the work they adore via electronic methods, as in on iPhones, Kindles, and other e-Book distribution channels. It was a publication that served to appreciate literature and address the sea change in the way we read and absorb information. A paperback edition was also published, to remain true to the traditional literary journal format, but the real energy behind the the idea is pushing the literary journal, especially the short story, as electronically viable reading material.

Electric Literature features five works in each bi-monthly issue. All of the works are short stories. They state on their website that the short story is built for our culture in which we are hungry for the next best way to condense and disseminate information. “The short story is uniquely suited to our age,” they claim. The first issue boasts a powerhouse of a line-up. The five stories come from Michael Cunningham, Jim Shepard, T Cooper, Lydia Millet, and Diana Wagman. If the first issue of your literary journal features a Pulitzer Prize Winner, you’re doing pretty well so far. Flavorwire reported that both editors received their MFA’s from Brooklyn College, where Cunningham teaches. To snag Jim Shepard, the editors apparently went to Massachusetts to pitch Shepard the idea, which he clearly liked.

A bit more about Electric Literature’s mission from their website:

People of our generation—with one foot in the past and one in the future—must make sure that the media gap is bridged in a way that preserves and honors literature. We don’t want to be sentimental old folks in a world where literary fiction is only read by an esoteric few.”

Well put.

To point out one more very enjoyable part of the creative front that is Electric Literature’s debut, here is a video they created with musician Nick DeWitt and animator Jonathan Ashley put to narration from the Jim Shepard story in the issue.

via Electric Literature { home }