Is journalism best served cold?

November 15, 2007 11:51 AM

What would you think if at the next family gathering your uncle came up to you and said: "Shot, I got a great idea for a magazine. People are sick to death of reading authors responding to the news, reacting to ideas in the zietgiest. People want old writing. We will get a bunch of writing from the past (if its out of copyright, so much the better) group it by concept and sell it for $15 bucks an issue." Would you think its a good idea? What if your uncle was Lewis Lapham? Welcome to Lapham's Quarterly. Perhaps the only non-zombie related journal that "enlists the counsel of the dead."

From the website "LAPHAM'S QUARTERLY sets the story of the past in the frame of the present. Four times a year the editors seize upon the most urgent question then current in the headlines - foreign war, financial panic, separation of church and state - and find answers to that question from authors whose writings have passed the test of time."

posted by shothotbot (14 comments total)

is... is lewis lapham actually your uncle?
posted by shmegegge at 11:57 AM on November 15, 2007

My aunt. Oops, wasn't supposed to say that! Bad Shot!
posted by shothotbot at 11:59 AM on November 15, 2007

This reminds me of the time an ancient Roman did something in ancient Rome or a king did something in medieval times.
posted by Falconetti at 12:03 PM on November 15, 2007

Here's the take on Lapham from Slate's Timothy Noah. Mad Libs indeed.
posted by Sculthorpe at 12:07 PM on November 15, 2007

I guess I'd be like, "Uncle Bruce, why are you calling me 'Shot'?"
posted by Greg Nog at 12:15 PM on November 15, 2007

Lapham's editorials in Harper's were usually pretty good. I wish this magazine wasn't so damn expensive though.
posted by chunking express at 12:20 PM on November 15, 2007

*cringe* zietgiest? zeitgeist, please.
posted by raevyne at 12:38 PM on November 15, 2007

non-zombie

Sorry, not interested.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 1:17 PM on November 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sculthorpe, that piece by Timothy Noah is hysterical.
posted by LooseFilter at 1:20 PM on November 15, 2007

Here's the take on Lapham from Slate's Timothy Noah. Mad Libs indeed.

I have to say, given a choice between some historical context and an endless stream of "Britney shaved her head! This is unprecedented! A new thing has been made in the world!", I'd consider subscribing to Lapham's Quarterly.

I mean, my uncle's weblog.
posted by crookedneighbor at 1:26 PM on November 15, 2007

This post proclaims, like Gyges of Lydia, that shothotbot's all too temerarious linkage recasts Athanasius forcing his understanding to meditate on the divinity of the Logos as opera bouffe. The sham outrage teases forth memories of the contortions displayed by the Chalcedonian apologists or the prevarications of Andrei Vyshinsky as the Katie Courics and Wolf Blitzers of their day distracted the starving masses with Odalan Bali and competitions to mimic the cry of the mighty Velociraptor.
posted by languagehat at 1:38 PM on November 15, 2007 [5 favorites]

Yeah.

What lh said.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:47 PM on November 15, 2007

The Hamilton section is pretty cool. Letters signed with chat abbreviations:

I am Yr ….
A. Hamilton

What was old is new again, indeed.
posted by blendor at 4:21 PM on November 15, 2007

i used to work for lapham. i was really tempted to steal his rolodex. he had kurt vonnegut's home phone number.

he's a walking encyclopedia.
posted by thinkingwoman at 4:12 AM on November 16, 2007