News from the Republic of Letters

News from the Republic of Letters

Editor	Keith Botsford
Categories	Literary magazine
Frequency	Quarterly
Founder	Saul Bellow, Keith Botsford
First issue	1997 (1997)
Company	Republic of Letters
Country	Costa Rica
Based in	Cahuita
Language	English
Website	mag.trolbooks.com
ISSN	1095-1644

News from the Republic of Letters is the third magazine collaboration between Saul Bellow and Keith Botsford, following Noble Savage and ANON. The journal, originally based in Boston and later operated from the editor's home in Costa Rica, publishes new and newly discovered writings from American and international writers. The magazine appears twice a year at widely varying intervals; subscribers purchase one issue at a time or a subscription for four issues. It first appeared in 1997 in newsprint; issues between 2003 and 2008 were published in bound edition; with the publication of No. 19 by the London-based publisher Sylph Editions, the journal has returned to broadsheet format.

The contents of TRoL fall into several categories. TEXTS are Works of fiction or non-fiction, of varying length, written in English or translated into English from any language. LIVES are memoirs, correspondence, biography and autobiography. ARIAS, a unique category, are personal statements and brief essays without restriction of subject. MUSIC, ART, BOOKS comprise intelligent work on any aspect of the arts. Works in the ARCHIVES are selected by the Editor to introduce readers to undeservedly lesser known writers from previous generations. POETRY includes both original verse and work from translation. Reviews and critical essays appear under NEW FICTION and as a part of P.B.'s NOTEBOOK, a column written by Mr. Botsford in the spirit of Enlightenment philosopher and writer Pierre Bayle. In 1684 Bayle began the publication of his Nouvelles de la république des lettres, after which TRoL takes its name.

Another unique feature has been the inclusion in newsprint issues of French-style pamphlets, which readers tear from the other pages and fold and cut themselves into small booklets. "Salido" by Louis Guilloux appears in this form in No.2, as does "O Brother!" by Mr. Botsford in No.3.

TRoL is distinguished by its international character and the publication of unknown authors alongside those already accomplished. The name of the magazine references the network of literary and political correspondence which united prominent thinkers across Europe during the Enlightenment:

The Republic of Letters is of very ancient origin ... It embraces the whole world and is composed of all nationalities, all social classes, all ages and both sexes ... All languages, ancient as well as modern, are spoken. The arts are joined to letters, and artisans have their place in it; but its religion is not uniform, and its manners (as in all republics) are a mixture of good and bad. Piety and licentiousness are both to be found ... Praise and honor are awarded by popular acclaim. (M. de Vigneul-Marville, 1699)

In a 1999 interview with The New York Times Mr. Bellow explained his motivation for the magazine:

One early reader wrote that our paper, "with its contents so fresh, person-to-person", was "real, non-synthetic, undistracting." Noting that there were no ads, she asked, "Is it possible, can it last?" and called it "an antidote to the shrinking of the human being in every one of us." And toward the end of her letter our correspondent added, "It behooves the elder generation to come up with reminders of who we used to be and need to be." This is what Keith Botsford and I had hoped that our "tabloid for literates" would be. And for two years it has been just that. We are a pair of utopian codgers who feel we have a duty to literature.[1],

List of contributors

Nicole Adamson Martin Amis Alfred Andersch Aharon Appelfeld Roberto Arlt John Auerbach Murray Bail Joshua Barkan Janis Freedman Bellow Saul Bellow François Bondy Keith Botsford Yuri Buida Cevat Capan John Randolf Carter Peter Coleman Julia Copeland Prudence Crowther Régis Debray G.V. Desani Annie Dillard Marguerite Duras Benoît Duteurtre William Empson Colin Fleming Francesco Forlani Bernhard Frank B.H. Friedman Romain Gary

Conor Robin Madigan Claire Messud Stephen Miller Yesi T. Mills Nicole Nemec Nicanor Parra Christopher Ricks Gary Roberts Alane Rollings Leon Rooke Conall Ryan Andrew Saltarelli Salvatore Sciona W.G. Sebald Adam Seelig Nora Seton Penelope Shuttle William A. Simpson Henryk Skwarczynski Richard Martin Stern Sassan Tabatabai Raymond Tallis Emilio Lascano Tegui Federigo Tozzi Jonathan Vogels George Walden Sarah Walden James Wood

Herbert Gold Naama Goldstein David Green Mark Greenberg Louis Guilloux Susan Hamlyn Chris Harris Mark Harris David Hart Jack Herlihy Gustaw Herling Jessica Hornik Bette Howland Michael Hulse Chantal Loiseau Hunt John Clinton Hunt Arthur Johnston Jacques Julliard Ken Kalfus George Kalogeris Katia Kapovich Marcia Karp John Kinsella Adam Kirsch Chaim Lapid Melvin J. Lasky Karl Logher Arturo Loria

Appearing in TRoL as Archives or Lives

John Aubrey Christabel Bielenberg Roberto Bolaño Kenneth H. Brown Samuel Butler François-René de Chateaubriand Xavier de Maistre Alan Govenar R.B. Cunninghame Graham Bohumil Hrabal

Philip O'Connor Marcella Olschki Alberto Rangel David Rousset Rudaki Victor Serge Leonard St. Clair Dylan Thomas Sophie Wilkins

Victor Hugo Sean Jackson Shafi Kadkani Rudolf Kessner Walter Savage Landor Leopardi Samuel Lipman Cesare Lombroso Jack Miles Charles Morgan

Collaborators

A number of authors and editors have at times served on the staff or as contributing editors of the magazine, including James Wood, Sassan Tabatabai, Chris Walsh, Zachary Bos, Lakis Proguidis, and Francesco Forlani.

See also

• List of literary magazines

External links

• Saul Bellow on literaryness in a technological age, in The New York Times
• The Republic of Letters at Toby Press
• Eric Alterman in The Nation: Not Dead Yet!
• Hans Suter, on delivery of a new issue: "Beautiful day today!"
• Sister magazine, L'Atelier du roman
• Bellow and Botsford in Conversation
• News from: The Republic of Letters Main Site