Editor Keith Botsford Frequency Quarterly Company Republic of Letters | Categories Literary magazine First issue 1997 (1997) | |
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Founder Saul Bellow, Keith Botsford | ||
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 now 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:
In an 1999 interview with The New York Times Mr. Bellow explained his motivation for the magazine:
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.