Well human psychology, I got one for you. Recently The Moonmilk Review began its transition to The Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Review. Fans of the literary references, Italo Calvino and F. Scott Fitzgerald respectively, needn't be clued in on their significance or their significant differences. Ultimately, it's all semantics / semiotics, what each as a word and image signifies in the mind of the beholder. Still, I get a categorically different sense from Moonmilk than I do from Eckleburg, even if the content of the publication should change very little. I, as beholder, am not a huge fan of "The Great Gatsby" -- although I do genuinely enjoy thinking about the image of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg regardless. (Dr. Eckleberg is one of my favorite parts of a novel I find generally underwhelming.) Alternatively, I'm a great fan of Calvino's collection "Cosmicomics" -- especially its "The Distance of the Moon," a story from which the term "moonmilk" in The Moonmilk Review is derived.
I know my misgivings about the name change will pass, as they'll have to necessarily since this is a thing out of my control. I will miss the name Moonmilk Review, though -- a surprisingly great deal, too. Much more than I would have ever assumed.
On the Distinctiveness of Writing in China
1 hour ago
Thanks for this, Matt. It's truly a lovely send off for MMR, as it's prior name and namesake. And I agree wholeheartedly. Eckleburg was my favorite section of Gatsby. It was a section that always struck me as a push out of the stoic modernism of its contemporaries and into something else. I'll respectfully disagree on the merits of Gatsby in general, but I will make you and readers of MMR a promise. I will do my best to keep in Eckleburg the pieces of MMR that drew us to it.
ReplyDeleteAll best,
Rae Bryant
P.S. here's a little sneaky peek into our first issue to be released tomorrow...
GALLERY |
Ivan de Monbrison
Morgan Elliot
MISS SPRING 2012 CENTERFOLD and Q&A with Zach Galifianakis
FICTION |
From His Wife Leaves Him Stephen Dixon
The Whale Skull Matt Ferner
The Women Who Watch trans. by Edward Gauvin from la Truie by Thomas Owen
The Nonsense Singers of the Red Forest Rick Moody
The Sky Too Vallie Lynn Watson
POETRY |
Of Brains Or Bowels Or Lungs, Leopards, Finches Nathan Blake
2 Poems Moira Egan
After Being Asked to Write a Villanelle David Wagoner
CLASSICS |
Fiction | The Offshore Pirate F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nonfiction | Living on $1000 a Year in Paris Ernest Hemingway
Drama | Poker! Zora Neale Hurston
PROSETRY |
Spring 2012 | Worm Wars: Attack by Jim Fuess (Guest-Edited by David Wagoner)
Looks to be some unbelievably excellent content forthcoming, Rae. Thanks for all this, your thoughtful response and a rundown of what we can expect in the new (and improved???) incarnation of MMR-become-Eckleburg. I am looking forward to seeing it, no matter my misgivings!
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