Assignment 8

The New England Review is published quarterly by Middlebury College Publications at Middlebury College. The journal consists of several different genres, Fiction, Prose, and Poetry. The journal is styled like a book and flows seamlessly from one genre to the next, without chapters or headers, just the essay or poem. The pages are black and white and are printed on a fairly heavy paper, with an interesting cover picture titled "The Trouble with Enoki Fish." This journal stood out on the shelf because it was surrounded by other less colorful journals in the basement of ODY. The essays and poems in the journal were all interesting in their own way. Many of the stories in the issue are translated, which I found interesting because it gave me an insight into other nations interpretations and uses of different genres. One of my favorite pieces in the journal is Heartline by Alexandra Teague.
I cannot put my finger on its exact genre, the Journal classifies it as poetry but I feel like it is a combination of prose and poetry. Its style, the way it looks on the page, is very poetic, enjambment, little punctuation, etc. But the message and the (loose) sentence structure make me think of prose. The story combines her childhood in a stream and her bloodline with her parents with a one-night stand she has with “a classical pianist stockbroker.” The juxtaposition of childhood and family with promiscuous sex shocked me, but Teague makes it understandable. I am not a poet and I am constantly amazed at the poets ability to make sense through abstract metaphors and similes, something I have never been able to do comfortably or even intelligently. I enjoyed all of the stories and have a tough time finding my least favorite.
All of the authors and poets in the journal are very accomplished, most, if not all, having won literary awards and have been published multiple times. I think that this journal and all literary journals are useful for us to read and critique in regards to our own writing. I enjoyed this journal but I have to be honest and say I read it quickly for the assignment. I am sure I will pick up more literary journals in the future, especially over vacations, when I have more time to read and enjoy the entries.
This journal seems to fit any number of our tastes in fiction, some of us write complete fiction, while others combine non-fiction and fiction to create our stories. I think this journal has a well balanced input of each genre.