The Paris Review Issue 250

by Emily Stokes (Editor), Kelley Deane McKinney (Managing editor), Amanda Gersten (Associate editor)

Fredric Jameson on the Art of Criticism: “Ideological critique has to end up being a critique of the self. You can’t recognize an ideology unless, in some sense, you see it in yourself.”

Hanif Kureishi on the Art of Fiction: “When I was in hospital in Rome, having the experience of being a paralyzed man nearly dead, my only excitement was in the thought that I could write some of this shit down.”

Gerald Murnane on the Art of Fiction: “A fatal question—what are people reading these days? Never mind what people are reading these days. What should I be writing about is the fundamental question.”

Prose by Dan Bevacqua, Caoilinn Hughes, Silas Jones, Alec Niedenthal, Adania Shibli, and Abdulah Sidran.

Poetry by Sargon Boulus, Egill Skallagrímsson, Rachel Mannheimer, Simone White, and Hua Xi.

Art by Ann Craven, Ala Ebtekar, and Josh Smith; cover by Seth Becker.

Genres: Poetry, Short Stories, Anthologies

242 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

slog (toilet poem???)
minus for the last story which was so boring i dnfed it because i realized i didn’t want to waste my life on it and minus for the interview with jameson which has to be one of the most pretentious things i’ve ever read

[Riley (runtobooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

tbh i much preferred the interviews to the short stories & poetry

[Margaret Perkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Out of this whole issue, I only remotely enjoyed one thing (the interview with Gerald Murnane).

[Jose Carpio · Rating 2 out of 5]

one standout story from alec niedenthal

[Adam Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh

[Coco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best issue so far. The short stories were all crisp and substantial.

[C Sarah S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that is some top notch writing! I should probably change it to a 5 star. The short story about the high schooler spending a few days at her potential college and the bathroom poem were my favorites. Though all of them were good, just wildly different. The interviews were the only sections I was more meh on.

[Mads Floyd · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first edition of Paris Review that I’ve read, I will say from first impressions that it seems the state of literature must have degraded substantially to reach this point. Interspersed with lovely interviews with all sorts of people are these overly sappy, graphic, ridiculous and hyperbolic depictions of Gaza as well as some strange poem about the trial of Young Thug and how he is innocent…? Really I do not have many words for this, I much prefer other periodicals such as Analog Sea if I am to be honest, but I’m certain I’ll try this one again.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I subscribed finally. Each piece felt dreadfully important. Each poem, interview and prose. I already picked up one of Caolinn Hughes books and will also have to read Hanif Kureishi’s memoir and find some Gerald Murname, for starters, wonderful way to while a few hours of Sundays over a few weeks.

[Jordynn Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite edition but I was a big fan of the stories from adania shibli, caoilinn hughes & the interview with fredric jameson. I'm counting this toward my reading goal this year because I can.

[James Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read story’s and perspectives I’d never pick off the shelf. Nothing really stirred in my mind but interesting to read how other brain gears spin. Some really bad writing —like awful. Some boring and regurgitated politics and some decent writing.

[Brittany Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The two most compelling from this issue were Camouflage- Adania Shibli and the interview of Fredric Jameson - The Art of Criticism. Favorite art - Moon 9-17-24

[Jaime Samson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The poetry in this issue was.. interesting

[Ben Wasson]

Pretty good pretty pretty pretty good

[Veronica Ciastko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing short story by Silas Jones and I loved the interview with Frederic Jameson. It is such a joy when I receive these volumes in the mail!

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the interviews with Gerald Murnane and Fredric Jameson and “Daughters” by Dan Bevacqua. I skimmed everything else.

[brig · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Lyz Rowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

i really enjoyed abdulah sidran’s writing, and found the interviews very interesting. however most of the short stories were strange, and i did not find them compelling