McSweeney's Issue 1: Gegenshein

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #1

by Dave Eggers (Editor)

Issue 1 of T I M O T H Y M c S W E E N E Y ' S Q U A R T E R L Y C O N C E R N
(Known also as "Gegenshein").
The debut issue is white, and is 144 pages long.
Apart from a healthy number of errors and oversights, issue No. 1 contains:

Learning to Love Again: A Story in Three Parts, by Neal Pollack
[Mr. Pollack's signature stuff, including the world-shaking "This Albanian Life"]

Yet Another Example of the Porousness of Certain Borders (VIII), by David Foster Wallace
[About spiders and plastic surgery]

R.W. Apple Is Prejudiced (An Open Letter to R.W. Apple), by Zev Borow
[Borow indemnified us]

The Discovery of El Dorado, City of Gold, by Marc Herman
[Journalism, and a parallel fictional treatment]

J.H.C., by Tom Junod
[Short fiction about Jesus running a circus]

Attack of the Fabulons, by Mark O'Donnell
[A teleplay about aliens with impeccable taste]

Mollusks, by Arthur Bradford
[Award-winning fiction about a slug]

On "The Yule Log," by Rick Moody
[Killed by the NY Times]

Young Professionals, by Courtney Eldridge
[Cats, and young women, and neuroses = goodness]

Frank and Pico, A New Screenplay by Morgan Phillips
[Optioned for $1.5 mil]

Have You Ever *Been* to Portland, Maine? By Mary Gallagher
[Story told in floorplans]

"Impressions" of a Life Very, Very Different from Our Own, Half a World Away, if Not Farther, Depending on Where You Leave From: An Egyptian Remembrance (Or, Notes and Complaints from a Colicky Child) by Stephen Shalit
[Tricolumned story about a failed journalistic junket]

Old Dogs, New Tricks: The Twilight of Modernism, and the Dawn of the Neo-Senilists, by Komar & Melamid and Mia Fineman
[Those two, at it again]

DJ & Emma, by Randy Cohen
[Family life]

Haole Go Home! (Small Gestures from the Hawaiian Secessionist Movement), by Zev Borow
[Killed by Civilization magazine, when Bill Blass became editor]

Also: contributions from Chris Harris, Marny Requa, Paul Tullis, Sarah Vowell, Todd Pruzan, Tim Carvell, Phillip Ryan

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Humor, Essays, Literature

141 pages, Magazine

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really lovely to go back and read the first issue and see where it all began. McSweeney's was quirky from the start and the seeds of its later inventiveness (which blossomed just a couple years laster) are clear. Most importantly, though, I enjoyed the writing and the overall flow of the book. McSweeney's very rarely disappoints.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to read this almost 30 years after it was first published. Excellent writing hasn't changed.

[Mazel]

La revue McSweeney's a été créée en 1998 par le romancier Dave Eggers, l'auteur de Suive qui peut. Il l'a conçue comme un laboratoire de formes et un lieu d'accueil pour des écrivains aventureux.

On trouvera ici les figures majeures de la jeune génération américaine: Rick Moody, William T. Vollmann ou David Foster Wallace, mais aussi Zadie Smith (en visite amicale et transatlantique) et une pléiade de nouveaux talents.

Cette première anthologie, qui nous entraîne de l'Amérique profonde à la Bosnie et aux anneaux de Saturne, reflète la diversité d'approches et de thèmes de cette relève littéraire: satire sociale, croquis intimistes, rêveries scientifiques... mais aussi des textes à la frontière de la fiction et du reportage.

On y croise aussi bien des hommes préhistoriques que le terroriste américain Unabomber, un hypnotiseur ou des indépendantistes hawaïens.

Avec pour point commun une écriture inventive, un humour grinçant et un regard lucide sur la folie du monde. Dix-sept voix singulières qui offrent un panorama inestimable de la littérature américaine d'aujourd'hui et de demain.

[Northpapers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think issue 1 was outrageously funny and hilariously bold, but the magazine would get so much better over time as they shifted their focus from rejected pieces by angry glossy writers to emotionally complex (and still hilarious) fiction.

There's a lot of gold in here, and a lot of boring stuff too, but it's great to see where the concern started.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few mildly amusing short stories. But not all that great overall. I think that's kind of the point though, since at this stage McSweeney's was intended to be a publication of unwanted short story submissions. You could assume that that the point is that other publishers simply didn't see the value in these pieces.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently wrote a short thing about Dave Eggers and then realized that I hadn't rated or reviewed the many issues of McSweeney's I've read. The early issues were especially influential and inspiring to me. The first issue is thin but awesome, with a good glimpse into what was to come.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this, a fitting first entry in the McSweeney's Quarterly Concern series.. it has what the best of later parts of the series have, quirky, fun formatting, snarky, weird, entertaining with some thought required.

[Tommy]

1st edition, 1st printing. Excellent condition.