Paper Dreams

Book excerpt: Paper Dreams brings together a conversation that has engaged passionate editors, writers and readers for more than 150 years - how literary magazines continue to stand the test of time by advancing the state of literature and molding the roots of American culture. This illustrated edition covers the history of the American literary magazine from its pre-origins - as far back as late 17th Century France - to its future and speculative forms. The anthology features essays and interviews by and with literary icons (Pierre Bayle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Monroe and Ezra Pound) and contemporaries (Frederick Barthelme, T.C. Boyle, Roxane Gay, Herbert Leibowitz, Rick Moody, Speer Morgan, Jay Neugeboren, Laura van den Berg and dozens of others).