''Salmagundi'' is a US quarterly periodical, featuring cultural criticism, fiction, and poetry, along with transcripts of symposia and interviews with prominent writers and intellectuals.

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

, a longtime friend of the publication, referred to it as "simply my favorite little magazine." In ''The Book Wars'', James Atlas writes that ''Salmagundi'' is "perhaps the country's leading journal of intellectual opinion."

History and profile

''Salmagundi'' was founded b
Robert Boyers
in the fall of 1965, using money he earned as a youth, singing at his neighborhood Jewish temple, and at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. Boyers drew inspiration for his quarterly from other "little magazines" of the era, such as '' Partisan Review'', F.R. Leavis's ''

Scrutiny Scrutiny (French: ''scrutin''; Late Latin: ''scrutinium''; from ''scrutari'', meaning "those who search through piles of rubbish in the hope of finding something of value" and originally from the Latin "scruta," meaning "broken things, rags, or ...

'', and T.S. Eliot's ''Criterion'', among others. The title of the magazine was chosen as a reference to the 19th-century periodical of the same name, published by Washington Irving. In 1969, the magazine moved its headquarters to Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Boyers and his wife, Margarita "Peg" Boyers are both professors in Skidmore's English Department. The magazine celebrated its Fiftieth Anniversary in 2015 by publishing three large volumes, featuring "Best Of" selections from ''Salmagundi'''s first five decades. While the magazine has no explicit mission statement, Boyers has often invoked

Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...

's description of the role served by little magazines in preventing the culture from "being cautious and settled, or merely sociological, or merely pious" and "to make the official representatives of literature a little uneasy." ''Salmagundi'''s editors take pride in continually finding "ways to say NO and THINK AGAIN to the largely settled views of our own enlightened readership." Christopher Lasch, a frequent contributor to the ''Salmagundi'' until his death in 1994, observed, in 1975, that the magazine "often criticized leftist clichés from a point of view sympathetic to the underlying objectives of the left." Lasch further noted that ''Salmagundi'' reliably opposed "fake radicalism," "genteel academicism" and "estheticism," even as it recognized "the precarious position of intellectual culture in the modern world." One of the things that sets ''Salmagundi'' apart from other literary magazines is its commitment to hosting (and transcribing, for publication) ambitious symposia, featuring lively debate among prominent scholars and writers. Past symposia have included figures such as,

, Richard Rorty,

Martha Nussbaum Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...

Slavoj Zizek Slavoj may refer to: * Karel Slavoj Amerling (1807–1884), Czech teacher, writer, and philosopher * Slavoj Černý (born 1937), Czech former cyclist *Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultu ...

Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah was ...

Orlando Patterson Horace Orlando Patterson (born 5 June 1940) is a Jamaican historical and cultural sociologist known for his work regarding issues of race and slavery in the United States and Jamaica, as well as the sociology of development. He is the John Cowl ...

, and many others.

Notable columnists and contributors

Critics and scholars

* George Steiner * Marilynne Robinson * Christopher Hitchens * James Miller * Tzvetan Todorov *

Sir Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

William H. Gass William Howard Gass (July 30, 1924 – December 6, 2017) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic, and philosophy professor. He wrote three novels, three collections of short stories, a collection of novellas, and seven vol ...

* Christopher Lasch * Adam Phillips *

Phillip Lopate Phillip Lopate (born 1943) is an American film critic, essayist, fiction writer, poet, and teacher. He is the younger brother of radio host Leonard Lopate. Early life Phillip Lopate was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a BA degr ...

Steve Fraser Steven Howard "Steve" Fraser (born March 23, 1958) is an American Greco-Roman wrestler and coach. He was the 1984 Olympic Games gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, in the 90 kg weight class. Fraser's gold medal was the first ever for the Uni ...

Daniel Swift Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

Siri Hustvedt Siri Hustvedt (born February 19, 1955) is an American novelist and essayist. Hustvedt is the author of a book of poetry, seven novels, two books of essays, and several works of non-fiction. Her books include ''The Blindfold'' (1992), ''The Ench ...

*George Scialabba

Novelists

* Russell Banks *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

J.M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and de ...

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

Darryl Pinckney Darryl Pinckney (born 1953 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American novelist, playwright, and essayist. Early life Pinckney grew up in a middle-class African-American family in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended local public schools. He wa ...

* Steve Stern * Mary Gordon * Norman Manea * Mary Gaitskill * Rick Moody * Amy Hempel * Binnie Kirschenbaum * Jim Shepard *

Howard Norman Howard A. Norman (born 1949), is an American writer and educator. Most of his short stories and novels are set in Canada's Maritime Provinces. He has written several translations of Algonquin, Cree, and Inuit folklore. His books have been trans ...

Poets

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...

* Seamus Heaney * Adrienne Rich * Robert Pinsky * Frank Bidart * Richard Howard * Marie Howe * Charles Simic * Louise Glück * Carolyn Forché *

Honor Moore Honor Moore is an American writer of poetry, creative nonfiction and plays. Biography She is the daughter of Jenny Moore and of Bishop Paul Moore. She is the author of three collections of poems: ''Red Shoes'', ''Darling'', and ''Memoir''; two ...

* Carl Dennis *

Campbell McGrath Campbell McGrath (born 1962) is an American poet. He is the author of nine full-length collections of poetry, including ''Seven Notebooks'' (Ecco Press, 2008), Shannon: A Poem of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Ecco Press, 2009), and In the Kingdom ...

* Vijay Seshadri *

Rosanna Warren Rosanna Phelps Warren (born July 27, 1953) is an American poet and scholar. Biography Warren is the daughter of novelist, literary critic and Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren and writer Eleanor Clark. She graduated from Yale University, where ...

Notable essays, poetry, and fiction

* Edward Said's "Beginnings" (1966) * Howard Nemerov's "First Snow" (#22 - 23, 1973) * Adrienne Rich's "Pieces" and "Incipience" (#22 - 23, 1973) *

's "History" and "Man and Woman" (#22 - 23, 1973) * Robert Penn Warren's "The Nature of A Mirror" (#22 - 23, 1973) * Louise Glück's "Pomegranate" (#22 - 23, 1973) * Leslie H. Farber's "Lying on the Couch" (1975) * Howard Nemerov's "Ozymandias II" and "Ginkgoes in Fall" (#28, 1975) *

's "Epilogue" (#37, 1977) * Robert Penn Warren's "Question You Must Learn to Live Past" and "What Was The Thought?" (#50 - 51, 1980–81) * Louise Glück's "First Goodbye" (#50 - 51, 1980–81) *

's "The Death of the Author" (1984) * George Steiner's "Our Homeland, the Text" (1985) * Seamus Heaney's "Place, Pastness, Poems: A Tryptch" (1986) * Martin Jay's "The Descent of de Man" (1988) * Christopher Lasch's "Counting by Tens" (1989) * Robert Pinsky's "Shiva And Parvati Hiding In The Rain" (#85 - 86, 1990) * Seamus Heaney's "Seeing Things" (#88 - 89, 1990–91) *

Natalia Ginzburg Natalia Ginzburg (, ; ; 14 July 1916 – 7 October 1991) was an Italian author whose work explored family relationships, politics during and after the Fascist years and World War II, and philosophy. She wrote novels, short stories and essays, fo ...

's "My Psychoanalysis" (1991) '' rans. from Italian by Lynne Sharon Schwartz' *

Jed Perl Jed Perl (born 1951) is an American art critic and author in New York City. He was a longtime staff of ''The New Republic''. Career Jed Perl initially trained as a painter. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College and also studied at th ...

's "Abstract Questions" (1992) * Sharon Olds's "Parent Visiting Day" and "His Smell" and "The Urn" and "To My Father" (#93, 1992) *

's "Emerging from Censorship" (1993) * Richard Howard's "My Last Hustler" (#100, 1993) * James Miller's "Foucault's Politics in Biographical Perspective" (1993) *

Kwame Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah wa ...

's "Ancestral Voices" (1994) * Roger Shattuck's "Second Thoughts on a Wooden Horse" (1995) * Tzvetan Todorov's "The Touvier Trial" (1995) '' rans. from French by John Anzalone' * Stanley Kauffmann's "What's Left of the Center?" (1996) * Carl Dennis's "The God Who Loves You" (#111, 1996) *

's "Realism" (#114 - 115, 1997) '' his was eventually published as a chapter in Coetzee's acclaimed novel,'' Elizabeth Costello''' * Michael Ondaatje's "Buried" (#113, 1997) * Charles Molesworth's "From Collage to Combine: Rauschenberg and Visual Culture" (1998) * David Rieff's "In Rwanda: The Crisis of Humanitarianism" (1998) *

's "The Aesthetics of Fear" (1998) * Marilynne Robinson's "The Fate of Ideas: Moses" (1999) * Carl Dennis's "Progress" (#121 - 122, 1999) * Frank Bidart's "Luggage" and "Hammer" (#121 - 122, 1999) * C.K. Williams's "The Nail" (#121 - 122, 1999) * Robert Pinsky's "Porch Steps" and "Song" (#124 - 125, 1999-2000) * Carolyn Forché's "Nocturne" (#126 - 127, 2000) * Frank Bidart's "Pre-Existing Forms: We Fill Them and When We Fill Them We Change Them and Are Changed" (2000) * Carl Dennis's "The Photographer" (#135 - 136, 2002) * Richard Howard's "Knowing When To Stop" (#135 - 136, 2002) * C.K. Williams's "Inculcations" (#137 - 138, 2003) * Carolyn Forché's "Death Bed" and "Fisherman" (#148 - 149, 2005–06) *

's "Violetta, 2000" (#144 - 145, 2004–05) *

's "Wallace Stevens" (#146 - 147, 2005) * Frank Bidart's "Winter Spring Summer Fall" and "God's Catastrophe in Our Time" (#148 - 149, 2005–06) * Seamus Heaney's "The Aerodrome" (#148 - 149, 2005–06) * Robert Pinsky's "Work Song" (#148 - 149, 2005–06) * Adam Phillips's "On What is Fundamental" (2009) *

's "How Do You End an Essay?" (2010) * Charles Simic's "The Invisible" (#166 - 167, 2010) *

's "The Real Story" (2012)

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Salmagundi'' official site
Literary magazines published in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1965 Magazines published in New York (state) Skidmore College Hijacked journals