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Atlantic Unbound
Executive Editor: Katie Bacon
Reviewed by Jill Hill
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The bound Atlantic Monthly is one of the few magazines that still looks like a magazine. By eschewing the cut and paste layout typified by Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic has a nice retro look, even down to the seedy "Learn Another Language On Your Own" ads. (Who speaks Urdu and will I ever need to?) The Atlantic is a real magazine with timely topics and sober writers.
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Atlantic Unbound Executive Editor: Katie Bacon Email: kbacon@theatlantic.com |
"Unbound Fiction" is a Web-only offering and has been posted once a month since May 26, 1999, when it was introduced by Katherine Guckenberger. The story is shorter than the fiction published in the bound magazine. This is true of not only the fiction, but of other web-only features. The writing style of the Unbound version tends to be looser, more diffused and the topics are less serious as if the online crowd had an attention span of about five to ten minutes, which was the average length of time it took me to read each article. The main articles in the bound copy are moderately lengthy. "Thin Ice: ‘Stereotype Threat’ and Black College Students" by Claude M. Steele is an 8-page article. Suffice it to say that it takes more than five to ten minutes to read.
As I have been vexed of late by The Atlantic Monthly's "bound" fiction selections – in the last three months two stories have been set in Texas – I was prepared to be vexed by the Unbound choice, "Fundamentals of Communication" by Thishe Nissen. My vexation arises from a number of salient issues. First, The Atlantic does not publish my fiction. Secondly, The Atlantic does not publish my fiction. Thirdly, The Atlantic does not publish my fiction. Finally, The Atlantic does not publish my fiction - bound or unbound.
However, "Fundamentals of Communication," a short story about the horrors of teaching at a community college, is not irritating at all. The story's appeal stems from its ironic look at college education, the narrator’s rather sweet assessment of her fellow teacher and his disinterested students. I can relate to the narrator and her observations.
So why was I vexed with the bound fiction found in August's The Atlantic Monthly? Well, I have read this story about twelve times. Sure, it was by different writers, but it was the same nonetheless. It’s the young boy or young girl dealing with a troubled mother or father while wrestling with his or her faith in God and religion. The setting is in Alabama or Georgia or Virginia or, in this case, Texas, because those are the states where fundamental religions can really twist a person. To top it off, remember ... The Atlantic does not publish my fiction.
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JILL HILL is a regular contributor to Pif Magazine.