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MeanjinMeanjin was founded in Brisbane by Clem Christesen (the name, pronounced Mee-an-jin, is derived from an Aboriginal word for the finger of land on which central Brisbane sits) in 1940. It moved to Melbourne in 1945. During Christesen's 34-year editorial reign, the journal attracted contributions and debate from the leading figures in Australian letters, as well as providing an Australian audience for leading international writers including Arthur Miller, Anais Nin, Ezra Pound, Jean-Paul Sartre, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Dylan Thomas. Known primarily as a literary magazine, Christesen ensured that Meanjin reflected the breadth of contemporary thinking, be it on literature, other art forms, or the broader issues of the times. In 1998, Christesen received the A. A. Phillips award from the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for a lifetime's outstanding achievement in Australian literary scholarship. We are in a phase of Australia's cultural life where commercial pressures are intensifying, the online space is dynamic, and both are modifying organisations as various as television stations, universities, newspapers, theatres and publishing houses which is why Meanjin's latest editor, Sophie Cunningham, believes that it is precisely now that something as determinedly refined as a literary journal has even more potential. In upcoming Meanjins expect more of an interaction between text and image. Expect to laugh. Expect writers you haven't heard of before and to read established writers writing about unexpected things. Some particulars: Meanjin will no longer be formally themed. There will be essays by designers, and interviews with authors alongside essays, fiction, poetry, Graphic History and comics. In September Meanjin will introduce an "In Brief" section to present current affairs, and shorter pieces of writing. In December it begins a series of essays on Australian cultural institutions. Sophie Cunningham is Meanjin's eighth editor. Those before her include Jim Davidson, Judith Brett, Jenny Lee, Christina Thompson, Stephanie Holt and Ian Britain, and she is indebted to them all. But while following in their footsteps is daunting, the footsteps that will take Meanjin forward are those laid down by Clem Christesen so many decades ago. He once said he wanted Meanjin to "make clear the connection between literature and politics". So does Cunningham. Let's see where those footsteps take us next. Visit Meanjin at http://www.meanjin.com.au |
