As a writer and editor, I believe it’s important to understand not only what makes us write, but what compels us to read. In this digital age, our attention spans seem narrower and less focused. Though we’re constantly scanning text and absorbing information in the form of web pages, blogs, and e-mails, we’re setting less time aside to read contemplatively. It is the responsibility of the literary journal to find and present writing worthy of the modern reader’s attention.
Several of the pieces in this issue directly engage in a conversation with the reader, while others investigate intertextual dialogues. This reminds us that we—as readers and writers—are constantly in a conversation with language and literature. Good stories become a part of our own narratives, and in turn, shift the lens through which we view our everyday experiences. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote, “A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that’s unlocked and opens inwards as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.” We believe these short stories, plays, and poems are clues that help alter our vision of the world, so that we might conceive a new direction for the door to swing.
We hope you enjoy this 26th issue of The Brooklyn Review.
-Erin Harte, Editor in Chief