Mark H. Kim

I just received the winter issue of The Paris Review in mail a few days ago. I have purchased a five-year subscription on December 7, so it is quite late, even considering this message:

If you ordered a subscription, please allow 6-8 weeks for the delivery of your first issue. All other items will be shipped out within the next few days and should arrive in one to two weeks, depending on the ship method selected. International orders should arrive within six to eight weeks.

Notwithstanding the delay, the magazine—the little of it I have read thus far—did not disappoint me. Publishing Massimo Vitali’s “Bathers” seems to me a cruel choice on the editor’s part—for the stimulated yearning for the summer beach—but the photos are gorgeous, nonetheless. I never knew photographs of crowds of people could be so interesting. A quick Google search reveals that Vitali has been focusing on beach photography as of late. His portfolio even sounds beach-y.

I have only given a perfunctory glance to the “Winter Poetry” folio in the middle, and only one poem has caught my eyes so far: Dorothea Tanning’s “Cultivation.” Incidentally, it is the one poem The Paris Review decided to post on their website.  The other piece I read, however, was absolutely stunning. It is Carsten René Nielsen’s “House Inspections,” which I read three times, front to back, in one sitting, marveling at its beauty. One curiosity: The Paris Review decided to categorize it under “fiction,” which confused me a little bit, as there seemed to be no semblance of plot or character development in the “story”; furthermore, Nielson’s website categorizes it as “ten prose poems.” I wonder what sparked this seemingly—well, false decision.

Now, if I could find the time to read the rest of it…