Oxford American # 1, Spring 1992

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Issue 1, Spring 1992
Our very first issue.

“The Oxford American is a literary magazine, of general interest, established under the idea that it is time for a good general magazine to originate from the South. . . . We will not publish pieces about family reunions, or recipes, or beauty contests, or picturesque porches, or local anchormen, or picnkicking, or interior decorating, or lovely gardens, or Southern soap opera stars. We abandon these concerns to our narcissistic and stagnant competition. Instead, the Oxford American expects to be distinguished and popular for its adherence to what is outstanding in contemporary American culture—not for publishing articles about, or for, its richest subscribers.”

— From the “Declaration of Intent”





FICTION

The Spy of Loog Root
A voyeuristic outcast becomes the focus of another.
by Barry Hannah

Beckett Scholars Fall in Love at Ohio Conference
It is never simple to fall in love.
by Jane Mullen

INTERVIEW

Pauline Kael: The Critic Wore Cowboy Boots
Retired or not, one movie reviewer still has more to say.

ESSAY

Dangerous Inventions
Lying as a Way of Life
by Lewis Nordan

The Faulnker Thing
Did Mr. Bill smoke stogies?
by John Grisham

Fire Notes
Blood & Fire in a small Mississippi town.
by Larry Brown

Tumbleweed Dreams
Our West is a Southerner Southern
by Dave Southern

First View of the Big City
Atlanta as seen through the eyes of a babe
by Louis D. Rubin, Jr.

COMMENTARY

The Optimism
Why Americans, despite it all, won’t give up.
by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Learning to Love Misanthropy
The joys of mankindhating are revealed in the excerpt.
by Florence King

Why Joe Slussarski Throws Like a Girl
You would too if your ERA was 5.27.
by Bill James

The Sick Heart of Sigma Chi
Fraternity Lesions—uh—lessons.
by Richard Ford

REVIEW

Worlds in View
by Bill McKibben

A Marriage of Speaking and Hearing
by Donald Kartiganer

POETRY

Madame of Oxford
by Roy Blount, Jr.

An Epiphany
by X.J. Kennedy

The Censor
by Fred Chappell

Domestic Incident
by X. J. Kennedy

The Beautiful Bowel Movement
by John Updike

A Pianist Plummets
by Jeanne Steig

Ode on the Commode
by Jack Butler

A Model
by Charles Bukowski

Televangelist
by Fred Chappell

The Wedding
by J.E. Pitts

Mishmash
by Jeanne Steig

The Snake
by Charles Bukowski