Ninth Letter published out of University of Illinois
Literary journal of poetry, fiction and non-fiction (creative essay mainly). It also dedicates space to art projects and talking discussion of the art. Throughout, stories and poems are laid out over different sketches, paintings, photographs and designs. This is one of the first aspects that I think makes 9 a good coffee table journal. It's visually intriguing. Nothing too shocking or abrasive, so as to intimidate your dinner guests while you have a quickie in the kitchen. Nor so bland as to leave your guests carving tribal designs in each others arms as a way to transcend their boredom.
The actual writing is also nice. Nothing to rave about. Nothing to condemn. It's nice. Fitful moments did include an end note explaining "The preceding stories [were] part of a collection of 'dream' stories..." It was also disappointing that the artist descriptions of their work actually detracted from the images they were able to produce. It seems that some artists need to have interesting explanations to validate the experience for any audience. Others should make a bunch of prints and walk away. Or, better yet, hire a poet to create an interesting explanation for them.
The poetry has some nice images, thoughts and narratives. "The Upstairs Cow" by Matthew Gavin Frank was a nice quasi-surreal, mostly post-modern piece: "But this long is all for the sake of the father. The cow is still / a cow (not a fact). She won't come to the family."
A series of Newtonian Girl poems by Stefi Weisburd showed some whimsy and enough character insight that although the premise seemed a little stretched, there was enough emotional impetus to keep interest in the next of the series.
Other poems were nice, but lacked tightness. They were more concerned with stream of consciousness and being unique that I feel they lose the urgency that consideration of craft brings. I'm not a big fan of formalism, but nor do I feel that not taking on a particular form means that a poem should give secondary consideration to imagery or sound.
Fiction had the surrealistic impoverishment piece, the translation piece and the teacher/affair piece. Your mom could read these, but you may want to keep grandpa occupied with the Upstairs Cow. You've read most of the pieces before. They're nice pieces and it's not likely to kill you to read them again.
To be commended- the collaboration between the editors and the UI arts dept. It is visually impressive. Not always necessarily meant to mesh directly, the photos, sketches, oils and computer graphics are definitely interesting. I read some of the stories for the simple pleasure of having the photo in my peripheral vision. It's inspiring that the literary and the arts are spending time together to create this.
So, the Ninth Letter is great coffee table reader. It's a page flipper rather than a turner. It's visually impressive, even (briefly) captivating at times. The poetry has it's high points and doesn't sink too low. The prose pieces seem a little typecasted, but they play their parts without too much stammering. So, one copy will look great, but until people start to comment on how old your copy is, I wouldn't bother rushing out to get a new edition hot off the press.