One of the two editors of The White Review recently committed a faux pas by reacting with undisguised and indeed excessive envy to the revelation that events organised by another, vastly more circulated, literary magazine based in New York were the source of much intrigue and gossip.

It emerged that the remark was intended not as a slur against us, but rather as an observation that literary and arts reviews are in London considered decidedly unsexy, and that it was therefore somehow admirable of us to establish one in spite of that fact. This (perhaps backhanded) tribute to our principles was fatally undermined by your aforementioned editor’s response. The other editor, I should add, was a paragon of virtue in his reaction, or might possibly have been talking to someone else.

In truth, the establishment of The White Review was not motivated by the likelihood of wild parties ensuing thereof. We wanted instead to produce something timely, useful in its belief that the sense of cultural community engendered by journals, as forums for discussion and expression, is in some difficult-to-summarise way important.

The willingness of decidedly unawed people of all ages to approach us at events with questions that we can’t answer, the skyscraper of submissions that sits on our office desk awaiting reading, the emails we receive defending or attacking a specific article, the continuing generosity of our supporters, the time devoted to the review by an unpaid and overworked staff – all of these testify to the fact that there is a community of people committed to the same belief in the importance of new art and writing upon which The White Review is founded.

The Editors

Issue 5 of the print issue is now available to buy