http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36630 The New Yorker will apparently make money this year (i.e. 2002), for the first time since 1985. Experts in magazine finance are unconvinced.
“The New Yorker under Mr. Remnick remains the magazine world’s rough equivalent of doing the Lord’s work…” So sad to see such a beautiful sentiment lodged in a sentence as screwed as this. (“Working for The New Yorker …”? Or is editing the magazine itself the rough equivalent of the Lord’s work?)
I’m reading the letters of Harold Ross at the moment. They’re fascinating, as are all pieces of writing originally intended for none (like diaries) or one (like letters) that find their way to the general public. Ross was keen on Dorothy Parker: “The verses came and God Bless Me! if I never do anything else I can say I ran a magazine that printed some of your stuff.” (Another reason, I think, was that Parker was the sort of person who needed compliments delivered often, and delivered well.) 11:23