After more than forty years in print The Phoenix Magazine has entered voluntary liquidation. A surprise statistic revealed that its circulation was down to 10,000 copies per fortnight, despite being sold in newsagent and other outlets nationwide. When a print publication ceases it leaves feelings of regret and glee behind, depending on who you speak to.
I tend to judge a magazine by its willingness to print letters that dissent from the editorial line. I wonder whether The Phoenix ever invited individuals it sniped at continually to submit an article of reply/explanation along the lines of: ‘Here I Stand; I can do no other?’
The British satirical magazine Private Eye, on which Phoenix was partly modelled, bashes a lot of policies and personalities in British life; but it prints four pages of reader feedback, some of it caustic. Private Eye has sometimes even parodied its own provocative covers.
Thus, when a certain misogynist individual placed a small advert seeking to meet ladies who liked their bottoms patted, a cover reproduced it with the proud proclamation: ‘Bottom People Read the Eye’.
Phoenix printed a surfeit of gossip about movers and shakers in the Arts Council. It carried thoughtful half-page reviews of new theatrical offerings. Some new novels and non-fiction books were seriously reviewed.
The magazine shied away, however, from reviewing art exhibitions, albeit articles about Dublin art auctions had eye-catching reproductions of works by living and dead Irish artists. Phoenix fell short in this regard, nonetheless, in neglecting the art scene nationally and abroad.
It preferred gossip about horsey folk, trainers, owners and star jockeys, but never offered the ordinary punter any hot tips for big races at Aintree or Cheltenham!
Magazine with Ideas
Irish literary magazines have thrived and given would-be poets, story writers and novelists their chance to appear in print. One can list Stinging Fly, Banshee, The Dublin Review, Crannog, Irish Pages or former greats like Honest Ulsterman and The Moth.
Some of these did publish pieces on politics and history, but Irish intellectual life in printed form outside the academy is overwhelmingly literary. Yet literary buffs are not treated to enough criticism that attempts to digest the content of contemporary novels and highlight general trends.
What themes and genres impress in the contemporary Irish novel? What themes and narrative styles are found too rarely? What about the literary value of faction, as opposed to mere fiction? Think of Joseph O’Connor’s novels about Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, or Bran Stoker and the London Lyceum Theatre (Shadowplay) or Sebastian Barry’s works inspired by real events. Colum McCann has been down that road too.
Why does an exiled Irish philosopher like the Francophile Richard Kearney get more attention in Irish newsprint when he publishes a novel with philosophical echoes, as opposed to his philosophical works? Are we afraid of serious thought? There is far more space for the public intellectual, who is not merely an academic, on the European continent.
A Dearth of Serious Publications
In the past, the Irish Statesman, The Leader, The Bell, Hibernia, and a regionally published Ceide were print magazines that tried, however modestly, to tease out cultural, social and zeitgeist perceptions on the human condition in Ireland.
Admittedly, Village Magazine still appears with long-form opinion pieces, but latterly is top-heavy with legalistic reports on planning applications and county council manoeuverings. It rarely provides extensive coverage of the arts, or indeed the pursuit of happiness. I wonder what the Irish dream of happiness really is?
We certainly don’t have a publication like Der Spiegel, or any number of German arts and environmental publications for that matter. Meanwhile, the French can pick up L’Express, Le Point and Nouvel Obs in numerous cities. Sadly, none of these publications are now available in downtown Dublin – quelle blague..
Fringe publications are still to be found in downtown Paris. Indeed, some years ago I picked up a delightful magazine put out by neo-monarchists, who want to restore the Bourbon dynasty. Quelle gaspillage!
A serious magazine requires commercial advertising to be viable. Otherwise it becomes dependent on an annual government grant.
Thus, in the past Magill magazine had glossy ads for whiskey, fast cars, glitzy jewellery and designer handbags. Of course this probably made it reluctant to criticise the booming motor car sector. You don’t bite the hand that feeds after all. Just ask RTE. Like Phoenix, Magill ran out of innovative things to say about Irish life.
One magazine that keeps going – after more than 120 years – is Ireland’s Own. The plain people of Ireland love it, including hundreds of subscribers among the diaspora. Sure the week wouldn’t be the same without it!
