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Soviet Union and the countries it then dominated. In fact,
Partisan Review
organized and printed a number of symposia with an eye to finding out
about life behind the Iron Curtain . In the process, courageous writers had
the chance to meet one another and, at the same time, to open the minds
of some of our countrymen who still were unable to recognize the total–
itarian nature of communism. Strange as this may seem now, we were one
of the few publications that stayed away from right-wing rhetoric and con–
victions while openly condemning left-wing ideologies. This is what, over
all these years, has kept us on the lookout for independent minds, in times
when critically thinking individuals were (and are) having an ever harder
time steering away from what our media wants us to believe.
Not too long ago, William Phillips decided it was time for him to act as
elder statesman, and I have taken over as editor. I am continuing
Partisan
Review's
tradition of soliciting pieces from the best writers and encouraging
young, talented persons to submit their work. Even though communism has
become an ideology of the past, some of its taken-for-granted nostrums keep
being revived. Other trends, some promulgated by the media, and others in the
universities, keep cropping up. Therefore, our current focus is on the burning
issues that need to be addressed, and which, for the most part, currently are in
what are perceived as "cultural politics"-the loss of traditional values, of hon–
esty and integrity. Thereby, we carry on the journal's tradition of going against
the grain, of grappling with the serious JX'Oblems that ail not only American
society, but our civilization as it enters its twenty-first century. We will keep
printing those writers who, as Albert Camus stated when accepting his Nobel
Prize, "accept as completely as possible the two trusts that constitute the nobil–
ity of (their] calling: the service of truth and the service of freedom."
Since writers and poets, and essayists and critics who stand outside the
mainstream are the only ones who will be able to truly assess the forces
underpinning our culture, we are continuing to encourage them to send us
their most serious and trenchant creative efforts. In fact, by examining the
index of what we printed during the last decade, the reader can get an idea
of where we are headed in our postcommunist era. Inevitably, this is dif–
ficult while simultaneously keeping in mind that in a democratic society
we must keep clear of right/left as well as of democratic/republican cleav–
ages. Still, by arguing the central issues that preoccupy our intellectuals in
the pages of
Partisan Review,
we expect to go on providing our readers with
clear thinking and good writing.
·
xiv
I
PARTISAN REVIEW
EDITH KURZWEIL, EDITOR
January 2000