The Raconteur review
The Raconteur
This brand new quarterly magazine has a very definite remit: to examine how we live, think and behave in the context of literature, culture and society. The first issue of The Raconteur explores the theme of landscape, encompassing the physical, emotional and mental, offering a wealth of viewpoints from a broad range of writers who, rather joyously, seem to have been allowed to interpret the topic however they choose.
As publishing editor Dylan Moore says: “Here at The Raconteur we want to explore the dips and crevices in the cultural landscape, those points at which creative endeavours interact with society at large, the places where art intrude on ‘real’ life, and vice versa.”
Illustrious writers such as J Salvador Vilares and Wendy Hoborow walk us through their favourite landscapes and the stories, both fictional and true, which drew them there.
J Salvador Vilares paints us the cultural landscape of the events surrounding a Galician pig killing, while Wendy describes the changing seasons reflected in the countryside surrounding her home in Corfu: the summers of “dark purple aubergine, like jewels, nestling in the sunshine of a velvet lined box”; the autumns when “tree to tree, cyclamen blossom in swathes across the paths”; the winters when “Mimosa trees are a wonderful sight with their bright yellow racemes”, and the “nascent spring, hysterical with colour.”
Dylan Moore introduces us to his favourite San Francisco book shop, introducing us to the evocative Shelf Life series “profiling the word’s greatest bookstores.”
A good book shop can provide a brief interlude in a busy day, while offering an outlet for the grand ideas of times past, and inspiration for new ones. Revealed through Dylan’s eyes, City Lights in San Francisco seems to do these things and more, and we look forward to finding out which bookshop will be showcased next.
The fiction, too, follows the theme, with Alain de Botton examining the landscape of the human heart, while Nia Willams’ tale Bryn Hyfryd stirs empathy for each character it depicts, revealing our equal capacity for cruelty, kindness and, worst of all, apathy.
In case you were wondering, as we were, the magazine’s name is a word meaning: “A person noted for telling stories, with skill and wit”. As it happens, the magazine does far more than that -encouraging us to think about the ideas raised within its pages.
We closed the first issue feeling as though we were emerging from an intense discussion with intellectual friends and mentors - with our brains slightly stretched, but comfortably so.
For details on how to submit or subscribe, please visit www.theraconteur.co.uk
To submit a review of a book, course, magazine or website, please email judy@EssentialWriters.com
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