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Other Investigations > Statement of Purpose
by Ilya Zaychik,
Editor-in-Chief
With this magazine, I have endeavored to create a forum for a style of writing I find so rarely today that I have not even been able to create a catchy slogan to describe it, such as 'flash fiction,' or 'prose poetry.' I have thrown around 'personal essay,' but this tends to evoke dreaded college applications. Two different publications have directly influenced and inspired this one. One is a zine called Investigations, written and edited by Daniel Immerwahr, a friend of a friend's brother; and the other is Other Inquisitions, a collection of essays by Jorge Luis Borges. Perhaps it will be easier for me to speak briefly about my two precursors in order to express a clearer picture of what I have so clearly in my mind.
Investigations is a zine, which makes it a profoundly personal project. It is entirely self-produced, though the layout and design is careful, and the artwork is rather orderly, pushing it closer to a 'literary magazine.' The content covers a broad range of themes in short-to-medium length segments, usually offering original insights. The writing is tight and formal, but still a healthy distance from a term paper. It is supremely accessible without resorting to any lowest common denominators. On reading it, one can be comfortable knowing that this is how the man thinks and writes, without accusing him of using a pretentious style; one is equally struck at the complexity of the ideas. The intellect is engaged, but the 'this guy is a pompous dick' radar remains tranquil.
Borges, on the other hand, can be overwhelming and intimidating, in that he is a human encyclopedia and you are probably not. However, the personal core is still present: books were his life, and sadly this is not an exaggeration. The insights are always original and occasionally brilliant. He formalizes and develops his observations, which are of a more general, literary nature. He is not concerned with his dinner, but rather with 'Kafka and his Precursors.' When one braves Other Inquisitions one clearly notes the very real influence writing, reading and trying to understand an endless body of texts had on this man. At first glance it may seem abstract, and pointless, and too cerebral, but it's extremely relevant, and Borges is able‹not without some effort on the reader's part‹to convey the pertinence of his subject matter to anyone who reads anything, ever.
Other Investigations tries to combine these approaches. I'm firmly rooted in the DIY ethos of the ideal zine, but without the overtly angry writing and design of most zine authors. No glue stick, no collages, no photocopying. Now, personal zines are great, but they opt more for emotion than analysis. For balance, I've created the magazine in a more formal, analytical manner, both in content and production. I wanted to encourage writers to be inquisitive and investigative, to move beyond routine observations, transforming them into original, and occasionally brilliant, insights that are important and interesting to readers.
I'm not interested in non-fiction that requires a research grant and a philosophy degree to write, or, at the other extreme, tear-jerking or blood-boiling accounts of break-ups or trips to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I will not consider polemics, political soapboxing, policy recommendations, snide satire, dramatic warnings about the 'intellectual situation,' fiction, poetry, drama, and banal witticisms. Every issue will have a theme to which writers will respond. The themes will be very general.
I'm publishing what I want to publish, and if I had a Mohawk and a nose piercing you can bet I'd be listening to Fugazi and giving you the finger right now. Though the process is of course one of trial and error, and I will fail more often then I will succeed, this is what the magazine is about, and this is the fine line we will always try to walk.
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