McSweeney's Issue 2: Timothy McSweeney's Blues/Jazz Odyssey

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #2

by Dave Eggers (Editor)

Issue two is T I M O T H Y M c S W E E N E Y ' S B L U E S / J A Z Z O D Y S S E Y
(Known also as "Pollyanna's Bootless Errand"). This second issue is also white, and is 192 pages long.

Issue No. 2 contains:

The Republic of Marfa, by Sean Wilsey
[16,000 words about Donald Judd's tiny Texas town. A true story]

Chainsaw Apple, by Arthur Bradford
[Fiction involving a chainsaw and an apple]

Walking on the Rings of Saturn, by Paul Collins
[About a 19th-century astronomy hoax]

On Views and Viewing, by David Shields
[Three short pieces]

Speak Korean to Me, by Ana Marie Cox
[This piece is hard to describe]

Fat Women Floated in the Sky Like Balloons, by Amanda Davis
[Fiction, involving men and women]

Fire: The Next Sharp Stick? by John Hodgman
[A play for three cavemen]

The Only Good Indian is a Dead Indian, by Brian Kennedy
[Suspense, moccasins and· murder]

The Snake and the Monkey, by Tim Rogers
[A nice allegory. Also scary. And poignant]

1998: Year in Review, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
[Everything you could want]

Hopper's Bathhouse, by Todd Pruzan
[Highly interactive, and with pirates]

How a Bill Became a Ship, Sinking in the Atlantic, by Marny Requa
[Compiled from Congressional speeches]

Two Prayers, by Paul Maliszewski
[Shoe-switching and other perversions]

Flops, by Daniel Radosh
[Musical-bashing]

The Lemon, by Lawrence Krauser
[Some prose, some verse, much love]

The Mineral Palace: The Lost Chapters, by Heidi Julavits
[Colorado, many years ago. Also: Swedes]

No Justice, No Foul, by Jim Stallard
[Exposes the Supreme Court's weakness in the low post]

Voice Recognition, by John Bowe
[Experiment involving a cargo ship and IBM]

Todd: A Show for Television, by Zev Borow y D. Eggers
[It still has not been picked up]

Math & Bullshit: Interview with Dr. Paul DuChateau, by Brent Hoff
[Ravishing, this is]

Also, shortish contributions from: Jonathan Lethem, Neal Pollack, Sarah Vowell, Jon Langford, Marny Requa, Mary Gallagher, and Tim Carvell

Genres: Fiction, Literature

192 pages, Magazine

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost every piece in this issue had potential but very few were executed well. With each new piece I was excited at the concept but then was left disappointed. I guess they can't all be winners!

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some pieces were interesting, others were irritating, and others provided a window into the life of 1999 America.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this volume of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern on the magazine shelves of a Barnes & Noble, when it was the current issue. Back in a previous century. I was attracted by the busy cover, and when I began examining both covers I decided that it looked interesting. Unique, in fact.

Bought it. Took it home.

Examined it, read bits here and there, and decided that I must subscribe to this thing, and have stayed subscribed ever since. I don't have Volume 1, but at this moment I have 68 of the 69 numbers, and have read at least 21 of them cover-to-cover. I had never read this one cover-to-cover, though, and felt it was about time.

Should have done it decades ago. This is a richly rewarding, and terribly quirky, volume. It has clever satires mixed with very imaginative essays and stories. The list of authors is kinda stunning: Jonathan Lethem, Ana Marie Cox, David Shields, Amanda Davis, John Hodgman, Sarah Vowell, Heidi Julavits and more.

Since they reprinted this volume a couple of times, you should be able to find a copy. I don't want to go on and on, but I'll mention two entries that particularly struck me.

First, Paul Collins's "Walking on the Rings of Saturn" is a history of the New York Sun lunar hoax of 1835. If that was all, I wouldn't be mentioning this, because (as a science fiction writer) this is old news. But Collins reveals the story of Thomas Dick, a writer who had convinced a considerable portion of the public that God would have populated EVERY planet, and so life on the Moon shouldn't even be a question. The only question was when we would come in contact with it. Collins put so much new life into this subject that I promptly bought a bound volume of all the New York Sun articles that were part of the hoax, and I also bought Collins's book entitled Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck. [The working title, mentioned in his McSweeney's bio, was Loser: A Brief History of Notable Failures.]

Second, the late Amy Krouse Rosenthal's "1998: Year in Review." It is a single-page mockery of all those other annual reviews, with their clearly biased selections. This has such truthful, yet unweighted, entries like

JANUARY: Several people made bad decisions.

and

JULY: A security guard loosened his belt. It began to rain.

I have always liked gentle reminders that we get too distracted by the showy and self-important.

This magazine is a major player in modern literature, and this exact volume was especially influential. Recommended.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently wrote a short thing about Dave Eggers and then realized that I hadn't rated or reviewed the many issues of McSweeney's I've read. The early issues were especially influential and inspiring to me.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, not great collection. You can see McSweeney's finding their voice in the first few issues here.