Issue 1, Spring 1992
Our very first issue.
“The Oxford American is a literary magazine, of general interest, established under the idea that it is time for a good general magazine to originate from the South. . . . We will not publish pieces about family reunions, or recipes, or beauty contests, or picturesque porches, or local anchormen, or picnkicking, or interior decorating, or lovely gardens, or Southern soap opera stars. We abandon these concerns to our narcissistic and stagnant competition. Instead, the Oxford American expects to be distinguished and popular for its adherence to what is outstanding in contemporary American culture—not for publishing articles about, or for, its richest subscribers.”
— From the “Declaration of Intent”
FICTION
The Spy of Loog Root
by Barry Hannah
A voyeuristic outcast becomes the focus of another.
Beckett Scholars Fall In Love At Ohio Conference
by Jane Mullen
It is never simple to fall in love.
INTERVIEW
Pauline Kael: The Critic Wore Cowboy Boots
Retired or not, one movie reviewer still has more to say.
ESSAY
Dangerous Inventions
by Lewis Nordan
Lying as a Way of Life.
The Faulkner Thing
by John Grisham
Did Mr. Bill smoke stogies?
Fire Notes
by Larry Brown
Blood & Fire in a small Mississippi town.
Tumbleweed Dreams
by Dave Southern
Our West is a Southerner Southern
First View of the Big City
by Louis D. Rubin, Jr.
Atlanta as seen through the eyes of a babe.
COMMENTARY
The Optimism
by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Why Americans, despite it all, won’t give up.
Learning to Love Misanthropy
by Florence King
The joys of mankindhating are revealed in the excerpt.
Why Joe Slussarski Throws Like A Girl
by Bill James
You would too if your ERA was 5.27.
The Sick Heart of Sigma Chi
by Richard Ford
Fraternity Lesions—uh—lessons.
REVIEW
Worlds In View
by Bill McKibben
A Marriage of Speaking and Hearing
by Donald Kartiganer
POETRY
Madame of Oxford
Roy Blount, Jr.
An Epiphanhy
X.J. Kennedy
The Censor
Fred Chappell
Domestic Incident
X. J. Kennedy
The Beautiful Bowel Movement
John Updike
A Pianist Plummets
Jeanne Steig
Ode on the Commode
Jack Butler
a model
Charles Bukowski
Televangelist
Fred Chappell
The Wedding
J.E. Pitts
Mishmash
Jeanne Steig
the snake
Charles Bukowski
