 Front cover ofAreté issue 20, 2006 | |
| Categories | Literary magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | triannual |
| Founder | Craig Raine |
| First issue | Winter 1999; 26 years ago (1999) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | Oxford |
| Language | English |
| OCLC | 1064455043 |
Areté was an arts magazine, published three times a year, edited and founded in 1999[1] by the poetCraig Raine. The magazine aimed to give detailed coverage of theatre, fiction, and poetry, while also serving as a platform for new writing in all genres. Raine has described its editorial policy as to "publish anything we like. The result is a magazine catholic in its taste ... . The purpose of any literary magazine is the correction of taste, the creation of mischief and entertainment—and the discovery of new writers."[2]
The magazine published contributions by a wide range of authors, includingIan McEwan,Patrick Marber,Tom Stoppard, andJulian Barnes. It has also promoted new authors such asAdam Thirlwell,Jeremy Noel-Tod,Sam Gardiner,Hannah Sullivan,Peter Morris, James Womack andTom Welsford. Members of Craig Raine's immediate family such as his wifeAnn Pasternak Slater[3] and children Moses[4] andNina Raine[5] were also frequent contributors.
One of the publication's defining features was "Our Bold", in which the editorial team took sloppy critics to task. (An index of "Our Bold" from issues 1–34 appeared in issue 35, Autumn 2011). The magazine prided itself on high editorial standards and on close and accurate reading where others appear to have read superficially. Unashamedly nostalgic for the informed critical discourse of magazines such as theParis Review, it was strongly associated withNew College, Oxford, where its editorial offices were. The journal's trademark feather, orquill, which adorned its cover was created by the British artistMark Alexander.
The journal's name is theGreekword for "virtue", and the journal was prefaced by a quotation fromPaideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture byWerner Jaeger:
The Greeks felt that areté was, above everything else, a power, an ability to do something. Strength and health are the areté of the body; cleverness and insight the areté of the mind.
In April 2013, lapsed subscribers received a letter from Craig Raine which read as follows:
We have reason to believe that you have let yourAreté subscription lapse. You should know that underbyelaw 2771 of January 2003 (the Impoverished Little Magazines Act), this an offence with inevitable penalties, including: loss of intellectual credibility, increased risk of cerebral atrophy, collateral damage to your funny bone, restriction of your social circle, and spot checks by the Our Bold inspectorate.[6]
In May 2013,Areté published its 40th issue, a 504-page retrospective including pieces by, among others,William Boyd,Ralph Fiennes,Prue Leith andAnne Robinson. The book was reviewed by Nicholas Lezard in theGuardian who observed that "There are close to 50 pieces in here, and they range all over the shop. They are also all very good."[7]
In the 20 September 2020 issue of theTimes Literary Supplement, Craig Raine stated that “We have decided to close Areté with issue 60. When we started in 1999, I thought 32 issues would be admirable. With the lockdown, the logistics of producing a magazine have become very difficult.”[8]
