nY web

Mission Statement

nY came into being in 2009 as a result of the fusion of two Flemish literary journals—yang (founded in 1963) and freespace Nieuwzuid (founded in 1999). This fusion took place because the arrival of the Internet has definitively changed the way literary journals function. nY is no longer a literary-cultural journal, as we have known them for almost two centuries now, but a cross-media project, the core of which is the intersection of a paper journal and this website.

The name nY is an amalgamation of the first letters of the founding journals. In the Scandinavian languages, “ny” means new, which is fortuitous—as long as it is clear that nY is not just naively standing by extolling anything that claims to be new. The “good” new must be clearly characterized. To do that, nY, just as in the last issue of yang, refers to Walter Benjamin’s mission statement for the never-born journal Angelus Novus. nY will be “rigorous in its thought and unwavering in its readiness to say what it believes, without any concessions to its public, particularly where it is a matter of distilling what is truly relevant from the sterile pageant of new and fashionable events, the exploitation of which can be left to the newspapers.”*

Consequently, the new that is relevant to nY is that which does not concern itself with the consensus. For that reason, the nY project is often a critical one. But it also has a powerful, creative aspect—it generates alternatives that were never before considered possible. The categorical imperative to which nY adheres is this: show them that it can be done differently! This imperative is inherent in every creative act, and the heeding of this imperative calls up the same feelings—tension, uneasiness and sometimes even fear, but also, most of all, the pleasure of adventure and freedom regained.

In line with this, nY resolves to be a discursive machine, in other words a machine which brings unconventional concepts and ideas into circulation. At the root of this practice is the conviction that reality (the social, the historical) is a set of constructions founded in influential discourses. Engaging in these discourse results in the reinvention of our reality. And that, in addition to being a critical pursuit, is also an extremely pleasurable one.

(translated from Dutch by d’onderkast vof)

Info

In addition to this website, nY publishes 4 print issues per year of approximately 160 pages each. Each issue is illustrated by a different visual artist. Not all of the texts which appear in nY-print are available on nY-web, which has its own editorial team and generates its own content.

Subscribe
A subscription to nY-print can be started at any time during the year. For Belgium: individuals pay € 25; for other countries: individuals € 30; students: €20; institutions: €50. Deposit the cost of the subscription to account number 000-1702138-79 or, for foreign subscriptions, via European direct deposit to IBAN BE58000170213879 / BIC BPOTBEB1 (Bank van de Post) or via PayPal to info@ny-web.be. Please mention your postal and e-mail addresses, and confirm your order via e-mail. Notification of cancellation must occur three months before the end of the current publication year. Single issues can be ordered from the editorial secretary.

nY Office
attn Iannis Goerlandt
Postbus 245, 9000 Gent, Belgium

For more information and submissions, contact
info@ny-web.be

Credits

Graphic design
Lauren Grusenmeyer

About/

Mission Statement

Info

Credits

Colophon