The writing in the Paris Review is probably unmatched elsewhere in a popularly available magazine. Other magazines and reviews sometimes have top quality pieces, maybe one or two excellent pieces in each issue, but I found that the high standards of quality in the Paris Review is very rarely matched. The Paris Review unlike most publications is systematically excellent.

The fictional stories are interesting and seemingly unique. The poetry is vivid and compelling. The interviews and non-fiction pieces also are no less enticing, excellent and important. If you are interested in writing, in reading compelling fiction and non-fiction, or the creative arts generally, I strongly recommend this magazine.

If you were locked in an attic by cruel parents, and allowed to read only one literary journal, The Paris Review would entertain you with its sword-slicing poetry, move you with soul revealing fiction, and show you the bare-knuckled truth about human nature in its non-fiction. You would emerge from that attic, years later, better educated and aware than 80% of the planet. The other 20%; you could hold your own.