Former 'Esquire' editor recalls past greats
The Daily Pennsylvanian
March 24, 2006
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Lee Eisenberg, former editor-in-chief of Esquire, talks about the New Journalism movement at the Kelly Writers House. Before joining 'Esquire,' Eisenberg earned a degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at Penn.
Photo by Mark Chou/The Daily Pennsylvanian
Looking at a magazine industry that seems to him less than it once was, Lee Eisenberg reflects fondly on a group of writers who brought something fresh to the table.
The former editor of Esquire magazine, a Penn alumnus, spoke about New Journalism -- a literary movement that he helped advance -- the decline of the magazine industry and opportunities for writers at Penn yesterday at the Kelly Writers House.
Eisenberg's speech focused on his work at Esquire editing the writing of many famous writers whose style came to be known as New Journalism.
He shared anecdotes about writers like Norman Mailer and Gay Talese and the editors at Esquire who published their work -- most notably, former host of ABC's 20/20 Harold Hayes. Much of his talk was devoted to defining the term New Journalism, which he said differs from other forms mainly in presenting a distinct point of view.
"The New Journalist wasn't expected to be objective," Eisenberg said. "Why would a journalist be objective when his prose generated the most amount of applause the more skeptical, the more vigorous, the more roguish, the more truculent, the more 'in your face' it was?"
He also described the causes of what he called the degraded current state of magazines, including Esquire. He said the role of advertising, the consolidation of individual magazines into large conglomerates and easily offended readers are all significant factors.
"I don't read Esquire that much because I'm an old fogey and the magazine is not for me," he said. "I'm not interested in the celebrities that by necessity or choice are featured on the cover."
Eisenberg spoke positively about Penn and expressed his excitement over the accomplishments of the Kelly Writers House.
"There are a lot of ideas here; there is a lot of against-the-grain thinking going on," he said. "This is an incredibly welcoming place and it's a place to argue and trade ideas."
The atmosphere of the event -- attended by a small audience and members of Eisenberg's family, who were visiting Penn -- was intimate. Before his speech, Eisenberg chatted with audience members about their own writings and about his new book, The Number, which was published in January.