Issue 4: Real Girls
Published earlier this month, Mal Journal’s Issue 4 considers projection, transgression and adolescence. Featuring new fiction by Chris Kraus, Luke Brown and Natasha Stagg alongside work by emerging poet Rachel Long, a sequence of poems by Sasha Dugdale, and illustrations by Birdie Hall, the issue places these texts in a productive and sometimes contradictory dialogue. From a vivid snapshot of contemporary sexual politics in Brown’s ‘Beyond Criticism’ to a recollection of the long and obscure afterlife of adolescent sexuality in Chris Kraus’s ‘Absolute Love’, issue 4 brings together voices that challenge received notions of innocence and moral reasoning. In her four poems, Rachel Long conveys the shame, thrill and bodily confusion that run through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In a sequence of poems, Sasha Dugdale draws from the writings and diaries of artist Eric Gill reflecting on his sexual abuse of his daughters. Hers is a project of finding a language that is ‘good for recording disaster’.
In addition to Issue 4, all of Mal’s back issues are now available in print. From Anne Boyer’s essay on epic crushes in Issue 1 to Sheila Heti’s short story ‘God’s Love’ in Issue 2, you can now read all of Mal in print.
Read Mal Issue 4: Real Girls →
Order Issues 1–4 →
