LEAN magazine
@leanmag.bsky.social
Magazine for non-protagonist-centered fiction // Contributors get paid // Sign up for the newsletter here: https://tinyurl.com/nhbn53kn
LEAN Magazine is open for business! Please send along your work.
LEAN has mostly focused on fiction but we're very interested in memoir, especially the kind that evokes the contexts and conditions of life, sidelining the individual for the sake of conveying useful information
LEAN has mostly focused on fiction but we're very interested in memoir, especially the kind that evokes the contexts and conditions of life, sidelining the individual for the sake of conveying useful information
September 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
LEAN Magazine is open for business! Please send along your work.
LEAN has mostly focused on fiction but we're very interested in memoir, especially the kind that evokes the contexts and conditions of life, sidelining the individual for the sake of conveying useful information
LEAN has mostly focused on fiction but we're very interested in memoir, especially the kind that evokes the contexts and conditions of life, sidelining the individual for the sake of conveying useful information
Reposted by LEAN magazine
Another translation published! Check out my translation of Diego Lama’s story “The Silent City” in LEAN.
A big thanks to Semyon Khokhlov for featuring us!
A big thanks to Semyon Khokhlov for featuring us!
Diego Lama
The Silent City
www.lean-mag.com
May 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Another translation published! Check out my translation of Diego Lama’s story “The Silent City” in LEAN.
A big thanks to Semyon Khokhlov for featuring us!
A big thanks to Semyon Khokhlov for featuring us!
Reposted by LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is back at it with issue #9!
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
www.lean-mag.com
May 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
LEAN magazine is back at it with issue #9!
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
LEAN magazine is back at it with issue #9!
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
www.lean-mag.com
May 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
LEAN magazine is back at it with issue #9!
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Diego Lama's "The Silent City," translated by Rose Facchini, portrays a besieged city expanding toward the infinite.
Stephen Mortland's amazing story "Three Sofias" is all about promiscuous acts of attention.
www.lean-mag.com
Reposted by LEAN magazine
The new LEAN Magazine - Issue 8 - is here!
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
www.lean-mag.com
March 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The new LEAN Magazine - Issue 8 - is here!
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
The new LEAN Magazine - Issue 8 - is here!
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
www.lean-mag.com
March 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The new LEAN Magazine - Issue 8 - is here!
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
Featuring Jon Conley's story of a hot day at the beach where the people aren't quite right.
And a story by Jon Doughboy that stirs up a heteroglossic stew on a very clear night in Idaho.
www.lean-mag.com
Reposted by LEAN magazine
Very excited to share this essay about the great German author Alexander Kluge whose unusual work is all about common human feelings and "happy endings that don't lie."
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
The Human Situation in the Work of Alexander Kluge
All of Kluge’s books contribute to one large, ongoing project to build up a toolkit of resistant feelings that readers can use to plot their own ways out.
www.full-stop.net
March 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Very excited to share this essay about the great German author Alexander Kluge whose unusual work is all about common human feelings and "happy endings that don't lie."
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
Very excited to share this essay about the great German author Alexander Kluge whose unusual work is all about common human feelings and "happy endings that don't lie."
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
The Human Situation in the Work of Alexander Kluge
All of Kluge’s books contribute to one large, ongoing project to build up a toolkit of resistant feelings that readers can use to plot their own ways out.
www.full-stop.net
March 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Very excited to share this essay about the great German author Alexander Kluge whose unusual work is all about common human feelings and "happy endings that don't lie."
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
www.full-stop.net/2025/03/06/f...
"It's really not so easy to find sentences that explain who you are. But maybe it's not so important, either."
---Jenny Erpenbeck
---Jenny Erpenbeck
March 2, 2025 at 6:40 PM
"It's really not so easy to find sentences that explain who you are. But maybe it's not so important, either."
---Jenny Erpenbeck
---Jenny Erpenbeck
Reposted by LEAN magazine
There's nothing essential about narrative modes and that's especially true when it comes to their relation to protagonism.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
February 22, 2025 at 3:54 PM
There's nothing essential about narrative modes and that's especially true when it comes to their relation to protagonism.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
There's nothing essential about narrative modes and that's especially true when it comes to their relation to protagonism.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
February 22, 2025 at 3:54 PM
There's nothing essential about narrative modes and that's especially true when it comes to their relation to protagonism.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
3rd person can be used to center an individual just as 1st person can be used to sideline them.
Self-centered protagonism is a problem that demands formal solutions.
It's not enough for a character to be "self-aware" or even to look out beyond themselves because such looking can easily turn into self-affirmation.
It's not enough for a character to be "self-aware" or even to look out beyond themselves because such looking can easily turn into self-affirmation.
February 21, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Self-centered protagonism is a problem that demands formal solutions.
It's not enough for a character to be "self-aware" or even to look out beyond themselves because such looking can easily turn into self-affirmation.
It's not enough for a character to be "self-aware" or even to look out beyond themselves because such looking can easily turn into self-affirmation.
Reposted by LEAN magazine
Anyway, it's a really great work out recently from
@spurleditions.bsky.social in a new translation by Dana Lupo
@spurleditions.bsky.social in a new translation by Dana Lupo
February 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Anyway, it's a really great work out recently from
@spurleditions.bsky.social in a new translation by Dana Lupo
@spurleditions.bsky.social in a new translation by Dana Lupo
Reposted by LEAN magazine
The narrative does not present this primarily as a problem for the hero but rather as a problem for other people, and that's precisely because this novel does not subscribe to the modern dogma of protagonist supremacy
February 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
The narrative does not present this primarily as a problem for the hero but rather as a problem for other people, and that's precisely because this novel does not subscribe to the modern dogma of protagonist supremacy
Reposted by LEAN magazine
The utopian novel The Known Southern Land (1676) is the kind of early work that can help us understand the blind spots of the modern novel's insistence on the supremacy of the protagonist...
February 19, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The utopian novel The Known Southern Land (1676) is the kind of early work that can help us understand the blind spots of the modern novel's insistence on the supremacy of the protagonist...
The utopian novel The Known Southern Land (1676) is the kind of early work that can help us understand the blind spots of the modern novel's insistence on the supremacy of the protagonist...
February 19, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The utopian novel The Known Southern Land (1676) is the kind of early work that can help us understand the blind spots of the modern novel's insistence on the supremacy of the protagonist...
Reposted by LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is open for non-protagonist-centered business.
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
August 21, 2024 at 1:55 PM
LEAN magazine is open for non-protagonist-centered business.
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
Reposted by LEAN magazine
The 1st issue of LEAN - with work by Caren Beilin and Tom Comitta - is now in print! It'll soon be available for free in Philly bookstores and cafes but I'm also giving 10 away to anyone outside the city. Just DM me if you'd like one!
December 17, 2024 at 9:44 PM
The 1st issue of LEAN - with work by Caren Beilin and Tom Comitta - is now in print! It'll soon be available for free in Philly bookstores and cafes but I'm also giving 10 away to anyone outside the city. Just DM me if you'd like one!
Reposted by LEAN magazine
LEAN #7 is here!
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
www.lean-mag.com
January 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
LEAN #7 is here!
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
LEAN #7 is here!
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
www.lean-mag.com
January 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
LEAN #7 is here!
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
A blast from the past:
Alphonse Daudet's story "A Game of Billiards" (1873) in a new translation by Elliot Menard
And the present:
Two stories by contemporary Italian writer Diego Lama translated by Rose Facchini
www.lean-mag.com
The 1st issue of LEAN - with work by Caren Beilin and Tom Comitta - is now in print! It'll soon be available for free in Philly bookstores and cafes but I'm also giving 10 away to anyone outside the city. Just DM me if you'd like one!
December 17, 2024 at 9:44 PM
The 1st issue of LEAN - with work by Caren Beilin and Tom Comitta - is now in print! It'll soon be available for free in Philly bookstores and cafes but I'm also giving 10 away to anyone outside the city. Just DM me if you'd like one!
LEAN is not just for fiction.
Memoir has all sorts of non-protagonist-centered possibilities (really!) and there are some fascinating examples from Gluckel of Hameln's Memoirs to Alexander Kluge's Air Raid to Hua Hsu's recent Stay True.
So send your unorthodox memoir along!
Memoir has all sorts of non-protagonist-centered possibilities (really!) and there are some fascinating examples from Gluckel of Hameln's Memoirs to Alexander Kluge's Air Raid to Hua Hsu's recent Stay True.
So send your unorthodox memoir along!
November 12, 2024 at 3:18 PM
LEAN is not just for fiction.
Memoir has all sorts of non-protagonist-centered possibilities (really!) and there are some fascinating examples from Gluckel of Hameln's Memoirs to Alexander Kluge's Air Raid to Hua Hsu's recent Stay True.
So send your unorthodox memoir along!
Memoir has all sorts of non-protagonist-centered possibilities (really!) and there are some fascinating examples from Gluckel of Hameln's Memoirs to Alexander Kluge's Air Raid to Hua Hsu's recent Stay True.
So send your unorthodox memoir along!
LEAN magazine is open for non-protagonist-centered business.
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
August 21, 2024 at 1:55 PM
LEAN magazine is open for non-protagonist-centered business.
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
Are you tired of lit that doggedly tracks the private concerns of an individual?
Do you think the individual story is always just one element in a larger human situation?
If you do, send your stuff to LEAN!
Reposted by LEAN magazine
Listen to me.
You have to go to Ndakaaru.
You have to find your little brother.
At any cost.
Do you hear?
You have to bring him back here, to Kayar.
Dead or alive.
Even just his bones.
Do you hear?
--from Ken Bugul's Coming and Going at lean-mag.com
You have to go to Ndakaaru.
You have to find your little brother.
At any cost.
Do you hear?
You have to bring him back here, to Kayar.
Dead or alive.
Even just his bones.
Do you hear?
--from Ken Bugul's Coming and Going at lean-mag.com
June 9, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Listen to me.
You have to go to Ndakaaru.
You have to find your little brother.
At any cost.
Do you hear?
You have to bring him back here, to Kayar.
Dead or alive.
Even just his bones.
Do you hear?
--from Ken Bugul's Coming and Going at lean-mag.com
You have to go to Ndakaaru.
You have to find your little brother.
At any cost.
Do you hear?
You have to bring him back here, to Kayar.
Dead or alive.
Even just his bones.
Do you hear?
--from Ken Bugul's Coming and Going at lean-mag.com
Reposted by LEAN magazine
The new issue of LEAN is here! It features an excerpt from Senegalese writer Ken Bugul's novel Coming and Going (originally Aller et Retour) in a translation by Julianna Blair Watson and Hugo Bujon.
www.lean-mag.com
www.lean-mag.com
Home | LEAN magazine
LEAN magazine is devoted to non-protagonist-centered fiction, an approach to literature that formally deemphasizes the protagonist.
www.lean-mag.com
June 6, 2024 at 3:05 PM
The new issue of LEAN is here! It features an excerpt from Senegalese writer Ken Bugul's novel Coming and Going (originally Aller et Retour) in a translation by Julianna Blair Watson and Hugo Bujon.
www.lean-mag.com
www.lean-mag.com