• Notes on the Interregnum
• Adam Ross (bio)

I gave up the prediction business back in November 2016 after Donald Trump was elected. Still, in late September 2020, as the Review editorial staff began putting together the Spring 2021 issue, I asked several writers to file short observations on this stretch of days between November and January with very little guidance beyond this: tell me what you're seeing, thinking, and feeling as the election unfolds, and then as power was either retained or peacefully transferred. I conceived this section dead certain that given the country's political, social, and economically roiled state (with the coronavirus acting as an accelerant on all three), this period between administrations—whether it was the continuation of Trump's or the advent of Biden's—would be tumultuous.

I hereby report that I remain out of the prediction business, because I had not foreseen just how unstable, violent, macabre, tragic, shocking, and sad a period this would be. But I was also not prepared for what would emerge from the unique vantages provided herein: how these authors illuminate fractures that long predate this election, shine a path toward our possible renewal, reveal ordinary [End Page 317] joys that help us survive such a uniquely challenging moment, and warn of history repeating itself. Who then am I to say this period is concluding when it appears that we are only in the middle of a molting, or an upheaval, or a revolution, or a rebirth? Or none of these.

The Sewanee Review is a literary magazine. That its works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction are sometimes political or, by dint of their subject matter, politically illuminating or even incendiary, is incidental. Its contents should never be solely a reflection of the editors' views. But a literary magazine has a vital role during fraught times, not because its writers' politics align with the editors' but because writing should always be judged by the degree to which it newly mints our existence, and as a result, is revealed as both beautiful and true. Writing that is deemed thus is agreed upon as speaking, even as it emerges from the peculiarities of one individual, to what is universal in our experience, and thereby has the possibility of being reread, or shared, or taught, and—in that ever-changing set of works we deem canonical—contemplated for generations. In this agreement there lies not only what we call our culture but also the potential for solidarity.

Solidarity. It is hard not to utter that word without sounding wistful. Is that longing a source of grief, or the next generation's rallying cry, or nostalgia for a condition that never existed, or a source of battleborn wisdom for all Americans? The entire question is open. [End Page 318]

Adam Ross is the editor of the Sewanee Review, as well as the author of the novel Mr. Peanut and the short story collection Ladies and Gentlemen.

• 关于间隔的注释
• 亚当·罗斯（生物）

我放弃了在2016年11月预测业务恢复唐纳德·特朗普当选后。不过，在2020年9月下旬，《评论》编辑人员开始整理2021年春季刊时，我请几位作家就11月至1月这几天的这段时间提出简短的意见，除此之外，几乎没有其他指导：告诉我你的意思在选举进行中看到，思考和感觉，然后权力得以保留或和平转移。我认为本节不确定，考虑到该国的政治，社会和经济动荡的国家（冠状病毒在所有三个方面都起促进作用），在政府之间的这段时期（无论是特朗普的延续还是拜登的到来）喧闹。

我在此报告说，我不参与预测工作，因为我没有预见到这段时期会多么不稳定，暴力，令人毛骨悚然，悲剧，令人震惊和难过。但是我也没有为从本文提供的独特优势中产生的结果做好准备：这些作者如何阐明早于本次选举之前的骨折，为我们可能的复兴开辟道路，揭示普通的[End Page 317]欢乐，可以帮助我们在这样的困境中生存。具有独特挑战性的时刻，并警告历史重演。当我们似乎只是在动荡，动荡，革命，或重生的中间时，我要说的是那个时期的终结？或这些都不是。

《Sewanee评论》是一本文学杂志。它的小说，诗歌和非小说作品有时是政治性的，或者就其主题而言，在政治上具有启发性甚至是煽动性，这是偶然的。它的内容绝不应仅仅反映编辑的观点。但是一本文学杂志在紧张的时代起着至关重要的作用，这不是因为它的作家政治与编辑们的政治一致，而是因为写作应该始终根据它对我们的存在的新近程度进行判断，因此，这两者都被揭示出来了。美丽而真实。因此认为同意的写作从语言上讲，即使它是从一个人的特殊性中出现的，但在我们的经验中却是普适的，因此有可能被重读，共享或教导，并且-在我们认为这套不断变化的作品中，我们认为是经典的—世代相传。在这项协议中，不仅存在我们所谓的文化，而且还存在团结的潜力。

团结。很难不发声就说出这个词。那是渴望的源泉，还是下一代的集会呐喊，或者是对从未存在过的情况的怀旧之情，还是所有美国人的顽强智慧的源泉？整个问题是公开的。[结束第318页]

亚当·罗斯（Adam Ross）是《塞瓦尼评论》（Sewanee Review）的编辑，也是小说《花生先生》（Mr. Peanut）和短篇小说集《女士们先生们》（Ladies and Gentlemen）的作者。