Miscellany: Lapham's Quarterly

I've really enjoyed my subscription to Lapham's Quarterly, a literary magazine founded by former Harper's editor Lewis Lapham.  Each issue collects and excerpts stories, art, poetry, and essays from across history and around the world, with a focus on a common theme.  What results is a dizzying comparison of perspectives, mostly unexpected, from all of humanity's cultures, ancient and modern. It's like an erudite version of "Reader's Digest," without all the distracting ads.

For example, the most recent issue, "Night," juxtaposes an eighteenth-century poem about a night hag, an eerie nightvision photo of a U.S. soldier, and an essay from F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Crack-Up" about insomnia: