In the spring of 1987, just a few months before the debut of The Gettysburg Review, founding editor Peter Stitt declared his intention of creating a literary journal focused not on “opaque” essays meant for a small circle of academics, but on literature that is accessible, thought provoking, and well-written. “The highest criterion I will have for anything I print,” he said in an interview with The Gettysburg Times that year, “will be its readability.”

Thus began the legacy of The Gettysburg Review, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. TGR publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, and artwork, and has consistently grown since its establishment (2007-08 circulation per issue was 2,250). In 2007, the U.S. News & World Report guide to the best colleges noted that TGR was "recognized as one of the country's best literary journals.”

Mark Drew, assistant editor, has worked for TGR for ten years, and marvels at its success in a business where small publications often struggle to survive, let alone thrive. “I’d say it’s a small miracle,” Drew said. “We’re like restaurants; most literary journals go under in the first few years of operation. It’s a testament to the quality of the magazine and the quality of the writing.”

After two decades, Stitt maintains that TGR has not lost sight of its founding principle, claiming, “My vision was exactly what it is now: to be one of the best literary magazines in America.”

TGR’s success in the literary world has much to do with Stitt’s established connections and his experience as a critic, writer, and editor.
“I don’t think it could have been just anybody,” said Drew. “This is largely Peter’s magazine.” The first issue of TGR was a testament to Stitt’s connections and experience, featuring such well-known authors as Louis Simpson, Sharon Olds, Charles Wright, and Rita Dove.

Nonetheless, Stitt continually insists there is always a place in the pages of TGR for new voices, and it has often published unknown, emerging authors who went on to write award-winning books. Tom Perrotta, best known for his novels Election and Little Children, both of which were made into Golden Globe-nominated films, was first published in TGR in the autumn of 1988. As well, Pulitzer Prize winning author Jeffrey Eugenides made his debut in TGR in the winter of 1989, and has since written such critically-acclaimed novels as The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex. Reflecting on publishing emerging writers, Stitt said, “It does not thrill an editor to publish a known author. Publishing an unknown author is thrilling. I want to publish fresh work. It is much more satisfying.”

Another feature that has separated TGR from some other literary magazines is its emphasis on visual art. At the time of TGR’s inauguration, only one other journal was publishing a regular art section, and, according to Stitt, “They weren’t doing it well.” [At left, Mark Drew and Peter Stitt standing outside The Gettysburg Review offices.]

Stitt, who minored in art in college, decided early on to include a full-color section dedicated to a different artist in every issue. His method for choosing the artwork, he said, is simple: he looks at a great deal of art. “It used to be different,” he said. “I used to have to go to New York and visit lots of galleries.” Now, he scours the Internet, considers gallery announcements, and reviews submissions sent in by artists.

As for the content overall, Stitt said, “I wanted the best-looking magazine, and I wanted the art, and I also wanted the highest literary quality, and we’ve always maintained that. We publish only the best stuff we get, it doesn’t matter who wrote it. I don’t care what the cover letter says. We don’t publish cover letters.” Drew concurs, adding that TGR doesn’t adhere to a strict artistic guideline. “The quality of the writing matters most, much more than any aesthetic school or stylistic approach.”

Due to Stitt’s maintenance of his early editorial vision for the magazine, changes in TGR are few, but the magazine did undergo a redesign in the summer of 2002—a redesign that gained attention. TGR’s new look garnered an award in 2003 for Best Journal Design from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

Besides publishing various forms of literature, TGR contributes in other ways to the cultural richness of the local Gettysburg community where it is published. Last summer, TGR launched its inaugural Conference for Writers, a five-day gathering that featured small, intensive workshops led by award-winning writers. The conference will be held again this June on the Gettysburg College campus, and will feature a group of distinguished writers, including Rebecca McClanahan, Lee K. Abbott, and Terrance Hayes. TGR also sponsors a Speakers Series, which brings published authors to read at Gettysburg College, which are free and open to the public. On April 9, 2008, the featured author will be Pattiann Rogers, an award-winning poet.

In 2000, journalist Linton Weeks assessed TGR in a Washington Post article that produced what would become the journal’s current motto. Weeks had been prompted to investigate the magazine after seeing an unusual TGR advertisement mentioning several writers who would absolutely not be published in its pages. Although Weeks’s critique of the journal itself was favorable, he suggested that the ad may well be evidence that the editors were “carrying literary elitism to new, and annoying, heights.”

“I always had an ironic attitude toward that statement, said Stitt, “but recently I’ve embraced it as a slogan. We are not following fashion or trends or jumping on the bandwagon. If that’s elitism, then cool.”

Heather Simons is a spring 2008 intern at The Gettysburg Review. A slightly different version of the above essay was originally published in The Gettysburgian, where Simons is Features Editor.