Dialogue 1979/4. [antikvár]

A NOTE TO THE READERIask the reader's indulgence if these remarks take a somewhat personal turn. With this issue I end twelve years as editor of Dialogue and move into the more solitary role of free-lance writer with mixed feelings of anticipation and regret.I will miss the sense of direct contact with readers on five continents, rein-forced by many letters and a lively assortment of published responses to articles in Dialogue. I will miss (but not as much) the compulsion to read through more magazines and books than any sensible person should be expected to, in search of material for Dialogue. I will miss the freedom, unusual in government (and in the priváté sector as well), to choose the contents of each issue without censorship or policy review.Dialogue has been something of a departure in government sponsorship of magazines for foreign readers. It was founded on the belief that candor about America's faults as well as its virtues would make stauncher and more under-standing friends than a carefully protected screening of facts and analysis. In my fírst "Note to the Reader," I wrote:Dialogue addresses itself to the "intellectual public," those readers who have a compelling interest in ideas, social problems, literature and art. We hope to avoid facile popularization and irrelevant scholarship, and to publish articles that link special knowledge to wider cultural influences or pressing humán needs. We do not expect our readers to agree with all of the articles we print. Indeed, the contributors will often disagree among themselves and the editors with them. But we hope to provide stimulation, provoke dissent, (and at least occasionally) elicit enthusiasm.Our title refers primarily to the continuing discussion among Americans of matters ranging from education and culture to politics and economic develop-ment But there is alsó a reciprocal character to intellectual discourse which leaps the barriers of geographical frontiers or political systems. We hope that our magaziné will contribute to this international dialogue of ideas and aspira-tions.It is, of course, for the readers to judge whether or how well we accomplished our aims. But for me and my colleagues, the effort itself has been exhilarating and gratifying.Nathan Glick