Modern Horizons

Modern Horizons addresses, through examining a variety of ideas and artistic works, the endlessly open question of what is meaningful in what we are living. The name 'Modern Horizons' comes with two emphases in mind. We include the word 'modern' because we begin with the arts, thoughts, and experiences of our own time. There is an essentially ahistorical sense to our idea of 'modern,' as we seek to avoid questions of periodisation or ideas of historical necessity. Our second emphasis is on 'horizons,' in the hermeneutic sense of the meeting of disparate interpretations and vantage points through conversation. The notion of horizons is essential to our way of thinking because, from the perspective of our own time and place, we seek to examine and interrogate those inherited, negotiated, and created forms of art and thought which matter directly or indirectly for us, here and now. This thought involves the ongoing effort to raise, engage with, rehabilitate, and think about ideas that have impact today as they shape and are shaped by us; to this end, we solicit contributions with an emphasis on engagement and insight—contributions whose aims reach beyond their pages.

The essays published in Modern Horizons take the form of thinking in public; that is, we wish to serve as an outlet for thinking that bridges academic and non-academic subject-matter—not for essays tied finally to a particular text, but which take the form of exploratory endeavours which may participate in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human in this world. This aim echoes in contributions that embody a deliberately essayistic form, whether personal, essential, critical, hermeneutic, or public.

Each issue in Modern Horizons is theme-based; these themes may be explored through essays on literature, philosophy, painting, music, architecture, or other forms of art. Our non-affiliation with a specific academic institution is deliberate, as it allows us freedom in exploring ideas that are often neglected or obscured by academia or the public voice.

Modern Horizons is a peer-reviewed journal and welcomes a variety of submissions: essays, dialogues, interviews, and critical-reviews, in either French or English. We publish once a year (June) and have an annual conference (October).