Welcome to The Attic
In DepthYou may notice it looks a little different around here today; that’s because we’re relaunching Pictorial as The Attic.
We’re not radically changing the mission, so much as sprucing things up and broadening it a tad. Pictorial was created as a home for Jezebel’s history pieces, and that won’t change. But we’re rededicating ourselves to the effort and broadening things out a bit, encompassing Jezebel’s books coverage and other cultural criticism. Areas of interest include literary culture, genre fiction, non-fiction, costume dramas, royals, highbrow/lowbrow, fashion history, forgotten histories, critical essays on the histories of various topics of interest to Jezebel readers (including, but not limited to, the sex, home, and parenting). The Attic isn’t outside the news cycle, so much as it provides context on current events and offers you a higher vantage point to see whatever’s happening on the ground.
We chose to call it The Attic because it’s such a rich and relevant image. It’s creaky and creepy and atmospheric and yet cozy at the same time. It’s a spot to hide and read on a rainy day. It’s a place to rummage for what’s been forgotten and what’s been deliberately hidden, whether out of protectiveness or malice. It’s a cache of secrets and backstories and weird, broken treasures. It’s where Mr. Rochester hid his first wife—and from where she escaped to burn down the house that trapped her, making the attic an occasional incubator of righteous fury. Not only that, but in The Madwoman in the Attic—a foundational work of feminist literary criticism—the space helped birth a feminist way of approaching history and books, one that will inform all our explorations.
You never know what you’ll find in the attic.