Mag seeks the literary, not religious, ideal

The Ex Cathedra literary magazine resembles a living thing. Each word within it contributes in some way to the function of the whole. Reading it, every detail feels deliberate. From the minimalist color scheme to the decisive prose, each element is an essential piece of the Ex Cathedra machine.

Ex Cathedra, the second issue of which will be published on Saturday, is the brainchild of Arton Gjonbalaj, CC ’12, who founded the online publication in the summer of 2009. The idea came out of a brainstorming session a friend from high school, but Gjonbalaj developed the project largely on his own until Yin Yin Lu CC ’12, who is also the books editor for Spectator, joined the staff as managing editor.

With the creation of Ex Cathedra, Gjonbalaj sought to provide an outlet for emerging writers to exhibit their work side by side with more established writers and to offer readers a literary magazine that was “aesthetically, visually pleasing, sophisticated, smart.”

Ex Cathedra’s striking aesthetic and the weighty, religious aura fostered by its name have personal roots. Gjonbalaj is the product of a private Catholic high school, and the carefully constructed poetry and prose in Ex Cathedra mirrors the deliberate minimalism of the religious writings he encountered there. “Ex Cathedra” literally means “from the chair,” and refers to that rarely-used papal ability to promulgate an infallible teaching. The name, Gjonbalaj explained, “means that it’s from the chair of St. Peter, speaking for God, basically.” He liked the idea, he said, of “having that sort of divine being overlooking the magazine.”

Yet Gjonbalaj also intends the title to be read ironically. He expressed hopes that the magazine’s title would lead readers to anticipate religious content, an expectation that would be immediately undercut by this statement, which appears on the magazine’s Web site: “Although he is a holy figure for writers around the world, this Pope—the (secular) Pope of Ex Cathedra Literary Magazine—is unaffiliated with any religion, except that of fine literature ... Religious submissions, or any submissions favoring one religion or god, are highly discouraged, though not blatantly uninvited.”

Though Gjonbalaj’s aesthetic vision is inspired by religion, the content of the magazine is by no means religious. Ex Cathedra’s content uses direct language to create a minimalist elegance. The benefit of aspiring to perfection, according to Gjonbalaj? Pleasure for the reader, respectability and exposure for the writer, and the right to claim, even jokingly, a place for oneself in history. On Ex Cathedra’s Web site, posted sometime before the release of the “First Doctrine” last July, is a timeline—a “countdown” of several major historical events—from Henry VIII’s final marriage to Boris Yeltsin quitting the Communist party to, finally, the release of the first edition of Ex Cathedra. “It does have aspirations, it does have the potential to grow,” Gjonbalaj said.

At the moment, Ex Cathedra is solely an online publication, but the editorial staff hopes that with funding and exposure it will someday be released in print. In the meantime, Gjonbalaj has affirmed the magazine’s legitimacy by having it recognized by the Library of Congress.

Ex Cathedra’s progress is driven by Gjonbalaj’s vision for a symbiosis of precise visual presentation and extremely well-crafted content, or, as he puts it, “a nice home for nice writing, a fine home for fine writing.”

The “Second Doctrine” of Ex Cathedra will be released Oct. 10. You can read the “First Doctrine” at http://theinfalliblechair.blogspot.com/.

The original article spelled Gjonbalaj's name as "Djonbalaj." The current article reflects a post-publication change to Gjonbalaj's legal last name.