Repetition: Or, “In Our Last”

This paper considers the relationship between sameness and difference that characterizes periodical publication. The newness of the current issue is predicated on its difference from its predecessor, yet that difference is understood in the context of the past issue’s continuing presence. I use the phrase ‘In our last’ – commonly deployed by editors to refer to this troublesome archive – to anlyse three distinct aspects of magazine form: continuity, where past issues are made present in the current issue; succession, where the present issue displaces those from the past; and ‘the last’, when publication ceases.