New Escapologist is a UK-based lifestyle magazine. It originally ran between 2007 and 2017, returning after a hiatus in 2023. The magazine takes the stance that wage labour has too central a position in western life and that work, consumption and pursuit of social status too often take precedence over happiness, liberty, and unstructured leisure.[ Escapology: Another way to look at Findependence MoneySense. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2015.] Simple living, creativity and Epicureanism are offered as solutions to the problems of overwork and overconsumption.
History
New Escapologist was founded in 2007. Speaking at a public event together in 2009,
[ "Great Escape" Photos NewEscapologist.co.uk. 11 October 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2016./] Robert Wringham told
Tom Hodgkinson that he started
New Escapologist after reading Hodgkinson's book
How to be Free alongside a biography of
Houdini and
Among the Bohemians: experiments in living by Virginia Nicholson.
[ The Great Escape: Tom Hodgkinson (with Neil Scott) Wringham.co.uk. 25 November 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
A pilot issue was printed in 2007, a first Archetype issue in 2008, and a launch party was held at the Glasgow CCA in 2009.[ New Escapologist launch party. Newescapologist.co.uk. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2016.][ Map of Thoughtland: New Escapologist Thoughtland. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
In 2011, New Escapologist organized a zine fair in support of the student occupation of Heatherington House at the University of Glasgow.[ Free Heatherington Zine Fair Zine Wiki. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2016.] The same year saw the launch of a fifth issue at The Arches theatre and nightclub,[ New Escapologist Magazine Launch: Issue 5 thearches.co.uk. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2016.] and a sixth issue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[ An Escapologist's Diary. Part 28. NewEscapologist.co.uk. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
In 2014, around the time of the magazine's tenth issue, a spin-off book written by Wringham was announced. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign,[ Escape Everything! Unbound.co.uk. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2016.] the book was published by Unbound on 28 January 2016[ Escape Everything!: Escape from work. Escape from consumerism. Escape from despair. Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2016.] followed by a German edition published by Heyne Verlag later that same year.
In 2017, it was announced that the magazine would close after a decade but would continue online as a subscription essay series mediated by Patreon. The first of these essays went live in April 2017. A New Escapologist newsletter also began in December 2022.
New Escapologist returned to print in 2023 after a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Production
The magazine's distinct
typography, according to a colophon printed in the back of each issue,
[Colophon, New Escapologist Issue 1] was achieved using
Donald Knuth's
TeX typesetting system with a layout based on an ancient Ge'ez liturgical text seen at the
Matenadaran in
Armenia.
The magazine's logo, featured prominently in the masthead of early issues and at the magazine's website is the ISO standard "running man" symbol usually seen on exit signs.[ New Escapologist Issue 1]
Notable contributors
-
Alain de Botton, philosopher
[ Status Anxiety and Bohemia: Alain de Botton. Wringham.co.uk. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
-
Luke Rhinehart, author of The Dice Man
-
Ewan Morrison, author of Tales from the Mall
-
Richard Herring, comedian
-
Tom Hodgkinson, author and editor of The Idler
-
Dave Thompson, comedian and tellytubbies
-
Joshua Glenn, author of The Wage Slave's Glossary
[ New Escapologist HiLobrow. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
-
Judith Levine, journalist and NWU founder
-
Ian Macpherson, comedian
-
Dickon Edwards, musician and diarist
-
Jacob Lund Fisker, blogger
-
Aislínn Clarke, movie and theater director
-
Landis Blair, illustrator and comic artist
-
Seth, cartoonist and book designer
-
Leo Babauta, blogger and author of Zen Habits
-
Stanley Cohen, London School of Economics-based Sociologist
-
Mr. Money Mustache, financial blogger
-
Allen Crawford, designer and dandy
-
Caitlin Doughty, author and mortician
-
David Cain, blogger
-
Steven Rainey, BBC Radio Ulster DJ
-
Ellie Harrison, artist and political activist
[ Notes Towards Becoming a Good Citizen New Escapologist. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
-
Joseph Heath, University of Toronto philosopher and economics writer
-
Laura Gonzalez, GSA lecturer and artist
[ Escape to Your Unconscious Glasgow School of Art Institutional Repository. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2016.]
-
LD Beghtol, musician
-
The Iceman
Further reading
-
Jacob Lund Fisker (2010) Early Retirement Extreme: A philosophical and practical guide to financial independence,
-
Robert Wringham (2016) Escape Everything!
- * Robert Wringham (2021) I'm Out: How to Make an Exit (retitled paperback edition)
-
Robert Wringham (2020) The Good Life for Wage Slaves
External links
