HERMENAUTICA (54)
By:
November 2, 2025
One in a series of posts featuring pages from Hermenaut, a DIY intellectual zine/journal published by HILOBROW’s Josh Glenn from 1992 through 2000-01.
Hermenaut #1 — our “Hermenaut of the Month” was Novalis. In this essay, I introduced a format that I’d stick to through the magazine’s final issue. I asked the same four questions about each of these “outsider intellectuals” (another coinage of mine): “How shall we understand?”, “How shall we be?”, “What shall we believe?”, and “What shall we do?”.
The super-short biographical note, here, however would eventually grow into much more thoroughly researched biographical essays.
Also note that, in these early issues, I often found ways to compare the Hermenaut of the Month with Elvis.
Pub. Date: Summer 1992
Theme: Smells Like Teen Reification
Hermenaut: Novalis
Pages: 26
Print Run: 50
MORE HERMENAUT on HILOBROW: HERMENAUTICA series | MEET THE HERMENAUTS | HERMENAUT’s last five issues | Snapshots | Letters to HERMENAUT | Dialectical Design | Josh Glenn on CAMP, KITSCH & CHEESE | Josh Glenn on DANIEL CLOWES: Q&A | Clarke Cooper on APOCALYPSE ALREADY | Lisa Carver on THE ART OF BEING UNCOMFORTABLE | Josh Glenn on FAKE AUTHENTICITY | Chris Fujiwara on ZOOMING THROUGH SPACE | John Marr on CAMPANILE FREE-FALL | Clarke Cooper on THE WILL TO SCORN | Dan Reines on PURE EVEL | Chris Fujiwara on ROADWORTHY JAZZ | Dan Reines on LETTER FROM LA | Mary E. Ladd & Julie Wiskirchen on ONWARD CHRISTIAN TOURISTS | Chris Fujiwara on SAVED BY BETRAYAL | Margaret Blonder on MEMORIES OF THE BIOSPHERE | Josh Glenn on HERMENAUT: PHILIP K. DICK | Ingrid Schorr on ROCKVILLE GIRL SPEAKS.