‘Tolstoyevsky is not a Russian writer; it is a monster of sorts – a chimera, a composite of two and true to neither one nor a sum. It can make jokes (and threats) fly so fast they skip the funny parts. Here it lends its name to an issue that is about how humour is often not humour, or about how it sometimes doesn’t work, and how half our lives are filled with things that don’t work. Which probably means they work, right?’ – Virginija Januškevičiūtė, from the Outro

The Happy Hypocrite – Tolstoyevsky is, ideally, like a room full of high-spirited people playing a game, trying to do or say some nonsense, folding embarrassment and losses in translation into part of the exchange. The main portion of the journal is made up of responses to an open call; submissions picked up on cues within two short stories: ‘Moles & Mice’ by Candice Lin, and ‘Tolstoyevksy’, written by Virginija Januškevičiūtė about a hospitable man with a house full of books who exclaimed ‘Oh I have read all your Tolstoyevskys!’ when asked what he had read.

With contributions and new work by ateate, David Bernstein, Monika Kalinauskaitė, Zoe Kingsley, Erika Lastovskyte, Michael Lawton, Candice Lin, Elena Narbutaitė, Nick Norton, Kim Schoen, Isabel Waidner, and Jonas Žakaitis. Complemented by old work (images, illustrations) from Pierre Bonnard, Giovanni di Paolo, Félix Vallotton, and Édouard Vuillard.

Virginija Januškevičiūtė is a curator, writer and producer based in Vilnius who engages in a wide range of solo and group exhibitions, artwork commissions, publications and events. She works at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius (www.cac.lt) and is founding co-editor of The Baltic Notebooks of Anthony Blunt (www.blunt.cc). She curated the XII Baltic Triennial in 2015.