Maybe the fourth time’s the charm.

That’s what the editors of the re-re-reborn Oxford American must be thinking. The publication that dubs itself “the Southern Magazine of Good Writing” — and largely backs up that claim — is back in print after a 15-month hiatus. (Previous breaks came in 1994 and 2002.) Once a monthly out of Oxford, Miss., then a bimonthly from Little Rock, the Oxford American is now a non-profit quarterly based in Conway, Ark., home to the University of Central Arkansas. That university gave editor Marc Smirnoff $490,000 and a three-year contract in order to revive the OA; in turn, the magazine moved to campus and plans to offer internships and guest lectures to the UCA community.

The Oxford American — originally funded with seed money from John Grisham — has been given up for dead before, but Smirnoff never seemed to give up hope. The OA’s resurrection is not phoenix-like, he writes in the most recent issue, but mule-headed. Better yet, “mule-headed with a mission.” That mission, he adds, is “to explore the American South through good writing.”

By and large, they’ve succeeded over the years. The annual Music Issue is a must, but you can find strong features, salient opinion, and well-meant demagoguery in any edition. Some might accuse the Oxford American of nostalgia, boosterism, or high Southern myopia, and with reason. At times, their insistence on playing everything with a Southern slant can obscure more than illuminate — In this issue! How to read Shakespeare like a Southerner! — but then again, a mission is a mission. You’ve got to expect a bit of Faulkner in every issue. Sweet tea, too. The readers expect no less.

I sat down with the Winter ‘05 issue last week, and I’m pleased to report no major changes. It’s still stylish, stubborn, and well-put. The December issue includes writing from Charles Portis, Kaye Gibbons, Barry Hannah, and Roy Blount Jr., along with a host of old favorites and young guns alike. (Al’s daughter Kristin Gore even makes a bow on the Comix page.) John T. Edge profiles the founder of Piggly Wiggly, Wendy Brenner explores the Cape Fear Serpentarium, and Marc Smirnoff ponders Faulkner’s racist side. There’s another Music Issue in the works, and, better yet, the first-ever Southern Food Issue is due in April. (Napkin not included.)

I send best wishes to the OA gang, and sincerely hope they hang on this time. Wander the magazine racks in any large bookstore, and you’ll see seven titles about cats, nine about hot rods, and at least 25 selling you Nine Forbidden Secrets to Drive Your Lover Wild. Somewhere in all that noise, there’s got to be room for the quiet excellence of the Oxford American. Or so I’d like to think.

A year’s subscription to the Oxford American is $29.95 and includes four issues. For more information, visit www.oxfordamericanmag.com or call 1.800.314.9051.