Harper’s Magazine has a new editor, effective next Monday: Christopher Beha, a novelist, essayist and the author of a memoir recounting the year he spent reading all 50 volumes of the Harvard Classics series.

Mr. Beha, the executive editor at the august monthly, first worked at Harper’s as an intern in 2008. The job he will take later this month has been a hot seat in the world of highbrow journalism since Lewis H. Lapham stepped down as editor in 2006, after a 28-year run.

Three editors who have held the post in recent years have left the publication after disagreements with the magazine’s publisher and chief benefactor, John R. MacArthur, who is known as Rick.

One of them, James Marcus, said he was fired over a dispute with Mr. MacArthur over the magazine’s March 2018 cover story, “The Other Whisper Network: How Twitter feminism is bad for women,” by Katie Roiphe, which he said was published over his objections. The magazine’s spokeswoman, Giulia Melucci, said that Mr. Marcus had quit, adding that the article had been a success. A war of words ensued, with Mr. Marcus accusing Mr. MacArthur of wanting a “doormat” for an editor, and Ms. Melucci suggesting that Mr. Marcus didn’t have good story ideas.