The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
serious crayons:
Here's the story on "Here's the Story," from the New Yorker website:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/06/this-week-in-fiction-david-gilbert-2.html
Since the world of the Bradys is such an artificial world, I wanted the world of Ted and Emma to be absolutely real. That was very important to me, for them to fly above the construct of the show, to take on the appearance of living, breathing souls and perhaps, for a moment, gain their humanity and transcend their non-origin origins. I also liked exploring the idea of fate, of assuming your story is the story when, often, your story is merely a cog in a much bigger story.
Jeff Wrangler:
Well, for once I am actually "caught up" with my New Yorkers. Kind of cheated, though. I never care very much for the fiction issues, so this morning I passed the issue with the Brady Bunch prequel on to a coworker.
Front-Ranger:
I usually skip the fiction in the regular issues but when the special fiction issue comes out, I save it to read all summer long. I don't have time to do "beach reading" but it's handy for bringing to the doctor's office. Now that my mom is living in town, I actually have to sit in doctor's offices.
The New Yorker's choice of fiction can be annoying sometimes, especially when many of the articles are translated from Polish or whatever. But I don't neglect the fiction altogether because, what if there's another Brokeback Mountain in there?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on June 16, 2014, 09:59:46 am ---The New Yorker's choice of fiction can be annoying sometimes, especially when many of the articles are translated from Polish or whatever. But I don't neglect the fiction altogether because, what if there's another Brokeback Mountain in there?
--- End quote ---
I'm currently reading the Haruki Murakami story, translated from Japanese. Aside from whatever literary merit, those stories can be a convenient way to see what life is like in another country. Murakami's stories are very contemporary and make life in Japan sound a lot like life in the United States, actually.
But my fiction reading is pretty spotty at this point. I used to read the fiction above all else, and now I rarely read it at all. I missed "Brokeback Mountain" when it came out.
Jeff Wrangler:
In a regular issue, I will read some fiction if I recognize the author's name, but that's about it. I think it's a good thing for The New Yorker to give exposure to writers who may be newer and out of the WASP main stream, but usually what they write doesn't interest me--immigrants in the New York region. I always used to read John Updike (funny thing, though, I never read any of his novels) (it seemed to me as though his short stories often took place in his home region, which, however fictionalized, is my home region), and I always read Joyce Carol Oates and Louise Erdrich. I can't think of any other names off the top of my head right now.
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