Brokeback Mountain short story in Oct 13, 1997 "New Yorker" - Images

[Jeff Wrangler]

Is it my imagination, or does the New Yorker have some sort of strategy to mention Brokeback in every issue? This week it was in a story about research on gay sheep.

Gay sheep? That's b-a-a-a-a-a-a-d. 

[Front-Ranger]

Is everybody ready for the 10th anniversary??

[moremojo]

I'll almost certainly be offline on the day itself. Does anyone know when the issue was actually printed up? Or first offered for sale on the stands? Seems like the tenth anniversary of that may have already passed.

[Front-Ranger]

Happy 15th anniversary!

[Meryl]

Happy 15th anniversary!

Fifteen years, damn! 

[Front-Ranger]

I remember so clearly coming home from work after a stressful day and seeing that issue of the magazine lying on the kitchen counter. It is always a bit of a lift when the week's new issue arrives! I read the front matter before dinner and it wasn't until bedtime when I began reading the story. I often skip the fiction in the New Yorker but something drew me in on this one. Perhaps it was the almost mythical tone, "They were raised on small, poor ranches in opposite parts of the state..." who wouldn't want to read more? Although I read the first two pages very attentively, I was not ready at all for the "no instruction manual needed" part. I thought to myself, "I didn't know the story was going to go in this direction" and I actually thought twice about continuing to read. And then I thought, "Why not?" and I'm so glad I did. It is one of the small handful of artistic works that have actually changed my life.

[Sason]

I read the story only after I saw the movie.

I was deeply disappointed.

I was in my most devastated and heartbroken state after experiencing the shock of BBM, and I was desperate to find out more about Jack and Ennis. Hoping that the story would give me more information about them that the movie did (which is usually the case), I ordered the book in Swedish translation. But, the story contained even less info about them! And besides, it was written in such a strange language, I wondered if the translation was bad.
So I bought the English book as well, where the language was just as strange! Didn't make me find out one bit more about Jack and Ennis!

Later, I've come to appreciate the story a great deal, but it will always be the movie that had such an unexpected and huge impact on me and changed my life.

[Front-Ranger]

And here it is! My original pages from the magazine are packed away already in preparation for selling my house. So, I'm glad to have these facsimiles.

I found “Brokeback Mountain” short story in my "The Complete New Yorker" DVDs.  Thought you may want to look at the images of the short story in the original publication. (Click to enlarge)

[Front-Ranger]

I have an (excellent!) copy of a copy of that New Yorker. besides the first two italcized paragraphs, the only difference I could find was---when she's listing the things they discussed on the "paw the white out of the moon" night, in the New Yorker, it says "military service," which she later changed to "draft."

It makes perfect sense to change the clunky "military service" to "draft" as it ties in with Jack's "windy" personality!

[Front-Ranger]

Eighteen years ago, tomorrow. You may wonder why I don't celebrate on October 13, the New Yorker issue's publication date. As a subscriber, I always received my issue a few days early.

Did anyone else around here read the story when it first came out?

I remember so clearly coming home from work after a stressful day and seeing that issue of the magazine lying on the kitchen counter. It is always a bit of a lift when the week's new issue arrives! I read the front matter before dinner and it wasn't until bedtime when I began reading the story. I often skip the fiction in the New Yorker but something drew me in on this one. Perhaps it was the almost mythical tone, "They were raised on small, poor ranches in opposite parts of the state..." who wouldn't want to read more? Although I read the first two pages very attentively, I was not ready at all for the "no instruction manual needed" part. I thought to myself, "I didn't know the story was going to go in this direction" and I actually thought twice about continuing to read. And then I thought, "Why not?" and I'm so glad I did. It is one of the small handful of artistic works that have actually changed my life.