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7.23.07 Issue: I Declare the Dawn of a New Fiction Era
Filed under: Pick of the Issue Tagged: Antonya Nelson, books, Caleb Crain, Chang-Rae Lee, David Denby, Deborah Treisman, Donald Antrim, Edwidge Danticat, fiction, Hilton Als, Junot Diaz, Ken Auletta, Lorrie Moore, movies, New Yorker Festival, newyorker.com, Nick Paumgarten, podcasts, poetry, Rachel Hadas, theater
The best of last week.
I think Antonya Nelson’s “Shauntrelle” should be shortlisted for Best American Short Stories. Something’s been going on with the New Yorker fiction in the past several months, and it’s even fresher than Fanny Mann’s facelift. Keep on doing what you’re doing, fiction faction! Also, you may not realize that there’s now a fiction podcast on the website; do not miss Donald Antrim reading Donald Barthelme’s 1974 story “I Bought a Little City,” or, for that matter, Edwidge Danticat discussing Junot Diaz’s 1995 “The Dating Game.” (Diaz reads this one himself.) Pleasant discovery: Fiction editor Deborah Treisman, who did an appealingly subtle job introducing Lorrie Moore and Chang-Rae Lee at last year’s New Yorker Festival, also has a very nice voice for radio.
Other standouts: Nick Paumgarten on Mort Zuckerman, the latest in the Let Us Now Parse Famous Men series (I’d love to read Paumgarten, Ken Auletta, &c. on some of these powermongers); Rachel Hadas’s “The Cold Hill Side”; Hilton Als improbably and convincingly praising Xanadu; my friend Caleb Crain writing lightly and beautifully about the heavy subject of whaling; Oliver Sacks on the Piano Man; and, of course, David Denby on those movies.
—EG
About us
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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We welcome tips, questions, comments, and corrections, and are always on the lookout for ardent, obsessive new contributors. Click here to email us.
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Tell me more
Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
Blogroll highlights
- Box Office Boffo
- World of Pollux
- Jonathan Taylor
- Carolita Johnson
- Songs for blogroll lovers (more links)
- Follow us on Twitter
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- Get a t-shirt at the Emdashes store
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