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8.6.07 Issue: Death Bee Not Proud

Filed under: Pick of the Issue Tagged: architecture, art, copy editing, Elizabeth Kolbert, Harold Ross, Michael Specter, Paul Goldberger, Peter Schjeldahl, Profiles, William Shawn

In which various Emdashes contributors note what we liked in last week's issue.

New department alert! Never before has an issue of The New Yorker boasted a Dept. of Entomology—until now. I think Elizabeth Kolbert's blend of the personal and the scientific is a model of the genre. Also, if you're looking at Michael Specter's spam damnation and wondering who or what Nanospore LLC might be, here's your answer. I can never recall whether Nanospore's debut illustration was under Shawn or Ross.

I noticed in Peter Schjeldahl's review of the Sara and Gerald Murphy show that the vaunted department is referred to as a "Profile"—that capital P surprised me; has it been uppercase for long? Librarians? (I guess it was always u.c. Maybe it just looked weird because they had it as "1962 New Yorker Profile" where it made it seem that the final word just had to be l.c. File under "Things only a copy editor would ponder.") Paul Goldberger's review of the Times' gleaming new digs makes me want to take a tour of the premises—and Bloomberg HQ, too. —Martin Schneider

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Who we?

Emdashes, founded December 2004, is a place where keen and dedicated readers of The New Yorker, past and present, can find related news and commentary: about people, subjects, and ideas within the magazine, and events and conversations outside its pages. Learn more about us and our contributors.

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We welcome tips, questions, and comments about The New Yorker past and present, plus related events, links, typeface sightings, &c. To contact the magazine or send a submission, click here.

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This site is neither owned nor operated by The New Yorker magazine or Condé Nast Publications.

A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

Tell me more

They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

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Founded by Emily Gordon, edited by Martin Schneider, designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

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