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10.1.07 Issue: A Rush and a Push
Filed under: Pick of the Issue Tagged: Christian Northeast, Jean-Claude Floc'h, Nick Paumgarten, Roberto Bolano
In which the staff of Emdashes reviews the high points and discusses the particulars of the previous week’s issue (or, occasionally, another edition).
Jean-Claude Floc’h is a discovery I attribute to The Complete New Yorker, so it was a treat to see his drawing of an old-timey golfer on page 24. My admiration for Floc’h suggests that I am bigger fan of the ligne claire style than I even realize.
I enjoyed Nick Paumgarten’s excellent look at the Mannahatta Project, which answers all of the questions a reader could expect to have at the outset, and then some. Loved his description of New Yorkers as having “a kind of a superheated parochial self-regard.” I applaud Paumgarten’s desire and ability to come up with outsize formulations; it made the article more of a magnificent flower.
“The Insufferable Gaucho” is Roberto Bolaño’s cunning satire on the mythos that has developed around the pampas. The story feels like the Chilean author’s private joke on neighboring (rabbit-infested?) Argentina—the two countries, it is said, do not get along. I was so taken by Christian Northeast’s striking illustration for the story that I tore that page out of the magazine and hung it on an unoccupied nail on the wall of my spare Alpine cabin. —Martin Schneider
About us
Hello! We're a small band of culture writers, editors, and artists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, which spent its formative years as a New Yorker blog, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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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
- Reviews: theater writing (for Time Out Chicago)
- 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)
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- Carolita Johnson
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Comments
So you have a spare Alpine cabin? where do you keep it? in the trunk? :)
Usually I keep it in the pantry, but I spilled flour all over it so I had to have it cleaned.
“The Mannahatta Project” is wonderful! When it comes time to list the top ten POTIs of the year - as it inevitably will, I’m sure - Paumgarten’s piece should be there, as well as his “There and Back Again” and his great TOTT piece, “Home at Carnegie Hall.” Let’s pump it up for Paumgarten!
Wow, that’s a good idea. Pick of the Year—Martin, wanna come up with a list together before 2008? Everyone loves year-end lists!
I dig Paumgarten’s writing, too. He’s a smart cookie.
I’m in!