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Best of the 12.22-29.08 Issue: It's Funny Because It's Fact
Filed under: Pick of the Issue Tagged: fiction, Jonathan Taylor, nonfiction, Personal History, Roberto Bolano, The New Yorker, Zadie Smith
Jonathan writes:
I believe Benjamin Chambers will be here soon with an authoritative Katharine Wheel survey of the year-end Fiction Issue. (I'd say, if you haven't yet managed to read any Roberto Bolaño, his "Meeting With Enrique Lihn" is online; as they say, the first one's free.)
My other personal pick is Zadie Smith's nimble Personal History piece, "Dead Man Laughing." I think it means something that the word "humor" appears much less frequently than "funny," "joke," or "comedy." Humor can be mistaken for undemanding bonhomie (what's more depressing than the Humor section of a bookstore?), but the latter connote the concrete, intellectual and absurd aspects of the comic that thrive on the edge of the abyss. Such was the sensibility expounded with dour glee by Smith's father, Harvey; and she doesn't just recall it, she shows us what life looks like seen through it. (Must look for that "Fawlty Towers" DVD-extra interview of Prunella Scales.)
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.
You'd like to know more about the writers and artists and what our column titles mean? We live to serve!
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)
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Comments
Zadie Smith went on The New Yorker Out Loud to talk about the piece and her (and her family’s) sense of humor, and she’s great, as always. Have Zadie Smith on more often, TNYOL! (Hey, that almost spells “Tylenol.” Good for what ails you, I agree.)
I agree with your pick, but another highlight of the issue was Lizzie Widdicombe’s Talk of the Town piece, Retrial, in which legal scholars retry Shylock.