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Pollux writes:
"But how so transparently charming a novel can also exercise a peculiar allure and even emit disturbing danger signals may serve as an entrée into post-war American culture..." So writes Stephen J. Whitfield on his landmark commentary on Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.
Stephen J. Whitfield's article for the December 1997 issue of the The New England Quarterly, called "Cherished and Cursed: Toward a Social History of The Catcher in the Rye," is considered one of the Journal's most popular articles.
And, in light of Salinger's recent passing, Louis Menand will be interviewing Whitfield in a new podcast.
Read Whitfield's fascinating article, listen to the podcast, and join the discussion today!
(continued)
A: Jonathan Taylor writes:
I was pained by Patricia Marx's shopping column on Brooklyn in the March 8 issue, but she was correct to highlight the thrilling tours of the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (also the subject of a 1982 Talk piece by Bill McKibben).
But that didn't prepare me for these pictures from a tour of Cincinnati's never-completed subway (via Lawyers, Guns & Money)—they're a must see.
(continued)
Jonathan Taylor writes:
(Jan. 1993) Percentage of New Yorker articles since Tina Brown became editor whose first sentence includes a person's name: 70
(July 1996) Chances that a cartoon in The New Yorker's Women's Issue was drawn by a man: 5 in 6
Pollux writes:
Paul Goldberger, architecture critic at The New Yorker, appeared tonight on CBS' 60 Minutes, which ran a story on the delayed and knotty redevelopment of the World Trade Center. In 2004, Goldberger published a book, Up From Zero, on the attempts to revitalize a site that remains disputed land entangled by conflicting visions and lethargic bureaucratic machines. As Scott Pelley remarks on the story, "failure has many architects."
(continued)
Pollux writes:
The newly published Reporting at Wit's End: Tales from The New Yorker collects the essays of New Yorker reporter St. Clair McKelway (1905-1980), who wrote for the magazine from the 1930s to 60s. At a hefty 620 pages, Reporting at Wit's End is a substantial contribution to classical American journalism and New Yorker history.
McKelway's pieces pulsated with the power of the personalities he profiled. McKelway wrote pieces on figures like Stanley Clifford Weyman (born Stephen Jacob Weinberg), a "dedicated imposter." Weinberg, like many rogues and con men, tinkered with his name, posing as "Royal St. Cyr only when he wished to drum home to himself and other people the notion that he was a lieutenant in the French Navy, which he wasn't." In 1940, McKelway profiled and radio commentator Walter Winchell, who, "although he has never been shot at and has been beaten up only twice, he is always expecting to be attacked."
With an introduction by Adam Gopnik, Reporting at Wit's End is the best tribute (who needs another statue in a park?) and service that can be made to a writer of St. Clair McKelway's caliber.
(continued)Emdashes, founded in 2004 by Emily Gordon, 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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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 House of Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.