It’s funny, but they often seem bad in the week-to-week reading of the magazine–but when you think back on it it seems that they have published some very good work. I saw an Annie Proulx story there recently, that has stayed with me (thanks to Cindy pointing it out to me). I’m just happy that there is still a magazine out there with that circulation that publishes any fiction. Atlantic Monthly has quit on it, except for a single summer issue. I guess I sound a little too optimistic and not perceptive of how much there is out there that sucks, but I think I’m hanging back because I see so many people in my line of work who have discovered that all you need to do is say “poetry sucks” or “fiction sucks”, and suddenly a whole part of the world doesn’t require your attention and you are free! There is a lot that sucks. But speaking only for myself, I’m suspicious of how easy it is to say that–of how easy it is to proclaim this, in order to produce a thin comaradery in the face of loss.
I love The New Yorker, but I’ve had trouble with their fiction for years now. Annie Proulx has had two amazing stories in recent months: “Them Old Cowboy Songs” (which is just devastating) and “Tits-Up in a Ditch” (which is only slightly less devastating). But these days the editors seem to go either with very safe names (such as Proulx) or with heavy-handed “cultural diversity” stories that I generally find unreadable.
It just seems like the quality as a whole seems much weaker than what it used to be. I do think there are occaisonally a few good stories there. Maybe I’m just getting bored much more easily.
Brandon–Truth is, I know what you mean, and I don’t think it’s just you. Sometimes I just can’t fathom why they would pick a story that does little more than avoid common mistakes. And the poetry is just as bad (ask Cooper!). A good one here and there–and then a whole lot of ‘em that make you wonder if anybody even read them before plugging them in.
Every week I attempt to give the fiction a shot. I read the first paragraph, or as much of the first paragraph as I can stomach. I’ve been meaning to write a post about it actually. The thing that amazes me is how much telling is going on. In fact, most of the stories break the basic rules of story telling and I don’t mean in order to be ingenious.
There was a time when it didn’t?
Ooh, I’m scurrying for cover for certain now. Projectiles gonna be flying.
I just read it for the centerfolds.
It’s funny, but they often seem bad in the week-to-week reading of the magazine–but when you think back on it it seems that they have published some very good work. I saw an Annie Proulx story there recently, that has stayed with me (thanks to Cindy pointing it out to me). I’m just happy that there is still a magazine out there with that circulation that publishes any fiction. Atlantic Monthly has quit on it, except for a single summer issue. I guess I sound a little too optimistic and not perceptive of how much there is out there that sucks, but I think I’m hanging back because I see so many people in my line of work who have discovered that all you need to do is say “poetry sucks” or “fiction sucks”, and suddenly a whole part of the world doesn’t require your attention and you are free! There is a lot that sucks. But speaking only for myself, I’m suspicious of how easy it is to say that–of how easy it is to proclaim this, in order to produce a thin comaradery in the face of loss.
just you !
I love The New Yorker, but I’ve had trouble with their fiction for years now. Annie Proulx has had two amazing stories in recent months: “Them Old Cowboy Songs” (which is just devastating) and “Tits-Up in a Ditch” (which is only slightly less devastating). But these days the editors seem to go either with very safe names (such as Proulx) or with heavy-handed “cultural diversity” stories that I generally find unreadable.
It just seems like the quality as a whole seems much weaker than what it used to be. I do think there are occaisonally a few good stories there. Maybe I’m just getting bored much more easily.
Brandon–Truth is, I know what you mean, and I don’t think it’s just you. Sometimes I just can’t fathom why they would pick a story that does little more than avoid common mistakes. And the poetry is just as bad (ask Cooper!). A good one here and there–and then a whole lot of ‘em that make you wonder if anybody even read them before plugging them in.
Every week I attempt to give the fiction a shot. I read the first paragraph, or as much of the first paragraph as I can stomach. I’ve been meaning to write a post about it actually. The thing that amazes me is how much telling is going on. In fact, most of the stories break the basic rules of story telling and I don’t mean in order to be ingenious.
Oh, Deron, yes, bring your post.