“Aesthetic hierarchies,” James Wood says, in his great The Nearest Thing to Life, “are fluid,
personal, eccentric, always subject to revision, and quite possibly a bit
incoherent.” Yes, and they’re also fun. I enjoy evaluating The New Yorker. This time
each year, I pause, look back over the past six months, and pick my favorite
pieces. Here then is my Mid-Year Top Ten 2015.
Reporting
1. David Owen’s “Where the River Runs Dry” (May 25, 2015)
2. Ian Parker’s “The Shape of Things to Come” (February 23
& March 2, 2015)
3. Raffi Khatchadourian, “A Century of Silence” (January 5,
2015)
4. Jill Lepore’s “The Cobweb” (January 26, 2015)
5. Rivka Galchen’s “Weather Underground” (April 13, 2015)
6. Dana Goodyear’s “The Dying Sea” (May 4, 2015)
7. Rebecca Mead’s “Sole Cycle” (March 23, 2015)
8. Luke Mogelson’s “When the Fever Breaks” (January 19, 2015)
9. Jane Kramer’s “The Demolition Man” (June 29, 2015)
10. William Finnegan's “Tears of the Sun” (April 20, 2015)
Criticism
1. James Wood’s “Look Again” (February 23 & March 2,
2015)
2. Dan Chiasson’s “Out of This World” (April 13, 2015)
3. Peter Schjeldahl’s “Moving Pictures” (March 16, 2015)
4. James Wood’s “Circling the Subject” (May 4, 2015
5. Alex Ross’s “Eyes and Ears” (February 9, 2015)
6. Dan Chiasson’s “Beautiful Lies” (March 30, 2015)
7. Peter Schjeldahl’s “Native Soil” (May 25, 2015)
8. James Wood’s “Story of My Life” (June 22, 2015)
9. Dan Chiasson’s “American Snipper” (June 1, 2015)
10. Anthony Lane’s “High Gear” (May 25, 2015)
Talk of the Town
1. Mark Singer’s “All-Nighter” (May 11, 2015)
2. Ian Frazier’s “Russophilia” (February 16, 2015)
3. Lizzie Widdicombe’s “Air Bus” (June 1, 2015)
4. Nick Paumgarten’s “Hut!” (June 22, 2015)
5. Dana Goodyear’s “Life With Father” (June 29, 2015)
6. Sarah Larson’s “Cinephiles” (January 19, 2015)
7. Nick Paumgarten’s “Life Without Audience” (June 1, 2015)
8. John Seabrook’s “Free” (February 2, 2015)
9. Emma Allen’s “Landlord” (June 29, 2015)
10. Alec Wilkinson’s “Hands” (June 29, 2015)
Best Short Story
Louise Erdrich’s “The Flower” (June 29, 2015)
Best Poem
C. K. Williams, “Hog” (February 23, 2015)
Best Blog Post
Jiayang Fan, “Searching for America with General Tso”
(“Cultural Comment,” newyorker.com, March 12, 2015)
Best Illustration
Riccardo Vecchio’s illustration for Jane Kramer’s “The
Demolition Man” (June 29, 2015) (see above)
Best Photo
Ian Allen’s portrait of Chastity Belt for “Goings On About
Town” (May 25, 2015)
Best Cover
Mark Ulriksen’s “Baseball Ballet” (April 27, 2015)
Best Issue
May 25, 2015, containing, among its many pleasures, David
Owen’s superb “Where the River Runs Dry,” three first-rate reviews (Anthony
Lane’s “High Gear,” James Wood’s “All Her Children,” and Peter Schjeldahl’s
“Native Soil”), and Ian Allen’s ravishing, color-drenched “Goings On About
Town” photo of the band Chastity Belt.
Best Sentence
Or does it refer to stuff that’s really, really hard
to follow, especially when certain brainiacs insist on reading their turgid
prose in a monotone that makes us doubt our very existence, because, Jesus, why
doesn’t this guy in the gray turtleneck occasionally look up and, you know,
smile? – Mark Singer, “All-Nighter” (May 11, 2015)
Best Paragraph
I went farther into the church, making a list of the things
that the people of Diyarbakir had left there. Dried scraps of bread. Automotive
carpeting. An old shoe. A fragment of a transistor radio. Corrugated plastic,
some of it burned. Where the main altar had been, there was a fire pit; among
the ashes, a wrapper for a candy called Coco Fino and empty cans of Efes beer.
A rusted wire. Coils of shit. In the inset of a wall, someone had arranged
several stones in a neat line. Hundreds of daisies reached upward. And as the
sun descended behind the high city walls the smell of grilled meat drifted over
from nearby homes, and the sound of children playing began to fill the streets.
A ball was kicked and it hit the side of a building and bounced. Some boys
clambered over the wall that surrounded the church. Women left their kitchens,
and climbed to their roofs to collect carpets that had been put out to air. TVs
wired to satellite dishes came on, filling spare rooms with their ethereal
glow. All of Diyarbakir, it seemed, except the church, drifted forward in time.
Overhead, a flock of common swifts darted and circled among the old stone
arches. Their black wings arced like boomerangs as they swooped through the
ruins—above the piles of earth, the weeds and the wildflowers, all the
trash—and their movements were ceaseless, careless, as if unweighted by
anything. – Raffi Khatchadourian, “A Century of Silence” (January 5, 2015)
Best Description
Haslbeck suggested that I try on the lace-up boot, and I
slipped my bare foot into it. With the warmth and softness of the fur, and the
cradling comfort of the foot bed, it felt wonderful. I think I may have gasped.
– Rebecca Mead, “Sole Cycle” (March 23, 2015)
Most Memorable Image
The helicopter made its shuddering descent. Legs shook; sippy
cups spilled. Marcy said, “Wow! I love this part!” The pilot yelled,
“Touchdown!” – Lizzie Widdicombe, “Air Bus” (June 1, 2015)
Most Inspired Detail
When undone, scarves with modernistic prints sent out gusts
of international perfume. – Ian Frazier, “Russophilia” (February 16, 2015)
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