Introduction

What is The New Yorker? I know it’s a great magazine and that it’s a tremendous source of pleasure in my life. But what exactly is it? This blog’s premise is that The New Yorker is a work of art, as worthy of comment and analysis as, say, Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Each week I review one or more aspects of the magazine’s latest issue. I suppose it’s possible to describe and analyze an entire issue, but I prefer to keep my reviews brief, and so I usually focus on just one or two pieces, to explore in each the signature style of its author. A piece by Nick Paumgarten is not like a piece by Jill Lepore, and neither is like a piece by Ian Frazier. One could not mistake Collins for Seabrook, or Bilger for Galchen, or Mogelson for Kolbert. Each has found a style, and it is that style that I respond to as I read, and want to understand and describe.

Monday, September 28, 2020

Taking a Break

Fido Nesti, "Eat, Drink & Be Literary"




I’ve decided to take a break from blogging about The New Yorker. My recent posts lack inspiration. I’m not doing justice to the magazine. The truth is I feel jaded. Ten years is a long time to be writing about the same subject. I’m not terminating the blog – not yet, anyway. I’m just not going to post as frequently as I have in the past. I’ll continue to read The New Yorker, of course. How could I not? It’s one of life’s great pleasures. If a piece appears that really grabs me, I’ll post my response.  

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2 comments:

  1. viduraSeptember 28, 2020 at 10:39 AM

    No!

    Is it because there is less great writing in the magazine nowadays? Yes, a great piece here and there, from the established masters, but otherwise has it become too political, too formulaic?

    I used to look forward every Monday to the digital issue and find a piece I had to read then and there. Now I find less and less such pieces. Certainly been a long time since I read a interesting Profile or a short story.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 28, 2020 at 2:58 PM

    What a sadness! I've been reading your blog regularly for about five years - and it brings me as much pleasure as the New Yorker itself. Thanks to you I discovered several books and writers that would never go on my radar. (Thanks!) I will continue to access the blog daily, always hoping to find a new post.

    Ps. You will finish the list "Best of the decade"?

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