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 Goldfield, 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.

Thursday, December 10, 2020

On the Horizon: My "Best of 2020" Lists

Illustration by Min Heo, from Hua Hsu's "My Year of Making Lists"









It’s time to start making my “Best of 2020” lists. Each year at this juncture, I like to pause, look back, and take stock of my New Yorker reading experience. I find listing is a good way to do it.

I’m not going to reveal my pick for best reporting piece just yet. But I’ll give you a hint. It has nothing to do with COVID-19. It has nothing to do with Trump. It’s about an object in the “the shape of a bulging briefcase, with a protruding bulb at the bottom.” That’s all I’m going to say for now. As it is, I’ve probably given it away. Besides, the year isn’t over. There are still three more New Yorkers to come. Who knows what delightful surprises they might contain? 

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