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.

Sunday, December 29, 2024

December 30, 2024 & January 6, 2025 Issue

Rachel Aviv, in her disturbing “You Won’t Get Free of It,” in this week’s issue, explores the complex psychosexual dynamics of Alice Munro’s family life, including the sexual abuse of her youngest daughter Andrea by her husband Gerry, and Munro's shocking decision to stay with Gerry even after Andrea told her about it. It sounds like a Munro short story, but it’s real life, with real-life consequences.  

I confess I'm struggling with my response to this piece. I'm a fan of Munro's writing. Part of me wants to defend her. Part of me realizes that what she did - "trade her daughter for art," in Aviv's words - is indefensible. I'm conflicted. "She couldn't have done it and she must have done it" - that's what Janet Malcolm said of the defendant Mazoltuv Borukhova in Iphigenia in Forest Hills. That's the way I feel right now about Alice Munro. I need more time to resolve my feelings about what she did. I may never resolve them. 

In the meantime, I'll keep an eye out for other responses to the controversy. I'd love to read Lorrie Moore on it. She admired Munro's work immensely. How is she grappling with Andrea's revelations? 

No comments:

Post a Comment