A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker: 1925-2025
Author(s): New Yorker Magazine Inc Narrator(s): Deborah Treisman, Full Cast Edited by The New Yorker's fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, a celebratory selection from one hundred years of short stories in the magazine which has been the most influential and important showcase for the form and has launched dozens of stellar careers in fictionThere is simply no A–Z like the alphabet of fiction writers who have appeared in the pages of The New Yorker in the last hundred years. The book boasts inarguable classics like Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain,” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” alongside stunners to be rediscovered. Some stories defined a moment or a now-lost world (Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “The Cafeteria”); others showed us a whole new way fiction could sound and feel (“The Red Girl,” by Jamaica Kincaid). With this vivid selection, Treisman showcases how our fiction has changed over time, and reminds us that past literary fashions continue to ripple outward in the fiction we love today. What does a Donald Barthelme mean to the craft of short fiction now? What will a Yiyun Li mean to the next generation of readers and writers? This exquisite tour of the form as practiced at its highest level will leap directly into the hearts of readers of all ages, all stripes, and is a beautiful tribute to the magazine's influence on our literary culture over the last century.
Narrated by Deborah Treisman, Full Cast
Chapters
20 · tap to expand details- 01
A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker: 1925-2025: Intro
- 02
Introduction
- 03
Life Cycle of a Literary Genius: By E. B. White 1926
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Over the River and Through the Wood: By John O’Hara 1934
- 05
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: By James Thurber 1939
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Such a Pretty Day: By Dawn Powell 1939
- 07
The Weeds: By Mary McCarthy 1944
- 08
A Perfect Day for Bananafish: By J. D. Salinger 1948
- 09
Children Are Bored on Sunday: By Jean Stafford 1948
- 10
Symbols and Signs: By Vladimir Nabokov 1948
- 11
The Lottery: By Shirley Jackson 1948
- 12
The Ladder: By V. S. Pritchett 1949
- 13
The Five-Forty-Eight: By John Cheever 1954
- 14
The State of Grace: By Harold Brodkey 1954
- 15
I Live on Your Visits: By Dorothy Parker 1955
- 16
A Father-To-Be: By Saul Bellow 1955
- 17
A Summer’s Reading: By Bernard Malamud 1956
- 18
The Happiest I’ve Been: By John Updike 1959
- 19
Defender of the Faith: By Philip Roth 1959
- 20
Where Is the Voice Coming From?: By Eudora Welty 1963