The New Yorker Project 3 - Intro

A WRITER’S WIT
The poor are the only consistent altruists; they sell all they have and give it to the rich.
Holbrook Jackson
Born December 31, 1874

History

This is the third consecutive year that I’ve read every story in The New Yorker and then written a short analysis of it. I can’t exactly defend why I undertake this project, except that, as with most of my writing, I feel compelled to do so—for my own satisfaction—which may not meet the approval of others, but I don’t care. On a less defensive note, the process has taught me to love (or at least appreciate) a broad spectrum of short fiction being written currently by a broad spectrum of people working in English throughout the world.

The reader can access previous analyses by going to the side bar and clicking on “January 2011” or “2012.”

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The Stats for 2013

• Average length of a New Yorker story in 2013: 8,750 words (approximate, of course)
• Change from 2012: +2,750 words
• Percentage of male authors: 58% (57% adjusting for writers with multiple stories)
• Change from 2012: –11% (using adjusted figure above)

• Percentage of female authors: 42% (43% adjusting for writers with multiple stories)
• Change from 2012: +11% (using adjusted figure above)
• Average age of a New Yorker author: 54
• Change from 2012: +4
• Percentage of lead characters who are male: 57%

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• Percentage of lead characters who are female: 43%
• Number of lead characters who are apparently heterosexual: 98%
• Percentage of lead characters who are apparently LGBT: Less than 2% (only one character, and he becomes “gay” after he goes to prison*)
• Percentage of lead characters who are apparently Caucasian: 64%
• Percentage of lead characters who are apparently “minority” or foreign: 26%
• Percentage of lead characters who are apparently Jewish or Israeli: 10%
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1700s: 1
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1910s: 1
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1920s: 1
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1930s: 1
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1940s: 1
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1950s: 2
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1960s: 3
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1970s: 3
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1980s: 2
• Stories that seem to be set in the 1990s: 0
• Stories that seem to be set in the 2000s: 1
• Stories that seem to be set in the 2010s: 31
• Stories that seem to be set in the future: 1 (2113)
• Stories set in the United States: 37% — CA-1, FL-1, MA-2, MT-2, NY-10, TX-1, UT-1, WA-1
• Percentage of stories set in foreign countries: 49%

• AFGHANISTAN-1, AUSTRIA-1, CHINA-1, DENMARK-1, ENGLAND-5, GERMANY-1, INDIA-3, ITALY-1, KENYA-1, NEW SOUTH WALES-1, NIGERIA-1, RUSSIA-1, SCOTLAND-1, SPAIN-1,  SRI LANKA-1, TUNISIA-1, .
• Percentage of stories in which there is no concrete setting: 14%
• Percentage of stories set in urban/suburban areas: 76%
• Percentage of stories set in rural/pastoral areas: 24%
• Authors publishing more than one story: Joshua Ferris-2, Rivka Galchen-2, Tessa Hadley-3, Thomas McGuane-2, Steven Millhauser-2, Zadie Smith-2, and Paul Theroux-2
• Percentage of authors who appear to use English in a traditional manner: 92%
• Percentage of authors who appear to use English in an experimental manner: less than 2%
• Percentage of authors who appear to use English both ways: 6%
• Percentage of authors who employ the first-person POV: 31%
• Percentage of authors who employ the second-person POV: less than 2%
• Percentage of authors who employ the third-person POV: 67%
• Percentage of authors who primarily employ the past tense: 88%
• Percentage of authors who primarily employ the present tense: 12%

*This discrepancy in The New Yorker’s otherwise liberal acceptance policy (in terms of subject matter) is rather disconcerting. In a city that is home to one of the largest gay populations in the world, here exists a major, longstanding magazine that can’t locate at least one story featuring a central character who is LGBT! That is unbelievable and unforgiveable (in an abstract sense, of course). Its straight readers, I dare say, must have dozens if not scores of LGBT friends. Why this apparent squeamishness with regard to featuring a story about, say, a newly married gay couple, who are on the very brink of divorce, with a surrogate mother in the wings awaiting the birth of their first love child? You can’t tell me that there isn’t something appealing in the story. Perhaps I should write it. Yeah, hey, I’ll write the damn thing. I’ll be the sole gay writer featured in next year’s stories, a celebrity!

Interpreting Theme

For 2013, I challenged myself to distill the theme of each story to one word or phrase if I could. I made up my mind quickly—believing that, like selecting a character’s name or looking at Rorschach inkblots—first thoughts are the most honest psychologically:

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AGING-2%
ALIENATION-26%
BETRAYAL-2%
CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN-2%
COMING-OF-AGE-4%
EVIL-2%
FAITH-2%
FAMILY-6%
FEAR-2%
FIDELITY/INFIDELITY-14%
FORGIVENESS-2%
FREEDOM-2%
INJUSTICE-4%
LONELINESS-2%
LOSS-2%
LOVE-6%
MORTALITY-2%
POVERTY-2%
PRIDE/HUBRIS-2%
REGENERATION/REBIRTH-6%
RETRIBUTION-2%
SURVIVAL-2%
SUSTENANCE-2%
WAR’S ABSURDITIES-2%

Even more so than the last two years, I determined that The New Yorker story must be accessible. There is apparently a very narrow range of what a New Yorker story can do or say or be. It can’t be about abortion, incest, not directly, not, God forbid, like its nonfiction pieces. While many of the magazine’s nonfiction articles are “challenging,” particularly if you’re reading in a field that is not yours, the short stories are not necessarily as complex as those found in top literary magazines. And perhaps that is the point. The editors want their readers to enjoy the fiction, to be entertained by it—as if it were another one of their cartoons. Ultimately, a New Yorker story must strike the proper balance between urbanity and childish wonder.

Some Nuts and Bolts

The Gods at Circulation must have heard me cursing last year. Many more of my hard copies have arrived before the cover date than those that have not (two failed to make it to my door at all, either purloined by our postal carrier or the people with the same house number one block over, to whom it was misdelivered by our postal carrier). My digital copy arrives each week without fail on a Sunday night while reading in bed! Thanks to the Digital Gods. Seriously. In 2014 I plan to read the fiction selection as it arrives and post a comment before the cover date. Then at the end of the year I shall conclude with series of posts a similar to this week’s series.

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In the next three days I shall post a short comment on all fifty-one stories and rank them in three categories (including links to further writing by a particular author and his or her biography):

Wednesday, Crème de la Crème (the top 1-17)
Thursday, The Big Middle (18-44)
Friday, The Stories I Least Liked and Why (45-51).

I urge you to read at least some of the stories by clicking on the story's title that will take you to The New Yorker website. There they offer full access to some of the stories but only a passage from others. Don't know why!

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