Category Archives: New Yorker

Infinite Summer: Location 933

Martin Schneider writes:
Note: I’m participating in Infinite Summer, the widespread Internet book project dedicated to reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. For more information, consult my introduction. My strategy has been to avoid lengthy commentary but instead list quintessentially Wallacean vocabulary and note other oddities, including Kindle typos.
I took hardly any notes for the second and third chapters. Chapter 2 is a pitch-perfect depiction of (as yet unnamed) Erdedy’s agitated hours-long wait for pot, and chapter 3 returns to Hal and introduces us to an eccentric and key relation of his. For some reason, neither one offers much for the fan of odd vocabulary (aside from Kindle problems with italics text).
The juxtaposition of these two chapters is a reminder that what most marks Infinite Jest is its combination of sections featuring unfussy, devastating, psychologically plausible character sketches and sections featuring hyperbolic, absurd comedy. The first elicits the reaction, “Oh my god, that is just how it is,” and the other, laughter and admiration for linguistic dexterity. Honestly, DFW is equally good at both, but forced to choose, I’ll take the unfussy stuff.
There’s also chapter 5, about the Saudi doctor, which is closer to regular narrative.
location 641: magisculed
location 667: The sentence starting “Was he in the bathroom”—can this possibly make grammatical sense?
location 716: caries
location 725: immeaning, Kindle typo
location 748: Seventhisn’t, Kindle typo
location 749: Eighthamends, Kindle typo
location 782: Spiegelresulted, Kindle typo
location 797: mise-enscene, Kindle typo
location 809: Citizen,and, Kindle typo
location 858: Töblerone, DFW persists in spelling it with an umlaut, which it doesn’t take.
location 858: monolial sinusitis
location 861: DeBakey
location 861: ad valorem
location 865: Valayat
location 876: spectation, IMO a quintessentially DFW kind of word; see plosive elsewhere
location 885: thrushive
location 889: and but so, a bit of usage familiar to readers of DFW’s nonfiction.

Infinite Summer: Location 868

Martin Schneider writes:
Note: I’m participating in Infinite Summer, the widespread Internet book project dedicated to reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. For more information, consult my introduction. My strategy has been to avoid lengthy commentary but instead list quintessentially Wallacean vocabulary and note other oddities, including Kindle typos.
That number, 868, sounds impressive, but Kindle users will recognize it as a shamefully low number (all of Infinite Jest has 25,756 locations). Anyway, this isn’t an update on my reading (coming soon!), it’s a report of an interesting link.
One of my favorite bloggers, Kevin Drum (with whom we’ve interacted fruitfully before), currently of Mother Jones, formerly of The Washington Monthly, weighed in on Infinite Summer from the perspective of someone who devoured the book a decade ago, and won’t be doing it again. Not that he didn’t like the book, he really did, a lot.
He links to his original thoughts, written in 1997 and only mildly spoileriffic.
Question: He notes that in 1997, Infinite Jest was one of the few books that had its own website. Today, it’s 404. What’s up with that, Little, Brown? That’s literary malpractice!
Update: Apparently it was 404 as early as 1999.

Just Released: New Yorker App for the iPhone

Martin Schneider writes:
I do not own an iPhone, but it doesn’t take a genius to surmise that this might make an awful lot of people happy:
iphonenewyorker.png
Here’s the text:

About The New Yorker for iPhone
A weekly magazine with a signature mix of reporting on national and international politics and culture, humor and cartoons, fiction and poetry, and cultural reviews and criticism.

The New Yorker for iPhone features a selection of stories from each week’s issue as well as original material from newyorker.com and one-touch access to our blogs and podcasts.

More to come. I’m sure Emily (who does own an iPhone) is raring to give it a test-drive.
_Update_: If you want to get a taste for how it will work, look at “this”:http://iphone.newyorker.com/tny-iphone/#_home.

What’s in This Week’s New Yorker: 07.06.09

Martin Schneider writes:
A new issue of The New Yorker comes out tomorrow. It’s a double issue. A preview of its contents, adapted from the magazine’s press release:
In “The Kill Company,” Raffi Khatchadourian chronicles a military mission in Iraq that led to the deaths of eight Iraqis, and examines the role that violent rhetoric may have had in encouraging the soldiers’ deadly use of force. The killings, which occurred during Operation Iron Triangle, in May, 2006, suggest “a grave problem within the chain of command,” Khatchadourian writes.
In “The Contrarian,” Ryan Lizza talks to Sheila Bair, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, about her recent debates with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner over the Obama Administration’s reform proposals for regulating the banking industry.
In Comment, Hendrik Hertzberg explores the Obama Administration’s stance on gay rights.
In The Financial Page, James Surowiecki looks at how a Consumer Financial Protection Agency could affect consumers.
In Shouts & Murmurs, Yoni Brenner imagines Justice Clarence Thomas’s dreams as he dozes on the bench.
Ariel Levy profiles writer-director Nora Ephron.
Malcolm Gladwell reviews Chris Anderson’s new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price.
Alex Ross takes in a day of performances during the Make Music festival.
Nancy Franklin watches the new HBO series Hung.
Peter Schjeldahl visits the James Ensor retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
David Denby reviews Public Enemies and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
There is a short story by Lorrie Moore.

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

Martin Schneider writes:
He didn’t have anything to do with The New Yorker, of course. But it seems silly to try to ignore his death.
The first mention of Michael Jackson in The New Yorker that I could find is from July 14, 1975. It was in the Talk of the Town and it had two parts, both by Jamaica Kincaid (I think).
The first part is a report describing a press conference in which the Jackson family announced that it was leaving Motown to join Epic. The report emphasized the businesslike nature of the announcement: “No Jackson said anything sentimental.”
On the same page appears a kind of fan letter, this one explicitly by Jamaica Kincaid, that intentionally echoes the kinds of fan letters he received every day—one of which is actually quoted, in full, in the item.
Such reports are full of heartbreaking things. Any reference to the color of his skin, the shape of his nose, the kinkiness of his hair, his affinity for children or animals, his marriage prospects—all of these things are heartbreaking, and Kincaid refers to all of them.
Possibly the most startling bit of information is that Jackson once appeared on The Dating Game. (It’s true.)
In the July 9, 1984, issue, there is a whimsical, lightly acerbic Talk piece by James Lardner about the existence of a Michael Jackson Hotline.
In the March 14, 1988, issue, there is a tranquil Talk piece by Garrison Keillor (uncredited, in the issue) about observing Jackson rehearse a rendition of “Man in the Mirror” for the Grammy telecast. This one is not heartbreaking. This one is about Jackson in his element, as a supreme entertainer, and it emphasizes his confidence and ease among people.
I don’t have much to say about him. I was never a fan in any real sense, but I admired the skill. He was a genius; he was damaged. Everyone knows it. A friend today asked me if he was the most famous person in the world. Was he? He might have been.
On the New Yorker blog, Ben Greenman gives his thoughts.

Infinite Summer: Location 494

Martin Schneider writes:
I’ll be weighing in with some thoughts as the summer progresses, but most of my comments will be vocabulary-related. The Kindle lets you add notes to the text (it’s fun to add footnotes to Infinite Jest, like bringing coal to Newcastle). I’ll be noting typos in the Kindle edition and other words that caught my eye, struck my fancy, or needed looking up.
Basically it’s a promenade of my ignorance and admiration.
location 54: Kindle typo: eitherlor
location 212: Kekuléan
location 226: aviarian: “of or pertaining to an aviary”? Hmm.
location 244: lapidary
location 264: “myriad scrutiny,” genius.
location 270: nice work getting “Academy” right, Kindle.
location 318: Brewster’s-Angle
location 361: creātus
location 380: Nunn Bush
location 396: pases
location 479: hypophalangial
location 481: Kindle typo: What aBurger (caused by page break in original manuscript)

The New Yorker is Colbert’s Bench (The Password is “Tea”)

Martin Schneider writes:
More a “Looked At” than a “Looked Into,” perhaps. Stephen Colbert sure does heart The New Yorker lately. This week Simon Schama was on, promoting his book The American Future, and last week Paul Muldoon made an appearance.
Colbert made fun of Schama’s accent (“The Roh-mans?”) and asked Muldoon if parents get cranky when they learn their progeny intend to major in the insufficiently remunerative discipline of poetry. He and Muldoon read Muldoon’s poem “Tea” (from his book Madoc: A Mystery) together, and Colbert, upon learning that Schama is Jewish, asked whether tea is kosher.
Here are the clips:

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Paul Muldoon
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Simon Schama
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

The Infinite Summer of David Foster Wallace

Martin Schneider writes:
Summer began yesterday, and with it began Infinite Summer, a massive book club project (sort of) in which the only book is David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, and readers have until the autumn (September 21) to finish it. The pace is 75 pages a week (not including the associated endnotes), which isn’t very hard, and readers are rewarded with all sorts of commentary and opportunities to discuss! (Here’s the schedule.)
I’m using the Kindle version, which should make it doubly fun (and also make navigating the endnotes a breeze). I read about 300 pages of it when it first came out, and then stopped, and then developed a block about cracking the book ever again. Until now!
I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!

What’s in This Week’s New Yorker: 06.29.09

Martin Schneider writes:
A new issue of The New Yorker comes out tomorrow. A preview of its contents, adapted from the magazine’s press release:
In “With the Marchers,” a resident of Tehran reflects on the recent demonstrations and the situation on the ground after the country’s controversial Presidential election. The resident, who decided to write this piece without a byline because of the Iranian authorities’ attempts to curtail the actions of the Western media, writes, “On the afternoon of June 15th, I bumped into my old friend Reza at the huge demonstration on Azadi Street—the march nobody will ever forget.”
In Comment, Laura Secor looks at the difficult situation that Iran finds itself in now that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has demanded an end to the street protests mounted in favor of the reformist Presidential candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
In “Angelo’s Ashes,” Connie Bruck offers a behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of Countrywide Financial Corporation, once the largest home-mortgage provider in the United States, and chronicles the ambitions of Angelo Mozilo, its “self-regarding chairman and C.E.O.”
In “The Catastrophist,” Elizabeth Kolbert profiles James Hansen, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who is sometimes called “the father of global warming,” and examines his recent efforts to warn the public about the increasing threats to our climate.
Rebecca Mead examines the recently discovered early letters from Edith Wharton to her governess.
Alex Ross visits Marlboro Music, the famed summer institute for aspiring and established musicians.
James Wood reads Censoring an Iranian Love Story, by Shahriar Mandanipour.
Jill Lepore looks at the parenting-advice industry.
Peter Schjeldahl attends the Judith Leyster exhibit at the National Gallery.
David Denby reviews The Hurt Locker and Food, Inc.
Hilton Als reviews David Adjmi’s Stunning.
There is a short story by Stephen O’Connor.