2024-06-01
1 小时 38 分钟André Alexis joins Deborah Treisman for a special tribute to Alice Munro, who died in May at age ninety-two. Alexis reads and discusses “Before the Change,” by Munro, which was published in The New Yorker in 1998. Alexis’s works of fiction include “Fifteen Dogs,” which won the Giller Prize, “Days by Moonlight,” and the story collection “The Night Piece,” which was published in 2020.
This is the New Yorker fiction podcast from the New Yorker magazine.
I'm Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at the New Yorker.
Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and discuss in this month's episode a special tribute to Alice Monroe, who died in May at age 92.
We'll hear Monroe's story before the change, which appeared in the New Yorker in August of 1998.
How do you think I didn't know?
It was right in front of my eyes all the time.
If I had gone to school here, I'd surely have known.
If I'd had friends.
There's no way one of the high school girls, one of the older girls, wouldn't have made sure I knew.
The story was chosen by Andrea Lexis, whose works of fiction include the novels 15 dogs, which won the Giller Prize, and days by moonlight, and the story collection the night piece of which was published in 2020.
Hi, Andre.
Welcome.
Hi, Debra.
I'm glad we could do this.
Let's start with why we are here taping a podcast about Alice Monroe's work today.
You are a fellow writer who grew up, I think, less than 100 miles away from the small town in southwestern Ontario where Monroe grew up.
The territory is familiar to you, though, in a later time.
What has her work meant to you and for how long?
Well, it's not a difficult question, but it's one of those questions that's like, well, when did you start breathing air?
Since the time I wanted to be a writer, Alice Monroe has been part of my landscape.