2023-09-02
1 小时 16 分钟Andrew O’Hagan joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “An Actor Prepares,” by Donald Antrim, which was published in The New Yorker in 1999. O’Hagan is the author of six novels, including “The Illuminations” and “Mayflies,” which was published in 2020 and won the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize.
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.
This month, we're going to hear an actor prepares by Donald Antrim, which was published in the New Yorker in June of 1999.
Possibly, I should say probably, it was risky of me to attempt simulated sex with undergraduates.
What do you think, gang?
Is this something you feel you can comfortably do in front of an audience?
The story was chosen by Andrew O'Hagan, who's the author of six novels, including the Illuminations and Mayflies, which was published in 2020 and won the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize.
Hi, Andrew.
Hi, Deborah.
Welcome.
Great to be here.
So you considered several stories by Donald Antrim before settling on an actor prepares, but you were quite sure that you wanted to read one of his stories.
And why is that?
I think Donald Antrim's one of the most interesting american writers currently working.
I've been following him from story to story and from novel to novel, and also enjoyed his non fiction work.
And he just seems to me to have a kind of chekovian precision about him and also an ear for the unusual.
A very spirited writer in some ways, although orderly as a short story writer, I mean, everything is in its place.
There's also room for anarchy.
There's room for strangeness and eccentricity.