2022-10-02
1 小时 10 分钟Madeleine Thien joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain,” by Yoko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder, which was published in The New Yorker in 2004. Thien’s books include the novels “Dogs at the Perimeter” and “Do Not Say We Have Nothing,” which won the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Scotiabank Giller 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 the cafeteria in the evening and a pool in the rain by Yoko Ogawa, which was translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder and published in the New Yorker in September of 2004.
In three weeks, my fiance and I would be married, a small ceremony with only the two of us present, and then he would move here.
In the meantime, it was up to me to get the house ready.
The story was chosen by Madeleine Tien, whose books include the novels dogs at the perimeter and do not say we have nothing, which won the governor general's literary award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Hi, Maddie.
Welcome.
Hi, Deborah.
So why did you choose a story by Yoko Ogawa to read today?
Oh, I love Yoko Ogawa's writing.
She's one of those writers, I always think, I just want to talk to everyone about her.
I want to say, what is she doing?
How does she do it?
What is that strange, difficult to name feeling that arises in us when we read her work?
What is that feeling?
You asked the question.
Now you have to answer it.
It's almost like she's one of those writers who bypasses language.