2022-07-02
1 小时 5 分钟Akhil Sharma joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Zombie,” by Joyce Carol Oates, which was published in The New Yorker in 1994. Sharma is the author of the novels “Family Life” and “An Obedient Father,” which will be reissued in a revised version this month.
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 zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, which was published in the New Yorker in October of 1994.
A true zombie would be mine forever.
He would obey me, saying, yes, master, and no, master.
He would kneel before me, saying, I love you, master.
There is no one but you, master.
The story was chosen by Akhil Sharma, who's the author of the novels Family Life and an obedient father, which will be re issued in a revised version this month.
Hi, Akhil.
Hey, Debra.
Welcome.
This is your third time on the podcast, and I the last two times, you discussed stories by Tobias Wolf and Geoffrey Eugenides.
What made you choose Joyce Carol Oates this year?
I mean, I have an odd relationship to this, the story.
Joyce Carol Oates was my teacher.
One of the characters is named Achille.
Achille is an unusual name, and I remember reading it, wondering if she used my name deliberately and hoping that the character got murdered or something amazing happened so that I would be a larger part of the story.
Unfortunately, you survive in the story.
I know.