Karen Russell Reads Mavis Gallant

凯伦·罗素(Karen Russell)读了马维斯·加兰特(Mavis Gallant)

The New Yorker: Fiction

小说

2016-10-03

37 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

Karen Russell joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss Mavis Gallant’s “From the Fifteenth District,” from a 1978 issue of the magazine.

单集文稿 ...

  • 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 from the 15th district by Mavis Galant, which was published in the New Yorker in October of 1978.

  • Every year, on the Sunday falling nearest the anniversary of his death, Major Trevela attends Holy Communion service at St.

  • Michael's, the church from which he was buried.

  • He stands at the back, close to the doors, waiting until all the communicants have returned to their places before he approaches the altar rail.

  • His intention is to avoid a mixed queue of dead and living, the thought of which is disgusting to him.

  • The story was chosen by Karen Russell, who's the author of two story collections and the novel Swamplandia.

  • She's been publishing fiction in the New Yorker since 2005.

  • Hi, Karen.

  • Hi, Debra.

  • So Mavis Gallant published more than 100 stories in the new Yorker, and I know you went through and reread quite a few of them.

  • What made you choose this one to read today?

  • You know, this story has been really special to me.

  • I've sort of passed it on to friends and students, and I love her work.

  • And I was going to say this feels a, a little bit of an outlier.

  • It sort of treats supernaturally a very human predicament.

  • But maybe it's not.

  • As you mentioned, she's probably one of the most prolific story writers of all time.