2015-09-01
49 分钟Lionel Shriver joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss T. C. Boyle’s “Chicxulub,” from a 2004 issue of the magazine.
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 TC Boyle's story Chicxulu, which was published in the New Yorker in 2004.
The meteor, which was an estimated 60 yards across, never actually touched down.
The force of its entry.
The compression and superheating of the air beneath it caused it to explode some 25,000ft above the ground.
But then the term explode hardly does justice to the event.
The story was chosen by Lionel Shriver, who is the author of twelve novels, including we need to talk about Kevin, which won the Orange Prize for fiction in 2005.
Hi Lionel.
Hi.
You told me when we were talking about doing this that you were a huge fan of TC Boyle's work.
You'd reviewed several of his books.
When did you first become aware of his writing?
I think the first book of his I read was the tortilla curtain.
If I'm remembering correctly, that was about 1999, and I was struck by it.
Not only is it a compelling book, but it's a rare novel about immigration that I think does justice to the topic that is both sides of the debate.
I think he's a great technical writer, but the emphasis is always on content, and those are the authors to whom I am most drawn in this particular story.
In Chicxulub, do you see a similar combination of technical information and content and approach?
Yes, I think this story is a brilliant illustration of a melding of form and content.