Sam Lipsyte joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss James Purdy’s “About Jessie Mae,” from a 1957 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 James Purdy's story about Jessie May, which was published in the New Yorker in 1957.
I love to come to your house, Myrtle told her 20 odd years ago, before she married and had children.
As a child herself, she had visited misses hemlock and had enjoyed her cookies and cakes, her homemade ices and tarts.
But I cant understand Jessie Mays being that untidy misses, Hemlock said.
The story was chosen by Sam Lipsight, who is the author of three novels and two story collections, including the Fun Parts, which came out in 2012.
His own fiction has been appearing in the New Yorker since 2010.
Hi Sam.
Hi Debra.
So have you been a long time fan of James Purdy?
What made you think of choosing his story for the podcast?
Well, I am a longtime fan.
I think I first came across him in my early twenties and became a great fan of the short stories that appeared in a book called in Color of darkness.
I read stories like Daddy Wolf and Don't call me by my right name and the lesson and of course of a famous work of his called 63 Dream palace.
And so I read those and was a big admirer.
And when my first book came out, he was kind enough to say some words on its behalf and we corresponded briefly and then fell out of touch and he died much later.
But he's been a writer close to my heart.
How did you find that first book you read?