2012-05-02
1 小时 2 分钟Matthew Klam reads Charles D'Ambrosio's "The Point" and discusses it with The New Yorker's fiction editor, Deborah Treisman. "The Point" was published in the October 1, 1990, issue of The New Yorker and was the title story of D'Ambrosio's first collection. Matthew Klam's most recent book of stories is "Sam the Cat."
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 point by Charles D'Ambrosio.
After a summer, I'd have the dirt on everyone whether I wanted it or not, but I had developed a priestly sense of my position.
The story was chosen by Matthew Clamm, the author of Sam the Cat and other stories.
Eight of his stories have been published in the New Yorker, and back in 1999, he was included on the magazines list of 20 writers for the 21st century.
Hi, Matt.
Hi, Deborah.
So the point came out in the New Yorker in 1990, and it was the title story of Charles D'Ambrosio's first collection, which was published in 95.
Then his second collection, the Dead Fish Museum, was published in 2006.
When did you first come across his work?
I read this story when it appeared in the New Yorker.
Was it the first piece of his you'd read?
Yes, it was.
And the interesting thing is that it stuck with me ever since.
It's a story that I've kind of kept close all these years.
I've had a chance to meet him at an event here in Washington, and I didn't because I love this story so much.
I didn't want to taint my experience of the story with my impressions of Charles.
But I did hear a story from a guy who was at Iowa, the University of Iowa, when he was there, which is enough for me, which is about how they were playing softball one day and Charles and his dog showed up.