While I was looking around for Jonathan Franzen pieces in the New Yorker, I stumbled upon the first 20 Under 40 collection from 1999. Since I had received so much enjoyment from the 2010 version, I decided to read all of the 1999 stories as well. It was interesting to see how many of the authors I knew (and knew well), how many I had heard of but hadn’t read, and how many were completely off my radar.
I initially thought that they had published all 20 authors in this one issue, but there are five stories (including Franzen’s) that were just excerpted rather than published in full. And I will track down and read those five in their entirety. But otherwise, that’s a lot of fiction in one magazine (a few of the stories were quite short). And it features a cover by Chris Ware!
So here’s the list from 1999.
**George Saunders-“I Can Speak™”
**David Foster Wallace-“Asset”
*Sherman Alexie-“The Toughest Indian in the World”
*Rick Moody-“Hawaiian Night”
*A.M. Homes-“Raft in Water, Floating”
Allegra Goodman-“The Local Production of Cinderella”
*William T. Vollmann-“The Saviors”
Antonya Nelson-“Party of One”
Chang-rae Lee-“The Volunteers”
*Michael Chabon-“The Hofzinser Club” [excerpt]
Ethan Canin-“Vins Fins” [excerpt]
*Donald Antrim-“An Actor Prepares”
Tony Earley-“The Wide Sea”
*Jeffrey Eugenides-“The Oracular Vulva”
*Junot Diaz-“Otra Vida, Otra Vez”
*Jonathan Franzen-“The Failure” [excerpt]
***Edwidge Danticat-“The Book of the Dead”
*Jhumpa Lahiri-“The Third and Final Continent”
*Nathan Englander-“Peep Show” [excerpt]
Matthew Klam-“Issues I Dealt with in Therapy” [excerpt]
* Have read a story by him/her
** Have read this story
*** Have heard of but never read
No marks–never heard of.
These two pieces I had not only read but had recently posted about.
GEORGE SAUNDERS-“I Can Speak™”
This story appears in his collection. It was a surreal comic piece. I initially assumed it has been published in one of the short comic sections of the New Yorker, not realizing it was released as a story here. The story concerns the “I Can Speak™” mask that a baby wears. It is a creepy rictus but it says somewhat scenario-appropriate comments, as if your baby was talking. The whole piece is written as a conciliatory notice to a disgruntled customer. And yes, it’s bizarrely funny. I posted about it here, but I see that I enjoyed it more on this second read.
DAVID FOSTER WALLCE-“The Asset” (which is one of the brief interviews from Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (#40)).
This is the story of a man with a withered arm. He hides the arm most of the time, but he is able to use it, and its hideousness, as a seductive tool. It’s a creepy story, and it fits well with the title of the book. I posted about it here.
The excerpts include:
MICHAEL CHABON-“The Hofzinser Club” [excerpt]
This story is about Josef Kavalier and his early attempts at magic. This one column excerpt actually reads like an enjoyable (if not brief) full story. I’m looking forward to the full thing.
ETHAN CANIN-“Vins Fins” [excerpt]
This story is set in 1973 under the backdrop of Watergate. But mostly it looks at the narrator’s father’s ability to make and then lose a lot of money over and over again. It is a promising excerpt with some interesting details.
JONATHAN FRANZEN-“The Failure” [excerpt]
In the excerpt and in the full story the photo shows a close up of breasts. The excerpt has a woman who can barely be contained by her shirt, while the full story shows a shocking photo of cleavage. The excerpt shows us Chip who is waiting at the airport for his father. When he sees a beautiful woman walk down the concourse, he imagines that he could have sex with her. I can’t imagine where this story will go with this set up.
NATHAN ENGLANDER-“Peep Show” [excerpt]
Allen Fein, Esq., upstanding Jew with a beautiful blonde Gentile wife is distracted from his daily routine by the enticing neon of a 25 cent, 360-degree peep show. Oh, the debauchery that awaits!
MATTHEW KLAM-“Issues I Dealt with in Therapy” [excerpt]
This excerpt opens with the details of an extravagant shore wedding. It gets more and more over the top as the details proceed. Our narrator is going to be a best man (even more details are given for his duties). And then we learn that the Gore team that he mentioned earlier is, indeed for Al Gore, and that Ruth Bader Ginsberg among others will be at this wedding. What is he doing there indeed? I’m quite excited to read this story.
The Saunders piece is collected (alongside Wallace’s “Incarnations of Burned Children”) in a small anthology edited by Zadie Smith entitled “The Burned Children of America.” I think Moody and possibly also Klam are also represented. There’s also a story in that collection by Julia Slavin that just took my face off. The Franzen excerpt you gloss here must be from The Corrections. At any rate, there’s a Chip in that novel, and a father. And breasts.
Thanks for the heads up Daryl! I’ve been doing some online audio from DFW and have just listened to “Burned Children” from two separate readings and as much as I love DFW I hope to never encounter that story again now. I am psychically scarred.
I’ll certain look for the anthology though. And, yes, I’ve read ahead since posting this and the Franzen excerpt is from The Corrections.
[…] him, and so Klam lives forever in Roth’s official letters. He was placed on The New Yorker’s list of “20 under 40” with people like David Foster Wallace, Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot Díaz, Michael […]