I read because of short stories like “Here We Aren’t, So Quickly,” by Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s from the June 14/21, 2010 issue of The New Yorker–the “20 under 40″ issue (20 stories by 20 of the best new writers under 40; 8 stories in this issue, the other 12 to follow, one at a time, in the next 12 issues).
I don’t know what “Here We Aren’t, So Quickly” is, exactly. I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s literary pointillism. It’s a collage of sentences that feel like sinkholes but somehow bleed into each other to create a picture that couldn’t been realized any other way. It’s a picture made up of pictures–and it’s a thing of beauty.
Unfortunately, you can’t access it online unless you subscribe, but here’s the link: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/covers/2010. This story, by itself, is worth subscribing (or at the very least, picking up the 20-under-40 issue from your local bookstore).
Here’s a link to some interesting background on the story from another blog: http://may-on-the-short-story.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-yorkers-20-under-40-rivka-galchen.html.
O.K., Brent. So much for appreciation of those other guys under 40. How about a short story from you? Pointillist or not, I’ll read it. MM