One of the best purchases I ever made was a subscription at The New Yorker. I did it mainly because I wanted to read all that David Sedaris ever published in the New Yorker. If you don’t know David Sedaris, here is a one of his essays that I guarantee it will make you laugh.
But I discovered the archive, with all the issues since 1925. My curiosity felt a hype. Mainly because I have a theory that whatever we consider now as being original or fashionable was actually very well covered (and in most cases better) in the past. I am not saying it is a bad thing what is happening now, I am just saying that maybe we should accept that we are all copy paste(rs) to a certain extent and live with it.
Anyways, back to The New Yorker - Feb 21,1925 issue:
Short Story Scenarios
I have not the inclination nor the ability to write fiction. I was about to say that I hadn’t the time; but this is the greatest fiction there is, for I waste enough time in a year, telling my fiction writing friends, plots, to write two long novels and ten short stories myself.
As you can see, time was wasted outside social media, also. Nothing original in our pity party.
Art.
Since we are talking about The New Yorker, of course I have to mention Saul Steinberg, the Romanian- American that worked with The New Yorker for 50 years. He described himself as “ a writer who draws”. Loved it.
One of his famous work (and one of the most iconic magazine covers - March 29th, 1976 cover of The New Yorker) is “View of the World from 9th Avenue”. Funny how a New Yorker views the world: