The Paris Review, Issue 231, Winter 2019

by Emily Nemens (Editor)

George Saunders on the Art of Fiction: "It's important to critique the way we live, because America is a really frightening construct that’s eating people every day." Rae Armantrout on the Art of Poetry: "When I write about climate change, I tend to write about the ways we try to escape from it in fantasy, the ways we fool ourselves."

Fiction by Emma Cline, Taylor Koekkoek, Fernanda Melchor, Willa C. Richards, and Kathryn Scanlan.

Poetry by Antonella Anedda, Rae Armantrout, Kamau Brathwaite, Jacob Bromberg, Jeff Fearnside, Emily Fragos, Sarah Green, Sylvia Legris, Gorges Perec, Aaron Poochigian, Tomas Unger, William Wadsworth, and Jeffrey Yang.

Nonfiction by Molly McCully Brown. A portfolio by Dave Hardy, with an essay by Elena Passarello. A correspondence between Helen Frankenthaler and James Schulyer.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Literature, Short Stories

220 pages, Perfectbound

First published December 1, 2019

About the author

Emily Nemens’s debut novel, The Cactus League, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and named one of NPR’s and Lit Hub’s favorite books of 2020. Her stories have appeared in BOMB, The Gettysburg Review, n+1, and elsewhere; her illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker and in collaboration with Harvey Pekar. Nemens spent over a decade editing literary quarterlies, including leading The Paris Review and serving as co-editor and prose editor of The Southern Review. She held the 2022–23 Picador Professorship (University of Leipzig) and teaches in the MFA program at Bennington College. She lives in central New Jersey with her husband and dog.

Reviews

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful selection of short prose and poetry. A beautifully intellectual journal which is designed to be aesthetically pleasing while revealing a dedication to good literature that is truely astounding. I'm so glad I've subscribed this year!

[Schaza Askar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jonathan Grim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The interviews in this edition were outstanding and one poem was memorable for me. Besides that, not a whole lot to recommend. I feel like a lot of short stories that end up in The Paris Review feature some sort of ham-fisted edgy writings about sex and sexuality. I'm not against writings that explore the topic, but most found here are unnecessary to the plots of the stories themselves.

[Raffael Hirt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the poems of this and pthe previous few issues failed to move me, I really liked the interviews and the stories, particularly "The Nanny" and "Dirtnap," as well ad the short prose piece "If You Are Permanently Lost."

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naturally very good po rose and poetry. Interviews this month were very engaging. Sorry I couldn't savor it longer, my commute us 1.5 hours to work each day.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid issue. On the whole it worked a little better for me than the last, was perhaps grounded more. Nice stuff.

[Kurishin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening stories by Emma Cline and Will C. Richards were excellent, as was the George Saunders interview.
I continue to struggle with the poetry.

[Eric Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection for winter 2019.

[Tacodisc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent interview with George Saunders.

[Ellie Botoman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5