The Paris Review, Issue 241, Fall 2022

by Emily Stokes (Editor)

Terrance Hayes on the Art of Poetry: “A poem can give you a map for a certain kind of desire. Sometimes writing poems leads you to where you need to be.”

Helen Garner on the Art of Fiction: “I’ve always known that the family is where everything is played out. The most crucial things happen within families—those patterns of behavior are huge forces.”

Prose by Maya Binyam, Nancy Lemann, Sam Pink, Katherine Dunn, Michelle de Kretser, and Christian Kracht.

Poetry by Ben Lerner, Diane Seuss, David Orr, Debora Lidov, Stephen Ira, and Keith Hollaman.

Art by Louise Lawler and Christine Sun Kim.

Cover by Danielle Orchard.

Genres: Poetry, Short Stories, Fiction

215 pages, Perfectbound

First published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Amie]

This was one of the best issues of the Paris Review ever for me. I really truly loved every single story. I would read them all again. Both interviews great. Yeah, this was just one of my favorite issues.

[Lucas Gelfond · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/rounding up, really good, got me out of a bit of a reading rut — had never read a paris review issue all the way through, and there’s a super nice rhythm between prose / poetry / art / interviews here that makes it super readable in addition to just really striking examples of each. favorites were prob the two art of fiction essays and michelle de kretser’s “winter term.” only real takeway is that - I think the paris review has probably always been perceived as upmarket but I was pretty surprised by how explicit/readable that is - I am thinking about a tweet a few months back re the avg age/salary of NYRB readers, and (similarly) both the ads in here (hermes, gagosian, etc) and some of the editorial choices (one of the stories continues to rag on “dismal bourgeois culture” that the author obviously comes from) seem to support this sort of imagined audience


anyways, this didn’t change that i liked virtually everything in here / this is def some of the highest hit rate-per-piece of recent collections i’ve read (bonus points for getting me to stop midway through to write!) good stuff / recommend

[Adrian Doan · Rating 4 out of 5]

incredible prose. all them seemed to be some blend of auto fiction, journalistic writing, post modern fiction. Personal. Often first person. Enjoyed the interview with Helen Garner. Couple good poems.

[Katie Martin]

Highlights

Prose

Do You Belong to Anybody? by Maya Binyam
The Gold Coast by Christian Kracht


Interviews

The Art of Fiction No. 255 - Helen Garner

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good work, all but the last story was good, the last story wasn't for me.

[Christina]

Highlights
Diary of Remorse, the rooster story, hand washing poem, Terrence Hayes

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kracht’s story was incredible. Eilbert’s poem was refreshing. Diary of Remorse I found to be insipid.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good I’m excited to renew my subscription!

[Kamran Sehgal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This issue was seriously overloaded with greatness. Definitely an issue to savour!

[angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

faves: do you belong to anybody? (maya binyam), the ceremony (sam pink), terrance hayes interview

kinda meh issue

[Kurishin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are they trying to go an edgier direction with the short stories and a more conservative direction with the poetry? I couldn't get through/skipped chunks of multiple short stories. The hit rate is too low in my opinion. And the poetry is better but can't cover for those chunks missing. There wasn't a play in this issue!