Monday, January 3, 2011

Don't Miss "Getting Closer"

In this issue of  The New Yorker: a gorgeous story, "Getting Closer," by Stephen Millhauser.
I admire Millhauser's fiction...he is a fabulist and a minaturist--totally unique voice--nobody writes like him.

This story is rather short, but every sentence glitters with hard beauty like a jewel. And such suspense! You know something is going to happen, something important.

The idea of time--the mind's concept of time-- is explored beautifully through a young boy's ordinary afternoon at his family's picnic.

Satori, the Zen Buddhist term for a flash of sudden awareness--that's what this character experiences.

An excerpt:


Everything has led up to this moment. No, wrong, he isn’t there yet. The moment’s just ahead of him. This is the time before the waiting stops and he crosses over into what he’s been waiting for.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2011/01/03/110103fi_fiction_millhauser#ixzz19ywZwRdj
Posted by Mindy Friddle at 9:37 AM
Labels: ,

2 comments:

  1. Laura J. Wellner (author pseudonym Laura J. W. Ryan)January 3, 2011 at 3:20 PM

    I have loved Millhauser's work since I discovered Enchanted Night, there's something so magical about his writing, I love it. (I haven't gotten my New Yorker yet this week, but it's only Monday!)

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MindyJanuary 3, 2011 at 9:27 PM

    Happy New Year!
    For me it was MARTIN DRESSLER. Wow.
    And I just read where Millhouser's work of late "addresses Buddhist themes..." Cool.

    Best,
    Mindy

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
eXTReMe Tracker