Contributors
The 2005 Fiction Issue An introduction by C. Michael Curtis INTERVIEWS The Man Behind the Stories The Atlantic Monthly's fiction editor discusses short stories, discovering new writers, and his long tenure at the magazine. [Web only]
 *BD* 11 1 86 He wondered what letters of recommendation his teachers were writing for him. What was in the confidential file locked away in the principal's office? by Joyce Carol Oates INTERVIEWS The Art of the Unconscious Joyce Carol Oates talks about modern science, the writing life, and her short story "*BD* 11 1 86." [Web only]How We Avenged the Blums We wanted to do battle with the local Anti-Semite. A school janitor offered commando training by Nathan Englander The House on Kronenstrasse Her mother's last words led to a place Christiane had fled as a child—and where truth lay concealed by Shira Nayman Poor Devil They were, sadly, splitting up and leaving the house they'd shared for eight years. Who knew where a kiss would take them? by Charles Baxter Director's Cut His mother's reappearance was bad enough. Even worse was the documentary she proposed to make by George Singleton Weightlifting for Catholics Harry suddenly wanted to find God. His confessor, a renegade Dominican priest, had problems of his own by Mark Jacobs City Visit The other boys had slammed him against the lockers. Now, in New York, he could buy the experience he wanted by Adam Haslett An Interview With Adam Haslett The lawyer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Haslett talks about his unusual career path and "City Visit," his short story in this issue. [Web only]Tell Them, Please Tell Them Fear slowly consumed Sasha, until terror was all that was left of him by Maximilian Schlaks   Writers and Mentors The author of The Ice Storm and Demonology thinks back to his earliest years as a writer, and the kind of teaching that helped or hindered him by Rick Moody Moral Fiction A distinguished novelist and teacher argues that we should look to serious fiction for moral complexity, not moral certainty by Mary Gordon The Perils of Literary Success Her novel, unexpectedly, became a best seller. Then the fun began by Curtis Sittenfeld INTERVIEWS Write What You Like Curtis Sittenfeld, the author of Prep, on literary page-turners and the problem with too much cleverness [Web only]  Alfred Kazin on Hemingway from June 1964 James Atlas on Disparagement from August 1981 Eudora Welty on the Short Story from February and March 1949 Wallace Stegner on Profanity from March 1965 Edith Wharton on Characters from April 1933 Vladimir Nabokov on Chekhov from August 1981 Saul Bellow on Moralism from March 1963 Charles Dickens on Stardom from April 1877  Seed Packet [with audio] by Brendan Galvin Bus to San Miniato al Monte [with audio] by J. Allyn Rosser The Peasants' Revolt by Billy Collins Errata by Julie Larios Meander by Stanley Plumly Sovereign Joy [with audio] by Rodney Jones The Pianist Upstairs by Erica Funkhouser Cover photograph by Brook Fasani (Photonica) All material copyright © 2005 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved. |