New Fiction by Lorrie Moore — Joan Didion’s Perfect Prose — A Lost Interview with James Baldwin

Plus: Bob Woodward’s “Rage,” and a short story from the archive by John L’Heureux. View in browser | Update your preferences Fiction “Face Time” “He was clearly hallucinating, agitated, imagining he was a prisoner of war; that was what it must have felt like to him—the cruel isolation, the medicine, the lights, the strange machines all around.” By Lorrie Moore This Week in Fiction Lorrie Moore on Bearing Witness to Suffering The author discusses “Face Time,” her story from this week’s issue of the magazine. By Deborah Treisman Fiction “The Escape” If you liked “Face Time,” we think you will enjoy this story, from 2019. By John L’Heureux Newsletters Sign Up for The New Yorker’s Movie Club Newsletter Reviews of the current cinema, plus recommendations for classics and underrated treasures available on streaming services, every Friday. Page-Turner The Perfect Prose of a Joan Didion Photo Caption The caption, in the August 1, 1965, issue of American Vogue, sounds like Didion in its rhythm, care, and thrift, and also in its swerve toward something more troubling or mysterious. By Brian Dillon Essays & Criticism Page-Turner Freedom Day, 1963: A Lost Interview with James Baldwin After Baldwin’s biographer died, her niece opened an old desk drawer and discovered a trove of interview material, some of it unpublished. By Fern Marja Eckman Page-Turner Bob Woodward’s Bad Characters “Rage” and the Trump White House. By Isaac Chotiner More from The New Yorker Annals of Psychology The Public-Shaming Pandemic Around the world, people who accidentally spread the coronavirus must face both a dangerous illness and an onslaught of online condemnation. By D. T. Max Dept. of Nutrition The Race to Redesign Sugar Forget artificial sweeteners. Researchers are now developing new forms of real sugar, to deliver sweetness with fewer calories. But tricking our biology is no easy feat. By Nicola Twilley This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To insure delivery, we recommend adding newyorker@newsletters.newyorker.com, to your contacts, while noting that it is a no-reply address. Please send all newsletter feedback to tnyinbox@newyorker.com. For more from The New Yorker, sign up for our newsletters, shop the store, and sign in to newyorker.com, where subscribers always have unlimited access. Contact us with questions. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.