New Fiction by Paul Theroux—Discovering America’s First Science-Fiction Writer—Henry Adams

Plus: the best movies of 2020, Europe’s last dictatorship, and the fatal flaw of “The Queen’s Gambit.” View in browser | Update your preferences Fiction Dietrologia “He knew what she meant: All this furniture, all these books, the pictures, the vases, the house itself—dispose of it. Then proceed to the unit.” By Paul Theroux This Week in Fiction Paul Theroux on Making Sense of One’s Life The author discusses “Dietrologia,” his story from this week’s issue of the magazine. By Deborah Treisman Fiction “All You Have to Do” If you liked “Dietrologia,” we think you will enjoy this story, from 2015. By Sarah Braunstein Essays & Criticism Page-Turner A Poet Reflects on Europe’s Last Dictatorship Valzhyna Mort’s new book is part of the protest movement in Belarus. It captures, through language, the contours of dissent. By Jennifer Wilson A Critic at Large What Henry Adams Understood About History’s Breaking Points He devoted a lifetime to studying America’s foundation, witnessed its near-dissolution, and uncannily anticipated its evolution. By Dan Chiasson Page-Turner A Quest to Discover America’s First Science-Fiction Writer It’s been two hundred years since America’s first sci-fi novel was published. But who wrote it? By Paul Collins More from The New Yorker Culture Desk The Fatal Flaw of “The Queen’s Gambit” The Netflix series copies virtually everything from Walter Tevis’s novel, apart from its central tension. By Sarah Miller 2020 in Review The Best Movies of 2020 None of these thirty-six films has made a difference in the nation’s crises this year—but inner truth of experience and authenticity of emotion are, in and of themselves, cleansing to a defiled mediasphere. By Richard Brody 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.