New Fiction by Cynthia Ozick—Proust and the Sex Rats—Joyce Carol Oates

Plus: What did COVID do to friendship? View in browser | Update your preferences Fiction “The Coast of New Zealand” “According to the Pact, its adherents were obliged to disperse immediately after the completion of the proceedings of the reunion.” By Cynthia Ozick This Week in Fiction Cynthia Ozick on Never-Never Lands The author discusses “The Coast of New Zealand,” her story from the latest issue of the magazine. By Deborah Treisman Fiction “Great Experiment” If you liked “The Coast of New Zealand,” we think you will enjoy this story, from 2008. By Jeffrey Eugenides PAID POST The New Yorker’s Will McPhail Welcomes You “IN.” “Will McPhail draws sensitively and with impeccable emotional precision. In ‘IN.,’ he has created a hilarious, touching, infinitely surprising world.”—Liana Finck, author of “Passing for Human: A Graphic Memoir” Essays & Criticism Dept. of Returns What Did COVID Do to Friendship? The pandemic reoriented our economy of attention, redefining the limits of who and what we could care about. By Jane Hu Cultural Comment Proust and the Sex Rats A modest investigation into whether the French writer indulged in an unusual fetish. By Adam Gopnik On This Day A Critic at Large The Unruly Genius of Joyce Carol Oates In an era that fetishizes form, Oates—who was born eighty-three years ago today—has become America’s preëminent fiction writer by doing everything you’re not supposed to do. By Leo Robson More from The New Yorker Letter from Silicon Valley Does Tech Need a New Narrative? In Silicon Valley, “disruption” is giving way to “building.” What will be built? By Anna Wiener Onward and Upward in the Garden My Delusional, Wonderful Recipe Book The old blue binder is an artifact containing scraps of my former self. By Charlotte Mendelson You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for Books & Fiction from The New Yorker. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.