15 replies to this topic

[Rail Paul]

A senior at princeton University's department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering has analyzed 442 stories published in TNY and determined being a white male writing fiction about white males greatly improves the chances of being published.

The NY Times reports Katherine L. Milkeman created a series of analytical engines which determined the (largely male) editors of TNY tend to consistently select male writers (63%), who write about Christian characters (56%), on the topics of sex, children and travel (about 35%). The Times notes female editors were about as welcome at The New Yorker as they'd be at Augusta National Golf club. That seems unfair to me. TNY regularly publishes Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lampari, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Proulx, etc. Bill Buford's writers seemed more interested in sex (or maybe Buford was more interested) than Charles McGrath's writers were, the article says.

The New Yorker

Edited by Rail Paul, 02 June 2004 - 01:34 PM.

[jinmyo]

The fiction and poetry are the only things in the New Yorker I don't read.


Oh, and the occasional pieces on baseball and the like.

[Ron Johnson]

The fiction and poetry are the only things in the New Yorker I don't read.

That's a shame because the New Yorker regularly publishes some of the best short fiction in the world.

[jinmyo]

I know but I just don't read fiction any more.

I've lost my taste for "stories" about fifteen years ago or more.

I'll occasionally read a new science fiction novel if it's by two or three authors because that's only the waste of an hour or so. But I haven't done that for over a year.

I've tried to read a Murakami short story in the NYer but I was bored with it before I got two pages in. I noticed that I was flipping to find the end of the story so I knew how many pages I had to go and decided that if I was doing that already there was no point in reading it.

[omnivorette]

Jin, have you heard about "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki?

[hollywood]

There's something flawed in this analysis. Most magazines not published solely for women are probably susceptible to similar complaints. But thinking about it, over the years, The New Yorker has had a female editor in chief, Tina Brown, a long time female film reviewer, Pauline Kael, pubbed Salinger stories--and I think most would agree co-eds are among his biggest fans/readers, printed numerous Ann Beattie stories, subsidized Janet Flanner thru many years in Paris, etc. I think we'd be hard pressed to find a periodical that has encouraged so much good writing (regardless of gender) for so many years, featuring the development and encouragement of so many good female authors. And how many other magazines have printed as many Roz Chast cartoons? No doubt a search engine analysis would determiine that there is proportionally more fiction by females in some publication like Ladies Home Journal or McCalls, but what's the quality level of that writing?
Incidentally, if memory serves me correctly, Ms. Kael was film reviewer for McCalls prior to going to the New Yorker. McCalls booted her for being too opinionated/too many negative reviews, or something to that effect. She appeared to have free rein at the New Yorker.

[jinmyo]

Jin, have you heard about "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki?

Yes, omni, but I forget what I have heard. I think I read some of an excerpt in Kyoto Journal a while ago.

[Rail Paul]

I think we'd be hard pressed to find a periodical that has encouraged so much good writing (regardless of gender) for so many years, featuring the development and encouragement of so many good female authors. And how many other magazines have printed as many Roz Chast cartoons?

I'd agree 100% with this.

Somewhere in the NYT article is the assertion that the change of senior editors (Tina Brown to Gottlieb to Remnick) didn't seem to change the year-in, year-out mix of writers. They didn't have anywhere near the impact on works selected that the actual fiction editors (McGrath and Buford) had.

[galleygirl]

Jin, have you heard about "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki?

Oh god, Omni, I adored that book on so many different levels... :wub:
Loved the contrasts between American and Japanese cultures, loved the notion the japanese had of Americans eating all those huge hunks of meat, loved her relationship traumas, loved her subverting her producers...Did I tell you I enjoyed the book? :D

[omnivorette]

Me too, loved it so much. Was recommended by Cathy and Ali.

Jin - I thought of it in this context because you said you don't read "stories" anymore - and while this is a novel, it is full of exposition of cultural differences, the US meat industry - a lot of stuff going on.

[jinmyo]

Jin - I thought of it in this context because you said you don't read "stories" anymore - and while this is a novel, it is full of exposition of cultural differences, the US meat industry - a lot of stuff going on.

Right then. If I see it, I'll flip through it. Thanks.

Currently enjoying Donald Kagan's "The Peloponnesian War", Anzan Hoshin roshi's "Wild Time" commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Uji" or "Beingtime", and the latest NYer and Atlantic.

[helena]

... but I just don't read fiction any more.

I've lost my taste for "stories" about fifteen years ago or more.

thanks god, i'm in a good company here :)
yes, i was a voracious reader in my formative years (till 35? :rolleyes:) but then i lost interest save for some smart policiers...
I still enjoy the russian poetry for the sheer pleasure of language... and besides it doesn't strain my attention span too much.

[hollywood]

As if in response to the NYT article, the current Fiction Issue of the New Yorker has arrived with lots of fiction authored by women. So there!

[Rail Paul]

As if in response to the NYT article, the current Fiction Issue of the New Yorker has arrived with lots of fiction authored by women.  So there!

I noticed that, as well. I'll have to dig out last year's copies and see how they stack up.

I'm sure the material is selected well in advance, but TNY was probably asked sometime last year to comment on the student's preliminary reports

Edited by Rail Paul, 11 June 2004 - 07:41 PM.

[Wilfrid1]

The research goes back to 1992, and I wonder what the preceding fifty years would show. I have in the back of my mind that quite a number of important women fiction writers were launched at the New Yorker, and wasn't the senior fiction editor for many years a woman? Unfortunately, the Friday afternoon fog has come down, and I am blanking. Katherine Angell?

Beyond that, one critical piece of information is missing from that summary (whether it's in the original research, who knows?). One can't tell whethera story by a male author is more likely to be published than a story by a female author unless one also knows whether a story submitted to the magazine is more likely to be by a male author than a female author.

For example, say a magazine receives 100 submissions every month, on average 5 from women and 95 from men. If the magazine typically publishes 6 stories by male authors every month and 3 by women, women actually stand a much better chance of being published by the magazine than men, even though it looks like the magazine publishes twice as many men.

I thenk yow.