The Paris Review, Issue 213, Summer 2015 by Lorin Stein

The Paris Review, Issue 213, Summer 2015 Reviews

• 
  Shankar

  This has been a great discovery. A potpourri of poems, interviews and stories by contemporary authors. I bought this in a half price book store in St Louis.
  
  Houellebecq, David Szalay...interview with Peevear the translator and his wife.. great perspectives. I understood that translation is as difficult as writing the original. The poems were wonderful ( I guess I am opinionated given my recently acquired vice of poetry).
  
  I initially thought the subscription was expensive. But given the quality of the content is literally heavenly. I am considering biting the bullet and signing up for a 2 year subscription.
  
  Not sure if this qualifies as a book review...but who cares. I liked it. I think you will too. Recommended
• 
  Lou Last

  I'm the recipient of library discards including The Paris Review. I read these for the interviews and return to them repeatedly. This series of interviews eclipse whatever else they accompany here, at times even an author's work for me. I rarely know what to do with the fiction or poetry in an issue, but for some revived thing of the past. I don't know what's wrong with me or with this new writing; possibly it's the encounter in this format.
• 
  Margaret

  Art of Translation #4 & #5 are contained here, and while the fiction is good and all (plus the first part of a new serialized novel), these interviews were the high point.
• 
  Ned

  Really liked the interviews with Peter Cole and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. The former primarily has worked translating Hebraic texts - including those from southern Spain from 1000 plus years ago - into modern day English. The latter have made a career from translating all the great Russian writers, especially Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Gogol. I first read their version of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita some twenty years ago and was swept away.
  
  A couple pieces of short fiction are notable in this issue as well. I especially liked "Voltaire Night" by Deb Olin Unferth. Poetry from Peter Cole, "The Unsure Moralist" and
  "The Curse of Small Creatures" by Iman Mersal I'll return to.
  
  Am really enjoying reading back issues of the Paris Review. The magazine started four issues a year in 1953 and continues today when so many of its kind have fallen away. Its focus began and continues with fiction, Poetry, interviews rather than reviews or criticism and has amassed a huge trove of the best writers from the last eighty years. Amazing to me to get such an insider's varied view of the craft, words, forms, inspirations, publishing, connections among writers, screenwriters, playwrights, novelists, and so many walks of life, the changing attitudes and the history of writing of all kinds. Marvelous. Highly recommended for any writers.
• 
  Penny O

  Probably one of the last Paris Reviews I’ll ever read in my life, this issue being my fourth PR read and I would say the best one out of the four. I enjoyed every fictional piece, the exception being Yeltsin Spotted Abroad in a Bar. I was captivated by Voltaire Night and enjoyed the quips between the translating couple Pevear and Volokhonsky in The Art of Translation No. 4 (these interviews never disappoint!). Koch’s Heavenly Seas is also a treat, the art exudes mystery and hot summer tiredness. Not a fan of poetry but I enjoyed Peter Cole’s The Unsure Moralist the most. Overall, great read, far less of a mixed bag than expected.
• 
  A-ron

  Everyone has heard of The Paris Review, one of the most respected literary journals. I assumed that they'd feature stuffy, dense prose, but I was refreshed to find (considering I bought a subscription) that most of the stories were both well-written and entertaining. I bought this primarily for the interviews and both were excellent and enlightening. If this is an indication to the typical content, I'll be renewing for years to come. Highlights include:
  
  "Submission" by Michel Houellebecq was heartbreaking and at times funny. "Voltaire Night" by Den Olin Unferth about a teacher and her tradition of getting together with her students to tell the worst thing that's happened in their lives.
  "Youth" by David Szalay about a young man (boy)'s life lessons while on holiday alone. I enjoyed the journey and prose, though I feel the plotting was a bit clunky, either over-written or under-written, depending on how you view it.
  "The Things we don't do" by Andres Neuman, which was simply one of the most powerful and lyrical pieces of flash fiction I've ever read.
  "The Throwback Special" by Chris Bachelder about a group of men who get together every year to reenact a football game from 1985 between the Giants and the Redskins. It sound ridiculous because it is. This novel is hoot and knowing I'll get the rest of it makes the whole subscription worth it.
• 
  Ollie

  My favourite pieces in this edition of the Paris Review are Ann Beattie’s story “Yancey” and the interview with translators Pevear & Volokhonsky.
  
  “Yancey” is about an elderly poet and her dog Yancey, and a visit paid to them by a representative of the IRS, investigating whether the room she claims to be her writing office is actually an office. It’s a lovely little short story and it includes a melancholic poem by James Wright towards the end, a poet I didn’t know before.
  
  If you like Russian fiction, you’ll have probably read a translation by Pevear & Volokhosky. Their interview is a glimpse into the couple’s history and working life, and what translating great Russian literature means to them. Very inspiring.
  
• 
  Michael Kitchen

  "Submission" by Michael Houellebecq - 3
  "Voltaire Night" by Deb Olin Unferth -3
  "Youth" by David Szalay -4
  "Yancey" by Ann Beattie - 4
  "The Things We Don't Do" by Andres Neuman - 5
  "Yeltzin Spotted Abroad in a Bar" by Padgett Powell - 1
  "The Throwback Special Part One" by Chris Bachelder - 3
  "B.F. and Me" by Lucia Berlin - 3
  
  Average = 3.25
• 
  Timothy Schirmer

  "Voltaire Night" by Deb Olin Unferth, and "Youth' by David Szalay, are some of the most memorable pieces of fiction I've read in a long, long time. I don't care for the poetry in this issue, or many of the other stories, but God Damn, the two mentioned are really something!
• 
  Kurishin

  Is it becase of the focus on translated fiction that it is better than average or is it simply the quality of the content?
• 
  Jeff

  Art of translation interviews being the highlight
• 
  Troy Ketch

  Read this at the beach. Lived most if the stories. I really enjoyed the first installment of The Throwback Special, too.
• 
  Erika Dreifus

  Read it earlier, but couldn't locate it to record at the time.
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  Brandon Amico

  "Awake in Nanjing" by Xi Chuan is phenomenal.