Andrew O'Hagan Reads Edna O'Brien

The New Yorker: Fiction

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Yorker, Wnyc, Literature, Books, New, Fiction, Arts

4.6 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2015

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Andrew O'Hagan joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss Edna O'Brien's "The Widow," from a 1989 issue of the magazine.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Fiction Podcast from the New Yorker magazine.
0:07.0	I'm Debra Treesman, Fiction Editor at The New Yorker.
0:11.0	Each month we invite a writer to choose a story
0:13.0	from the magazine's archives to read and discuss.
0:16.0	This month we're going to hear Edna O'Brien's story, The Widow,
0:19.0	which was published in The New Yorker in 1989.
0:22.0	You may ask, as the Post-Mistres had asked,
0:26.0	the Post-Mistres are swarm enemy.
0:29.0	Why have Venetian blinds drawn at all times,
0:32.0	winter and summer, daylight and dark?
0:35.0	What is Bridget trying to hide?
0:38.0	The story was chosen by Andrew O'Hagen,
0:40.0	who is the author of five novels,
0:42.0	including Our Fathers, Be Near Me,
0:44.0	and This Year's The Illuminations.
0:46.0	His story, Foreigners, was published in the New Yorker in 2004.
0:50.0	Hi, Andrew.
0:51.0	Hi.
0:52.0	So tell me first, why did you choose a story by Edna O'Brien
0:55.0	to read for the podcast?
0:57.0	This is possibly the best story about small town gossip
1:01.0	that I've ever encountered.
	...

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