Kristen Roupenian Reads Shirley Jackson

The New Yorker: Fiction

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

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

4.6 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kristen Roupenian joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Afternoon in Linen,” by Shirley Jackson, which appeared in a 1943 issue of the magazine. Roupenian’s début story collection, “You Know You Want This,” was published last year, and was just released in paperback under the title “Cat Person and Other Stories.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Fiction Podcast from the New Yorker magazine.
0:08.0	I'm Debra Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.
0:11.0	Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and discuss.
0:16.0	This month we're going to hear Afternoon in Linnon by Shirley Jackson,
0:21.0	which was published in the New Yorker in September of 1943.
0:25.0	Harriet, Mrs. Linnon, said to the little girl,
0:28.0	what you play for Mrs. Cater, play one of your own little tunes.
0:33.0	I don't know any. The little girl said.
0:36.0	The story was chosen by Kristen Rupenian, whose debut story collection,
0:40.0	You Know You Want This, was published last year,
0:43.0	and was just released in paperback under the title, Cat Person and other stories.
0:48.0	Hi, Kristen.
0:49.0	Hi.
0:50.0	So you knew when we first talked about doing the podcast that you wanted to read a story by Shirley Jackson.
0:55.0	Why was that?
0:57.0	I mean, Shirley Jackson is and has been for years one of my absolutely favorite writers.
1:04.0	It came into my mind as soon as you asked.
1:07.0	And I also knew that she published a lot in the New Yorker and that there was a wider range of stories there.
1:13.0	Then maybe people would know it first.
1:15.0	And so I just was sure that the chance to dive into the archive and find a story by her that would be wonderful in all the ways.
1:23.0	She's always wonderful, but maybe a little bit unexpected.
1:26.0	Right.
	...

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