Margalit Fox on Life, Death, and the Best Job in Journalism

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2016

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The stereotypical obituary is a formulaic recitation of facts — dry, boring, and without craft. But Margalit Fox has shown the genre can produce some of the most memorable and moving stories in journalism. Exploiting its “pure narrative arc,” Fox has penned over 1,200 obituaries, covering well-known and obscure subjects with equal aplomb.

In her conversation with Tyler Cowen, Fox reveals not only the process for writing an obituary, but her thoughts on life, death, storytelling, puzzle-solving, her favorite cellist, and how it came to be that an economist sang opera 86 times at the Met.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:08.4	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:12.5	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:15.2	And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit
0:20.4	ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.
0:24.6	Today I am with Margulite Fox at Chelsea Market.
0:27.9	One of my readers wrote to me about Margulite, quote,
0:31.0	she is by far the best writer of amongst all those employed by the New York Times.
0:36.5	She is arguably the most humorous writer, has the best sense of irony and the most inventive
0:41.7	writer.
0:42.7	She is in fact one of the main writers of obituaries for the New York Times.
0:47.2	She also has written very well-reviewed books as a book coming out about historical true
0:52.3	crime in Edwardian England.
0:54.7	And I'm here to talk with Margoli Talks.
0:57.6	Welcome.
0:58.6	Thank you very much Tyler.
1:00.2	The fact that you write obituaries makes you especially interesting.
1:04.8	And my first question has to do with human lives.
1:07.5	How well do you feel family and friends actually know a person?
1:11.5	You get to know them fairly well when you write there a bit.
1:14.9	How well do others know them?
1:16.3	Those closest to them.
	...

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