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The New Yorker: Fiction

Sam Lipsyte Reads James Purdy

The New Yorker: Fiction

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

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

4.63.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2015

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sam Lipsyte joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss James Purdy’s “About Jessie Mae,” from a 1957 issue of the magazine.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the New Yorker Fiction Podcast from the New Yorker magazine.

0:05.0

I'm Deborah Treesman, Fiction Editor at the New Yorker.

0:08.0

Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and discuss.

0:13.0

This month we're going to hear James Purdy's story about Jesse May,

0:17.0

which was published in the New Yorker in 1957.

0:20.0

I love to come to your house, Mardel-Tolder.

0:23.0

20 odd years ago, before she married and had children,

0:27.0

as a child herself, she had visited Mrs. Hemlock

0:30.0

and had enjoyed her cookies and cakes, her homemade ices and tarts.

0:35.0

But I can't understand Jesse May's being that untidy, Mrs. Hemlock said.

0:41.0

The story was chosen by Sam Lipside, who's the author of three novels and two story collections,

0:46.0

including the fun parts which came out in 2012.

0:49.0

His own fiction has been appearing in the New Yorker since 2010.

0:52.0

Hi, Sam.

0:53.0

Hi, Deborah.

0:54.0

So, if you've been a longtime fan of James Purdy,

0:57.0

what made you think of choosing his story for the podcast?

1:00.0

Well, I am a longtime fan.

1:02.0

I think I first came across him in my early 20s and became a great fan of the short stories

1:11.0

that appeared in a book called, in America, Color of Darkness.

1:15.0

I read stories like Daddy Wolf and don't call me by my right name and the lesson.

1:23.0

And of course, a famous work of his called, 63 Dream Palace.

...

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