{"id":149115,"date":"2020-11-16T13:30:37","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T18:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=149115"},"modified":"2020-11-16T13:30:37","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T18:30:37","slug":"the-art-of-distance-no-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/11\/16\/the-art-of-distance-no-34\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Distance No. 34"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March,<\/em>\u00a0The Paris Review\u00a0launched<\/em>\u00a0The Art of Distance, a newsletter highlighting unlocked archive pieces that resonate with the staff of<\/em>\u00a0the magazine<\/em>, quarantine-appropriate writing on the<\/em>\u00a0Daily, resources from our peer organizations,<\/em>\u00a0and more. Read Emily Nemens\u2019s introductory letter\u00a0here<\/a>, and find the latest unlocked archive selections below.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re heading toward winter, which in the book world means prize season is upon us. There won\u2019t be banquets and after-parties this year, but these awards do afford book lovers the opportunity to look back on something other than politics and COVID<\/small>\u2014and to reflect on books that have helped us understand and weather this tumultuous era. This past week, Souvankham Thammavongsa was named the winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, which celebrates the best of English-language Canadian fiction. Among its past winners are many who, like Thammavongsa, have graced the pages of<\/em> The Paris Review. This week\u2019s The Art of Distance joins in the celebration by unlocking interviews with and stories by Giller honorees as well as other notable Canadian writers. Happy reading, and stay safe.\u201d \u2014Craig Morgan Teicher, Digital Director<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mavis Gallant. Photo courtesy of Mavis Gallant.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mavis Gallant, who spent much of her life in France, was very much a world citizen. But when asked about her home in the Art of Fiction no. 160<\/a>, she said, \u201cI am a writer and, of course, a Canadian.\u201d There\u2019s much more here about writing and traveling and the tether that binds an artist to a place. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Giller winner is How to Pronounce Knife<\/em><\/a>, the debut story collection by Souvankham Thammavongsa, whose work delves deep into the immigrant experience. Her story \u201cThe Gas Station<\/a>,\u201d which appears in the book, was first published in the Spring 2019 issue.<\/p>\n

The Nobel laureate Alice Munro<\/a> has won the Giller twice, most recently in 2004, for Runaway<\/em><\/a>. In the Art of Fiction no. 137<\/a>, Munro explains that ideas for her stories are almost overabundant: \u201cI never have a problem with finding material. I wait for it to turn up, and it always turns up.\u201d Although the Review<\/em> didn\u2019t publish anything from Munro\u2019s two Giller-winning collections, her story \u201cSpaceships Have Landed<\/a>\u201d appeared in the Summer 1994 issue.<\/p>\n

The Haitian-born, Montreal-based writer Dany Laferri\u00e8re speaks in the Art of Fiction no. 237<\/a> about how politics has been threaded through his sense of the world from an early age and how political concerns have never been separate from his writing: \u201cPolitics are pivotal to all of us, especially those who spend their childhood under a dictatorship. My childhood had a lot to do with dictatorship, with power, with the effects of power on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Atwood<\/a>\u2019s novel Alias Grace<\/em><\/a> was the 1996 Giller winner. A few years earlier, in the Art of Fiction no. 121<\/a>, the ever-adventurous writer said that \u201cevery novel is\u2014at the beginning\u2014the same opening of a door onto a completely unknown space.\u201d After you\u2019ve read the interview, feel free to explore Atwood\u2019s story \u201cBodily Harm<\/a>,\u201d which was first published in the Fall 1981 issue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sign up\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to receive a fresh installment of The Art of Distance in your inbox every Monday<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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