{"id":30117,"date":"2012-04-20T09:15:08","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T13:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=30117"},"modified":"2012-04-20T10:44:27","modified_gmt":"2012-04-20T14:44:27","slug":"just-gotta-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Gotta Say&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-30118\" title=\"2002\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002-184x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"184\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002-184x300.jpg 184w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg 376w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a>Nothing against <em>Swamplandia!<\/em> or <em>The Pale King<\/em>, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s <em>Train Dreams<\/em>, the novella that appeared in our Summer 2002 issue. That would have been our first Pulitzer! As it is, it\u2019s our first Pulitzer nomination. <em>Train Dreams<\/em> made its original appearance alongside fiction by Aleksandar Hemon and Mary Robison, interviews with<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/interviews\/393\/the-art-of-fiction-no-173-ian-mcewan\"> Ian McEwan<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/interviews\/392\/the-art-of-fiction-no-172-louis-begley\">Louis Begley<\/a>, plus a radio play by Rick Moody &#8230; and we have <a href=\"http:\/\/store.theparisreview.org\/products\/the-paris-review-no-162\">a few copies<\/a> in mint condition. <a href=\"http:\/\/store.theparisreview.org\/products\/the-paris-review-no-162\">Buy yours <\/a>while supplies last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train Dreams, the novella that appeared in our Summer 2002 issue. That would have been our first Pulitzer! As it is, it\u2019s our first Pulitzer nomination. Train Dreams made its original appearance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2559],"tags":[7182,154,2530,3990,1800,2657,2280,1267,3217,3944],"class_list":["post-30117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin","tag-aleksandar-hemon","tag-david-foster-wallace","tag-denis-johnson","tag-ian-mcewan","tag-karen-russell","tag-louis-begley","tag-mary-robison","tag-pulitzer-prize","tag-rick-moody","tag-train-dreams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Just Gotta Say... by Lorin Stein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"April 20, 2012 \u2013 Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just Gotta Say... by Lorin Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April 20, 2012 \u2013 Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-20T13:15:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-04-20T14:44:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"376\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lorin Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lorin Stein\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lorin Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ccd66e9829fecb87371ce574d778e34b\"},\"headline\":\"Just Gotta Say&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-20T13:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-20T14:44:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\"},\"wordCount\":97,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002-184x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aleksandar Hemon\",\"David Foster Wallace\",\"Denis Johnson\",\"Ian McEwan\",\"Karen Russell\",\"Louis Begley\",\"Mary Robison\",\"Pulitzer Prize\",\"Rick Moody\",\"Train Dreams\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bulletin\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\",\"name\":\"Just Gotta Say... by Lorin Stein\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002-184x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-20T13:15:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-20T14:44:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"April 20, 2012 \u2013 Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg\",\"width\":\"376\",\"height\":\"610\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Just Gotta Say&#8230;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ccd66e9829fecb87371ce574d778e34b\",\"name\":\"Lorin Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/336124c76cd6e539d4400e8b6c72da18130705594d9fe99e18f431d949440f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/336124c76cd6e539d4400e8b6c72da18130705594d9fe99e18f431d949440f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lorin Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/lstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Just Gotta Say... by Lorin Stein","description":"April 20, 2012 \u2013 Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Just Gotta Say... by Lorin Stein","og_description":"April 20, 2012 \u2013 Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2012-04-20T13:15:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-04-20T14:44:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":376,"height":610,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lorin Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lorin Stein"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/"},"author":{"name":"Lorin Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ccd66e9829fecb87371ce574d778e34b"},"headline":"Just Gotta Say&#8230;","datePublished":"2012-04-20T13:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-20T14:44:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/"},"wordCount":97,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002-184x300.jpg","keywords":["Aleksandar Hemon","David Foster Wallace","Denis Johnson","Ian McEwan","Karen Russell","Louis Begley","Mary Robison","Pulitzer Prize","Rick Moody","Train Dreams"],"articleSection":["Bulletin"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/","name":"Just Gotta Say... by Lorin Stein","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002-184x300.jpg","datePublished":"2012-04-20T13:15:08+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-20T14:44:27+00:00","description":"April 20, 2012 \u2013 Nothing against Swamplandia! or The Pale King, but we can\u2018t help wishing the Pulitzer Board had gotten its act together\u2014and chosen Denis Johnson\u2019s Train","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/2002.jpg","width":"376","height":"610"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/20\/just-gotta-say\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Just Gotta Say&#8230;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ccd66e9829fecb87371ce574d778e34b","name":"Lorin Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/336124c76cd6e539d4400e8b6c72da18130705594d9fe99e18f431d949440f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/336124c76cd6e539d4400e8b6c72da18130705594d9fe99e18f431d949440f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lorin Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/lstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30117"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30133,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30117\/revisions\/30133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}