PATRICIA MARX has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1989. She is a former writer for Saturday Night Live and the author of several books, including the novels Him Her Him Again the End of Him and Starting from Happy (both of which were finalists for the Thurber Prize) and several children’s books, among them Now Everybody Really Hates Me and Meet My Staff.
WILLIAM MATTHEWS (1942–1997) was a poet and essayist whose books include A Happy Childhood and Time & Money, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
PETER MATTHIESSEN is a novelist and nature writer. His books include The Snow Leopard and Shadow Country, both of which won the National Book Award.
LOIS METZGER is the author of several young adult novels, most recently A Trick of the Light.
STEVEN MILLHAUSER is the author of many novels and short-story collections, including Dangerous Laughter, Edwin Mullhouse, and Martin Dressler, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
JOHN MONTAGUE is the author of several books of poetry, including Poisoned Lands and Tides.
PAUL MULDOON, The New Yorker’s poetry editor, has published numerous books of poetry, including The Annals of Chile, which won the T. S. Eliot Prize, and Moy Sand and Gravel, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
HARUKI MURAKAMI is the author of many novels and short-story collections, including Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and 1Q84. His work has been translated into more than forty languages, and his honors include the Franz Kafka Prize and the Jerusalem Prize.
SUSAN ORLEAN began contributing articles and Talk of the Town pieces to The New Yorker in 1987 and became a staff writer in 1992. She is the author of The Orchid Thief, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, My Kind of Place, and Rin Tin Tin.
AMY OZOLS is a writer and producer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
ROBERT PINSKY is a poet whose books include An Explanation of America, Jersey Rain, Gulf Music, The Figured Wheel, and a new book about poetry, Singing School.
J. F. POWERS (1917–1999) was a novelist and short-story writer whose books include Morte d’Urban and Wheat That Springeth Green.
ALASTAIR REID is a poet and translator whose books include Outside In: Selected Prose and Inside Out: Selected Poetry and Translations. He has published celebrated translations of Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda.
JEAN RHYS (1890–1979) was a novelist and short-story writer whose books include Voyage in the Dark, Wide Sargasso Sea, and Good Morning, Midnight.
SELMA ROBINSON (1899–1977) was a poet and short-story writer who began contributing to The New Yorker in 1926.
KAY RYAN has published seven volumes of poetry, including The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, Elephant Rocks, Say Uncle, and The Niagara River. She was the United States poet laureate from 2008 to 2010.
DAVID SCHICKLER is a screenwriter and author. His books include the novels Kissing in Manhattan and Sweet and Vicious, and The Dark Path, a memoir. He won an O. Henry Award for his story “The Smoker.”
SUSAN SHEEHAN has written for The New Yorker since 1961. Her books include Ten Vietnamese and Is There No Place on Earth for Me?, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
TOM SLEIGH is a poet, essayist, and dramatist. His books include The Chain, Space Walk, and Army Cats.
GEORGE STEINER began writing for The New Yorker in 1966 and has contributed more than two hundred reviews to the magazine. His many books include The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., In Bluebeard’s Castle, After Babel, and Real Presences.
ROBERT SULLIVAN began contributing to The New Yorker in 1991. He is the author of several books, including Rats, The Meadowlands, The Whale Hunt, and My American Revolution.
BERNARD TAPER was a staff writer for The New Yorker for thirty-nine years. He is the author of several books, including Balanchine: A Biography and Cellist in Exile: A Portrait of Pablo Casals.
JAMES THURBER (1894–1961) joined The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor and writer; his cartoons began to appear there four years later. His books include two children’s classics—The 13 Clocks and The Wonderful O—and an autobiography, My Life and Hard Times.
JOHN UPDIKE (1932–2009) contributed fiction, poetry, essays, and criticism to The New Yorker for half a century. He published twenty-three novels, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, and seventeen books of short stories, eight collections of poetry, five children’s books, a memoir, and a play.
SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER (1893–1978) was a novelist, short-story writer, and poet. She published thirty books, including Lolly Willowes and Summer Will Show.
E. B. WHITE (1899–1985) joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927. He wrote the children’s classics Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and was awarded an honorary Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his work as a whole.
WALLACE WHITE began contributing to The New Yorker in 1960 and wrote more than 150 pieces for the magazine over the next three decades.
THOMAS WHITESIDE (1918–1997) joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1950 and worked at the magazine for forty-one years. He published eleven books, including The Blockbuster Complex.
FRANZ WRIGHT is a poet whose books include F, Going North in Winter, God’s Silence, and Walking to Martha’s Vineyard, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
(illustration credit 25.0)
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
col5.1: Pierre Le-Tan
col6.1: Ronald Searle
p01.1: J. J. Sempé
2.2: Ronald Searle
3.2: Jules Feiffer
3.3: Landon Nordeman
3.4: Mark Ulriksen
col8.1: Emily Shur
col8.2: Sylvia Townsend Warner Archive, Dorset County Museum, U.K.
4.2–4.3: Sylvia Townsend Warner Archive, Dorset County Museum, U.K.
6.3–6.9: Anthony Taber
6.19: Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu
6.20: Ronald Searle
p02.1: Charles E. Martin
8.3: Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu
8.8: William Steig
9.4: J. J. Sempé
10.5: William Steig
11.5: Aaron Birnbaum
12.2: J. J. Sempé
12.5: Gahan Wilson
p03.1: Deborah Ross
13.8: Saul Steinberg
14.2: Ana Juan
15.5: Charles Addams
15.8: Bruce Davidson/Magnum
col19.3–col19.6: Anthony Taber
col19.7: Mark Peckmezian
18.5: André François
p04.1: J. J. Sempé
20.4: Saul Steinberg
21.2: Peter Stemmler
21.3: Galley page of “Tooth and Claw” by T. Coraghessan Boyle.
21.5: Garrett Price
23.4: William Steig
25.2: André François
Cartoons by Charles Addams (6.16, 9.5), Harry Bliss (18.4), George Booth (8.7, 8.8, col13.2–col13.3, 14.5), Roz Chast (20.9, 25.9), Frank Cotham (9.3, 23.3), Leo Cullum (col4.1, 10.3, 21.6, 21.8), Joe Dator (7.4, 14.2), Eldon Dedini (10.5, 19.5), Liza Donnelly (15.6), J. C. Duffy (19.4), Ed Fisher (15.6), Ed Frascino (20.10), Alex Gregory (8.3, col20.2), Sam Gross (6.2, 7.5, 8.5, 13.2, 20.11, 21.4, 25.8), William Hamilton (18.6), J. B. Handelsman (22.2), Bruce Eric Kaplan (19.2, 25.6), Edward Koren (7.3), Arnie Levin (13.7, 21.7, 25.4), Lee Lorenz (14.5), Robert Mankoff (1.4, 8.5, 9.6), Henry Martin (12.4, 14.6), Paul Noth (18.3), Donald Reilly (7.6), Mischa Richter (3.5), Victoria Roberts (13.6), Bernard Schoenbaum (6.18), Danny Shanahan (7.6, 20.12), Edward Sorel (col15.2), William Steig (1.2), Saul Steinberg (col3.1, 5.2, 25.0), Mick Stevens (1.3, 3.6, 12.2, 15.4, 25.2), James Stevenson (16.2), Mike Twohy (toc.1, 19.3), Dean Vietor (col19.2), Robert Weber (17.2, 18.2, 23.2), Christopher Weyant (2.3), Shannon Wheeler (8.2), Gahan Wilson (25.7), Jack Ziegler (6.15, 6.17, 13.4, 25.3)
Spot art by Christoph Abbrederis, Peter Arkle, Tom Bachtell, George Booth, Pierre Clemente, Jules Feiffer, André François, Olaf Hajek, E
dward Koren, Pascal Lemaître, Jacques Loustal, Daniel Maja, Mariscal, Ever Meulen, Mr. Bingo, Filip Pagowski, Gary Panter, Philippe Petit-Roulet, Emmanuel Pierre, Quickhoney, Robert Risko, Deborah Ross, Ronald Searle, J. J. Sempé, Otto Soglow, Edward Sorel, William Steig, Saul Steinberg, Anders Wenngren, Gahan Wilson
Click here to return to main image.
Here, with an analysis of Socks’ first weeks in office, is R. W. Cat, chief pundit of the Washington Pet Corps.
THE HONEYMOON MAY BE OVER FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL CAT IF A STORY OF A GIFT OF TWO TONS OF KITTY LITTER TO THE WHITE HOUSE BY TOMMY BOGGS IS CONFIRMED. EARLY DENIALS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWED BY A CLARIFICATION THAT THE KITTY LITTER IN QUESTION WAS LITTLE MORE THAN A TON AND DONATED BY A DETROIT USED-CAT DEALER. A SOURCE CLOSE TO SOCKS INSISTED THAT NO BREACH OF ETHICS IS INVOLVED BUT, BECAUSE OF THE MEDIA FLAP, SOCKS INTENDS TO RETURN THE LITTER. JUST WHEN THE MATTER SEEMED TO BE LAID TO REST, IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE LITTER DONOR IS PRESENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR CATS EVASION AND KITTY PORN. RESPONDING TO CHARGES OF WAFFLING ON CAMPAIGN PLEDGES TO KEEP CLEAN, A SPOKESKITTEN FOR THE FIRST FELINE HISSED, “THIS IS UGLY, UNADORNED SOCKSISM.”
Click here to return to main image.
Click here to return to main image.
DIARY OF A CAT
TODAY
Today I got some food in a bowl. It was great! I slept some, too.
TODAY
Played with yarn. Got some food in a bowl. Had a good nap.
TODAY
Slept, food, yarn. Fun!
TODAY
I played with a shoelace. Ate, slept. A good day.
TODAY
Slept. Ate some food. Yum.
TODAY
Food in a bowl. Yarn galore. Dozed for quite a while.
TODAY
Had a good nap. Then food in a bowl. Then yarn.
Roz Chast
Click here to return to main image.