This must be weird story month in The New Yorker. The Millhauser allegory was odd enough, but now we’ve got Calvino and the wooly mammoths. (A rock band?) Anyway, it seems that the moon is old and dying, but it isn’t the first time. The current rise of life on the planet is just the latest; there was another time when cities much like the current cities were built and people disposed of goods without thought. Their moon was dying, too, and eventually, because it grew ugly and ragged, the people threw it on the trash heap. Except the Daughters of the Moon rescued it and sent it into the sea. Whereupon it reemerged and climbed back into the sky.I’ve got no idea what’s going on. You?
February 23, 2009: “The Daughters of the Moon” by Italo Calvino
6 comments:
I get it. But I'm not telling. You have to be really deep to get it. Or whacked out on mushrooms.
I'm not sure mushrooms would help.
I have a subscription to The New Yorker, and I always start off by flipping to the fiction section of the magazine, when I receive a new one in the mail. A lot of the time I enjoy the short stories they pick for this section, but in my personal opinion, this was one of the crappier pieces of fiction I have read ANYWHERE in quite some time, let alone The New Yorker. The LSD crowd can blabber all they want about how "deep it is maaannn..." but I am pretty sure I understood all of the possible themes and insinuations of this story, and I have to say, it is still quite a literary disaster. Oh well, not every short story can be good, that's what makes it so fun. That said, I am a little surprised that The New Yorker goofed up this badly, in selecting this story for us. That's okay, most of the time they find good stuff, just not every time I guess.
Upon further contemplation: Maybe they really just wanted an excuse to put a nudie pic in their magazine. Lol.
I must say I agreed with you: http://www.kalbirsohi.net/misc/blog/
but AM Holmes's recent story was, in contrast, rather good!
I understand that it's not his best, but I think it has some wonderful moments.
Hi there! I know you a bit, from links at the BluePrintReview, or Daily s-Press. "Know." Anyway. :)
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