New Yorker Nostalgia: Hunting the Elusive Full-Issue Treatment
David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker and author of the new Obama bio, The Bridge, was in town earlier this week, and a few of us had the pleasure of meeting him over lunch (podcast coming soon). We were able to geek out over many things, from Vladimir Putin and "Sandy" Frazier to Gladwell's hair and the Washington Federals (the old USFL franchise that was Remnick's first beat for the Washington Post). But one bit of NYer lore caught my interest: he lamented that publishers are no longer interested in giving the magazine rights to publish extensive excerpts of upcoming books, which is one reason you rarely see those multipart series that used to be so common in the magazine, or even those famous issues devoted to a single, long article. Apparently, they feel it cuts into their sales to give the book away beforehand like that.
First of all, I think that's a little crazy, especially in a time when people are experimenting with giving digital versions of books away to pique interest. There may be other reasons that prevent the magazine from going all-in for an issue like that now, but you don't think that a superb midlist book, headed for respectable sales of 10,000 copies or so, couldn't be goosed into breakout status with the publicity that a devoted issue of the New Yorker would bring?
But my real reason for posting is to ask the crowd a question: you hear of these legendary books that were given an entire issue of the New Yorker under the Shawn regime. John Hersey's Hiroshima is the classic example, and may have been the first one. But I've heard about other, similar events, and I'm not sure how to find all the times it's happened (it's not a very Googleable subject). These are a few that came to mind that I could investigate with the help of my NYer digital subscription--none of them turn out to follow the Hersey model exactly, but I'm just curious, however you define it, what books have gotten this treatment in the past:
- Hiroshima: Published on Aug. 31, 1948. The issue contained no other editorial material or cartoons, just the Goings on About Town listings.
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark: Appeared in the Oct. 14, 1961, issue, from pages 53 to 169, with fiction and back-of-the-book pieces.
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: I had thought this appeared in a single issue, but in fact it was serialized for four consecutive weeks in September-October 1965. You can read the first installment here.
- Snow White by Donald Barthelme: Published in the Feb. 18, 1967, issue--I'm not sure if it was in its entirety, but it ran from page 38 to 131, taking up the entire feature block of the magazine (though reviews, a short story, and a Letter from Vietnam also appeared).
- Within the Context of No Context by George W.S. Trow: Published in the Nov. 18, 1980, issue, in its entirety, I believe, from page 63 to 171, with some fiction and a few back-of-the-book items as well. (An excerpt for non-subscribers.)
Are there any others that got the full-issue treatment? Help me out, people. I can't imagine that the reputation or sales of any of these were hurt by appearing first in the magazine.... I'm sure the original edition of Within the Context sold very few copies, but then, despite being one of the great books of the century, a nutty book like that was never going to sell anything anyway. --Tom
Update: Thanks for all the further examples--all I hoped for and more. This "full-issue" phenomenon turns out to be a tricky one. No less an authority than the NYer itself, in their "Eighty-Five from the Archive" series this year, said that the only two times the entire magazine has been turned over to a single article were Hersey's "Hiroshima" and, as mentioned below, Mark Danner's December 6, 1993 investigation into an army massacre in El Salvador, "The Truth of El Mozote," which was later published as The Massacre at El Mozote. Now, to be technical, that issue also included Talk of the Town, cartoons, and some reviews at the back, so "Hiroshima" still stands alone, and the Danner treatment doesn't actually seem so different from Barthelme or Trow above. But I'll leave those subtle differences to the theologians to debate for the coming centuries. Here are some of the other suggestions from the comments:
- The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan Shell: Appeared in three parts beginning on Feb. 1, 1982, the first of which happens to be today's "Eighty-Five from the Archive" feature.
- "Hapworth 16, 1924" by J.D. Salinger (which of course has not been published as a book, though it sure came close): Given the full feature slot, aside from one other story on June 16, 1965.
- Salinger's Franny and Zooey: "Franny" appeared on Jan. 29, 1955, but only used 20 pages; "Zooey" took up quite a bit more real estate on May 4, 1957.
- The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth: Appeared in two parts, on June 25 and July 2, 1979. The first part, by the way, ends with this lovely sentence: "But in this house of forbearance I was better at suppressing my amorous impulses than I had been lately, unchained in Manhattan."
- Raising Kane by Pauline Kael: Two parts, February 20 and 27, 1971.
- Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt: Published in five (!) parts, from Feb. 16 to Mar. 16, 1963.
- Portrait of Hemingway by Lillian Ross: Appeared in the May 13, 1950, issue as "How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?", featured in the Eighty-Five series too.
- Ross's Picture: Published in five parts, from May 24 ("Throw the Little Old Lady Down the Stairs") to June 21 ("Looks Like We're Still in Business").
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson: Three parts from June 16 to June 30, 1962 (also featured yesterday in Eighty-Five).
Laurene on April 21, 2010 at 04:28 PM
What about "The Fate of the Earth"?
KhalidK on April 22, 2010 at 07:10 AM
Hapworth 16 1924, though never published as a book, should count right?
clutterbuk on April 22, 2010 at 07:13 AM
Wasn't "The Ghost Writer" by Philip Roth published in whole? (Though it might have been two successive editions, so maybe that doesn't count...)
Kelly on April 22, 2010 at 07:40 AM
I think the biggest thing you are missing is "The Truth of El Mozote" by Mark Danner -- from the December 6, 1993 issue. (Took up the entire issue.)
Anthony on April 22, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Not fiction, but Pauline Kael's Raising Kane was another example.
Well, it might be fiction: depends whom you ask.
Joseph on April 22, 2010 at 05:23 PM
Hannah Arendt's 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' took up most of two issues, did it not?
Moira Russell on April 22, 2010 at 09:08 PM
Two (once) famous ones: Lillian Ross, 'Portrait of Hemingway' (1950) and 'Picture' (1952). I think both ran complete in one issue apiece, but I don't remember if they were expanded for book publication.
Another fairly famous one: Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' (1962). This was in at least three parts.
Janet Malcolm's articles, usually serialized in two or three parts, have frequently appeared as short books: In The Freud Archives (1984), The Journalist and The Murderer (1990), The Purloined Clinic (1992), The Silent Woman (1994), &c. Usually these are slightly expanded but not substantially different from the magazine pieces.
John McPhee still gets a lot of space in the magazine, although I can't recall whether or not his essays were expanded to book-length - I don't think so, they're usually very long (some are 50-60,000 words). 'A Sense of Where You Are' ran in 1965 but I can't tell how long it is: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1965/01/23/1965_01_23_040_TNY_CARDS_000278347
Elizabeth Goetz on April 23, 2010 at 10:36 AM
What about J. D. Salinger's "Franny" (January 29, 1955) and "Zooey" (May 4, 1957)?
Also, "Seymour: An Introduction" and "Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters."
All are at http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/01/salinger-in-our-archives.html