Rivka Galchen “The Entire Northern Side Was Covered with Fire”
Summer Fiction: 20 Under 40
June14/21 “The New Yorker”

Because the narrator’s voice grabbed hold after only the second paragraph…

Because I like stories with fires in them…

Because, even more than that, I like stories that consider where art starts…

Because I appreciate a story that lasts exactly as long as the first segment in my commute…

Because I once had a crush on a particularly nice Parmesan grater myself…

…these are some of the reasons that I especially enjoyed Rivka Galchen’s story.

Here’s what she had to say about her inspiration for it:

“I received two letters from prisoners, one asking me about the science behind the Tunguska event, and one asking me about love. The letters felt potent somehow, maybe simply because they weren’t e-mails. Somehow that feeling made me want to follow through on misdirections of intimacy, misdirections of empathy.”

And here is where you can click to read more of her Q&A (and there’s a link to the story).

Have you read her novel, Atmospheric Disturbances? Or, at least, have you wanted to? Or, are you closer to maybe perhaps kinda wanting to now?

PS Wondering about the Parmesan grater? Here’s the quote: “I want to mention that, when I sold the movie, my husband had just left me. I came home one day and a bunch of stuff was gone. I thought we’d been robbed. Then I found a note: “I can’t live here anymore.” He had taken quite a lot with him. For example, we had a particularly nice Parmesan grater and he had taken that.”