June 2nd, 2010 / 6:26 pm
Web Hype

New Yorker’s 20 under 40 Revealed

The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40 list has been revealed:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32; Chris Adrian, 39; Daniel Alarcón, 33; David Bezmozgis, 37; Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38; Joshua Ferris, 35; Jonathan Safran Foer, 33; Nell Freudenberger, 35; Rivka Galchen, 34; Nicole Krauss, 35; Yiyun Li, 37; Dinaw Mengestu, 31; Philipp Meyer, 36; C. E. Morgan, 33; Téa Obreht, 24; Z Z Packer, 37; Karen Russell, 28; Salvatore Scibona, 35; Gary Shteyngart, 37; and Wells Tower, 37.

Winners of our picks contest to come. What do you think of the list?

Tags: ,

351 Comments

  1. D.W. Lichtenberg

      Boring.

  2. stephen

      tao lin

  3. Gian

      This list reflects how little I know about what is going on in the literary world. Scary.

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32 (never heard of)
      Chris Adrian, 39; (never heard of)
      Daniel Alarcón, 33; (never heard of)
      David Bezmozgis, 37; (Natasha was pretty good)
      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38; (never heard of)
      Joshua Ferris, 35; (tried reading but got interrupted)
      Jonathan Safran Foer, 33; (what a surprise!)
      Nell Freudenberger, 35; (never heard of)
      Rivka Galchen, 34; (never heard of)
      Nicole Krauss, 35; (boring)
      Yiyun Li, 37; (never heard of)
      Dinaw Mengestu, 31; (never heard of)
      Philipp Meyer, 36; (never heard of)
      C. E. Morgan, 33; (never heard of)
      Téa Obreht, 24; (never heard of)
      Z Z Packer, 37; (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere or something?)
      Karen Russell, 28; (never heard of)
      Salvatore Scibona, 35; (never heard of)
      Gary Shteyngart, 37; (I’ve heard of and I like this guy)
      Wells Tower, 37. (I liked the Leopard story a lot. Plus, he’s the first writer I’ve read to start off a line of dialogue with, “Fuckin’, what about the…” I start many of my spoken sentences with this and he nailed it.)

  4. robbie

      z z packer has gotten more mileage out of writing 8 straightforward stories than any other person in the face of time

  5. Mike Meginnis

      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is pretty great and I’ve enjoyed Foer (sometimes in spite of myself) but beyond that I haven’t really read any of these dudes, I suspect (based on the names I do recognize) this is a mostly boring, obvious list. Bynum is good to see there, though. Honestly thought she was a lot younger.

  6. celiaj

      Wow, I went to school with Ce Morgan and Chris Adrian. I had no idea good things could happen to nice people in this world.

  7. Adam

      Who the shit? One thing I didn’t expect from this list is to have absolutely no idea who 11 of the writers are.

  8. Eric Anderson

      I left David Bezmozgis off my list because I was under the assumption that the list was comprised of working, U.S. authors, and I thought he was Canadian.

      Oh well. Five out of twenty isn’t bad.

  9. demi-puppet

      I liked Packer’s collection.

      The rest of the list is a gigantic “Meh.”

      Daniel Alarcon may set a record for how many “X under Y” lists one writer can make.

  10. Rebekah

      Yo ho ho. I have opinions about this. Save em for later though, I’m busy.

  11. Iris

      7 right. Some surprises.

  12. stan the man

      automatically looked up the youngest person, tea obreht, and found she doesn’t have a wikipedia. lost all interest, must not be very relevant

  13. Joseph

      Happy I felt throwing Galchen in there even though I thought her novel was ghastly mediocre.

  14. AgentWatch

      Looks like they skimmed Granta’s Best Under 40 and then asked Sterling Litastic, William Morris and ICM who their forthcoming debuts were. A few are good, many overrated, many are totally unseasoned, a few are insultingly obvious “diversity” choices etc. Kind of gross.

  15. hona

      Who are the diversity choices?

  16. Joseph

      I should say I don’t mean the others are not equally mediocre

  17. AgentWatch

      Not so much that anyone who is “diverse” doesn’t belong, so much as the list seems insultingly balanced to encompass every comfy subgenre of identity-driven writing… everyone from female (and male!) fabulists to boyish big novel writers and witty Hebric folk… no one straying too far from his or her category, no one challenging anything dangerous…

  18. magick mike

      the single author i know of on this list i can’t handle at all (gee guess who it is)

  19. Salvatore Pane

      No love for Joshua Ferris, guys? I loved Then We Came to the End.

  20. darby

      looks new yorkerish enough. good to see russell, adrian and tower. you can keep the rest.

  21. Vera

      I’m excited that I’m not familiar with twelve of these writers. This wasn’t the predictable list I thought it would be (aside from a few obvious choices). I have some serious reading to do!

  22. Coleco

      How does a 24 year old whose first novel isn’t coming out until next year get placed on a list like this?

  23. Jake s.

      Feels like the New Yorker should’ve made this the “JSF Memorial List” or something because his inclusion was one big ddduuuhhh (note: this is not a comment on JSF’s writing).

      Rivka Galchen is a major cutie.

  24. Vera

      I believe the 24-year-old had a short story published in the NYer at some point.

  25. Sean

      Pink, Sam.

  26. Dreezer

      I guess the New Yorker editors have read a manuscript of that novel?

      Does Packer, perhaps, have a big novel forthcoming? That’s the only excuse I can find for putting her on the list.

      Haven’t read most of these folks, though I’ve heard good things about some of them, including Chris Adrian. Galchen’s book was disappointment — was supposed to be riproaringly funny and somesuch — I just found it obvious and belabored after awhile. Read Morgan’s novel — the language was precious. Liked Foer’s first novel, wasn’t able to get into the second, and am not interested in hearing a twit’s opinions about eating meat.

  27. INFO

      Thought this was interesting. Here’s how the list breaks down in terms of MFA Programs:

      IOWA (6)

      Chris Adrian
      Daniel Alarcón
      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
      Yiyun Li
      Z Z Packer
      Salvatore Scibona

      COLUMBIA (4)

      Rivka Galchen
      Dinaw Mengestu
      Karen Russell
      Wells Tower

      JOHNS HOPKINS (1)

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

      UC IRVINE (1)

      Joshua Ferris

      NYU (1)

      Nell Freudenberger

      CUNY (1)

      Gary Shteyngart,

      CORNELL (1)

      Téa Obreht

      UT AUSTIN (1)

      Philipp Meyer

      NO MFA (4)

      Jonathan Safran Foer
      Nicole Krauss,
      David Bezmozgis (MFA in film from USC film school)
      C. E. Morgan

  28. Comment2000

      This list is important to those 20 people lucky enough (or young enough, or savvy enough, or – sure, why not? in some cases – talented enough) to be on The List and it’s also important to the rest who wish they were one of the 20.

      It’s a gimmick.

      Wells Tower is interesting.

  29. Sean

      I think JSf with his Joyce Carol Oates as teacher, Princeton degree were going to have to file under MFA.

  30. Amber

      Adrian and Russell are awesome. I loved Russell’s debut collection. I had no idea JSF was so young. His smugness clearly ages him.

  31. ryanchang

      agreed. Then We Came to the End is awesome. the others i havent heard of/elicited a ‘surprise surprise’ from me

  32. Comment2000

      Solid representation.

  33. 40 oz.

      Wells Tower is able to write an overly stuffy and restrained version of a George Saunders story.

      Galvhen’s book sounds really compelling until you read it…

      A few are impressive writers of fart jokes with Big Important Events in the background (I’m looking at you, Foer!)

      A couple are talented.

      The rest have good agents.

      Yawn…

  34. Salvatore Pane

      Yeah, I was just going to mention this. Having JCO as your thesis adviser is completely comparable.

  35. Ryan Call

      hewooo everyone! this list is so fucking awesome! im eating dinner right now, but ill get to the entries later tonight!

  36. Sean

      40 oz, which couple are talented?

  37. Ryan Call

      the married couple?

  38. 40 oz.

      I mean, they’re all talented. It’s just that most are also interchangeable.

      You’d hope a best of generation list would include a few writers who have’t simply learned to ape the dominant aesthetic. These guys are part of the whole reason we increasingly think of the short story, the novel, as a form.

      I’m sure they’re all nice people. But if asked to name writers of stunning books, sentences, daring, emotion…would you produce such a list?

  39. lorian

      blah

  40. derrrrrrrks

      Do you ever, ever, ever take Tao Lin’s dick out of your mouth? I mean, EVER? I know you can breathe thru your nose, but don’t you have to eat?

  41. Jen

      Call me cynical, but I only want to read writers without MFAs or obvious connections. I know that’s probably unfair, but that list is troubling. The best writers do NOT necessarily go to school for it. That leaves the last two and that’s it.

  42. Lily Hoang

      They write stories people like to read and they write sentences that make sense. I can’t do that. And I’ve tried. So good for them. Applause.

  43. Greg Gerke

      Oh I like to read your stuff and it makes sense to me.

      The NYer is the wrong entity to be doing this because of their interests. Most all of the writers have been published in the NYer.

      Do we reread this writers? Do they inspire us? I’ll give the first Ferris novel it’s due. It’s holds up the whole way through. But then what? I reread Scott Garson, I reread Joanna Ruocco – that Caketrain story is otherworldly.

  44. Roxane Gay

      I have no investment in this list one way or the other but there are no surprises and it would have been nice to see surprises. Many of the entries on the list feel like they would have been relevant three or four years ago. The list feels… dated more than anything.

  45. Travis Kurowski

      Here was my list:

      * julie orringer
      * nathan englander
      * joshua ferris
      * wells tower
      * aravind adiga
      * justin taylor
      * gary shteyngart
      * maile meloy
      * jonathan safran foer
      * benjamin percy
      * jesse ball
      * nell freudenberger
      * nick mcdonell
      * daniel alarcon
      * uzodinma iweala
      * salvatore scibona
      * rivka galchen
      * tom bissell
      * john wray
      * yiyun li

      Is similar and (when not the same) largely interchangable with the list. Except I am a bit shocked by the Tea Obreht addition (and the other three largely unknowns: Shun-lien Bynum, Meyer, and Morgan). But of course NYer wanted to be unpredictable—and, they hope, prophetic. Right?

      Good writers, all the rest, no doubt. Look forward to reading more from the other four.

  46. d

      Surprised Joshua Cohen didn’t make the cut, with Witz being reviewed well in the New Yorker and all.

  47. d

      This was mine:

      Joshua Cohen
      Jonathan Safran Foer*
      Michelle Tea
      Catherynne M. Valente
      Curtis Sittenfeld
      Myla Goldberg
      Gary Shteyngart*
      Ekaterina Sedia
      Jeffrey Renard Allen
      Sister Souljah
      Michael Muhammad Knight
      Zadie Smith (British…)
      Jessica Anthony
      Tao Lin
      Victor LaValle
      Miranda July
      Joey Comeau
      ZZ Packer*
      Asha Bandele
      Joshua Ferris*

      I only got 4 correct. Oh well!

  48. Jak Cardini

      ha.

  49. Jak Cardini

      srsly

  50. D.W. Lichtenberg

      Boring.

  51. stephen

      tao lin

  52. Gian

      This list reflects how little I know about what is going on in the literary world. Scary.

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32 (never heard of)
      Chris Adrian, 39; (never heard of)
      Daniel Alarcón, 33; (never heard of)
      David Bezmozgis, 37; (Natasha was pretty good)
      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38; (never heard of)
      Joshua Ferris, 35; (tried reading but got interrupted)
      Jonathan Safran Foer, 33; (what a surprise!)
      Nell Freudenberger, 35; (never heard of)
      Rivka Galchen, 34; (never heard of)
      Nicole Krauss, 35; (boring)
      Yiyun Li, 37; (never heard of)
      Dinaw Mengestu, 31; (never heard of)
      Philipp Meyer, 36; (never heard of)
      C. E. Morgan, 33; (never heard of)
      Téa Obreht, 24; (never heard of)
      Z Z Packer, 37; (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere or something?)
      Karen Russell, 28; (never heard of)
      Salvatore Scibona, 35; (never heard of)
      Gary Shteyngart, 37; (I’ve heard of and I like this guy)
      Wells Tower, 37. (I liked the Leopard story a lot. Plus, he’s the first writer I’ve read to start off a line of dialogue with, “Fuckin’, what about the…” I start many of my spoken sentences with this and he nailed it.)

  53. robbie

      z z packer has gotten more mileage out of writing 8 straightforward stories than any other person in the face of time

  54. Tim Horvath

      Agreed on Karen Russell. Title story and “ZZ’s Sleep-away Camp…” with its brilliant insomnia balloon and the one about the ice-skating yetis–her presence is no surprise and I’m glad to see it there.

      Scibona’s book is quite amazing in an understated way.

  55. Mike Meginnis

      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is pretty great and I’ve enjoyed Foer (sometimes in spite of myself) but beyond that I haven’t really read any of these dudes, I suspect (based on the names I do recognize) this is a mostly boring, obvious list. Bynum is good to see there, though. Honestly thought she was a lot younger.

  56. celiaj

      Wow, I went to school with Ce Morgan and Chris Adrian. I had no idea good things could happen to nice people in this world.

  57. Guest

      Who the shit? One thing I didn’t expect from this list is to have absolutely no idea who 11 of the writers are.

  58. Eric Anderson

      I left David Bezmozgis off my list because I was under the assumption that the list was comprised of working, U.S. authors, and I thought he was Canadian.

      Oh well. Five out of twenty isn’t bad.

  59. demi-puppet

      I liked Packer’s collection.

      The rest of the list is a gigantic “Meh.”

      Daniel Alarcon may set a record for how many “X under Y” lists one writer can make.

  60. Rebekah

      Yo ho ho. I have opinions about this. Save em for later though, I’m busy.

  61. thad

      i feel the same way. Most of the authors I know and love are not contemporary, are in fact already dead. I would start reading some of these to familiarize myself with what’s going on today, but I’m already so backed up on my personal “to-read” booklist. I will forever be playing the catch up game, until I die, hallelujah.

  62. Iris

      7 right. Some surprises.

  63. stan the man

      automatically looked up the youngest person, tea obreht, and found she doesn’t have a wikipedia. lost all interest, must not be very relevant

  64. Joseph

      Happy I felt throwing Galchen in there even though I thought her novel was ghastly mediocre.

  65. AgentWatch

      Looks like they skimmed Granta’s Best Under 40 and then asked Sterling Litastic, William Morris and ICM who their forthcoming debuts were. A few are good, many overrated, many are totally unseasoned, a few are insultingly obvious “diversity” choices etc. Kind of gross.

  66. Lily Hoang

      he’s way too good, too challenging, too audacious a writer. the list is *safe.*

  67. hona

      Who are the diversity choices?

  68. Joseph

      I should say I don’t mean the others are not equally mediocre

  69. AgentWatch

      Not so much that anyone who is “diverse” doesn’t belong, so much as the list seems insultingly balanced to encompass every comfy subgenre of identity-driven writing… everyone from female (and male!) fabulists to boyish big novel writers and witty Hebric folk… no one straying too far from his or her category, no one challenging anything dangerous…

  70. magick mike

      the single author i know of on this list i can’t handle at all (gee guess who it is)

  71. Salvatore Pane

      No love for Joshua Ferris, guys? I loved Then We Came to the End.

  72. darby

      looks new yorkerish enough. good to see russell, adrian and tower. you can keep the rest.

  73. Vera

      I’m excited that I’m not familiar with twelve of these writers. This wasn’t the predictable list I thought it would be (aside from a few obvious choices). I have some serious reading to do!

  74. jesusangelgarcia

      I’m mostly w/ you on this, Gian, except for Scibona. I read his “The End” (Graywolf), short-list for National Book Award, I think. I bet Mr. Higgs would dig it. Chris?

  75. Coleco

      How does a 24 year old whose first novel isn’t coming out until next year get placed on a list like this?

  76. jesusangelgarcia

      I’m glad I’m not the only one. I know ten.

  77. jesusangelgarcia

      Don’t hold back, Rebekah. Seriously.

  78. Jake s.

      Feels like the New Yorker should’ve made this the “JSF Memorial List” or something because his inclusion was one big ddduuuhhh (note: this is not a comment on JSF’s writing).

      Rivka Galchen is a major cutie.

  79. Vera

      I believe the 24-year-old had a short story published in the NYer at some point.

  80. jesusangelgarcia

      really? his first novel was a mind-blower. that energy? c’mon…

  81. Sean

      Pink, Sam.

  82. Mike Meginnis

      Yeah, I never even considered him a possibility. He’s way too much work, way too much fun.

  83. Dreezer

      I guess the New Yorker editors have read a manuscript of that novel?

      Does Packer, perhaps, have a big novel forthcoming? That’s the only excuse I can find for putting her on the list.

      Haven’t read most of these folks, though I’ve heard good things about some of them, including Chris Adrian. Galchen’s book was disappointment — was supposed to be riproaringly funny and somesuch — I just found it obvious and belabored after awhile. Read Morgan’s novel — the language was precious. Liked Foer’s first novel, wasn’t able to get into the second, and am not interested in hearing a twit’s opinions about eating meat.

  84. jesusangelgarcia

      why is he a twit?

  85. jesusangelgarcia

      Impressive info. I like it that these two — Jonathan Safran Foer & Nicole Krauss — are partners and writers and both don’t have MFAs.

  86. INFO

      Thought this was interesting. Here’s how the list breaks down in terms of MFA Programs:

      IOWA (6)

      Chris Adrian
      Daniel Alarcón
      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
      Yiyun Li
      Z Z Packer
      Salvatore Scibona

      COLUMBIA (4)

      Rivka Galchen
      Dinaw Mengestu
      Karen Russell
      Wells Tower

      JOHNS HOPKINS (1)

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

      UC IRVINE (1)

      Joshua Ferris

      NYU (1)

      Nell Freudenberger

      CUNY (1)

      Gary Shteyngart,

      CORNELL (1)

      Téa Obreht

      UT AUSTIN (1)

      Philipp Meyer

      NO MFA (4)

      Jonathan Safran Foer
      Nicole Krauss,
      David Bezmozgis (MFA in film from USC film school)
      C. E. Morgan

  87. jesusangelgarcia

      I liked Scibona a bit in parts, especially the language, but I kept getting sidetracked while reading it over many many weeks. Hard to say whether that was life intervening or the book just not compelling me.

  88. Matt

      The buzz about Joshua Cohen’s novel Witz is starting to get loud, but I still havent spoken with anyone who’s actually read the thing. Anybody here read it and care to comment?

  89. jesusangelgarcia

      Are they all on major publishers? Any indies in there? This would be telling, I think.

  90. jesusangelgarcia

      Yes.

  91. jesusangelgarcia

      That’s cute, Lily.

  92. Comment2000

      This list is important to those 20 people lucky enough (or young enough, or savvy enough, or – sure, why not? in some cases – talented enough) to be on The List and it’s also important to the rest who wish they were one of the 20.

      It’s a gimmick.

      Wells Tower is interesting.

  93. Blake Butler
  94. Sean

      I think JSf with his Joyce Carol Oates as teacher, Princeton degree were going to have to file under MFA.

  95. Amber

      Adrian and Russell are awesome. I loved Russell’s debut collection. I had no idea JSF was so young. His smugness clearly ages him.

  96. ryan chang

      agreed. Then We Came to the End is awesome. the others i havent heard of/elicited a ‘surprise surprise’ from me

  97. Comment2000

      Solid representation.

  98. 40 oz.

      Wells Tower is able to write an overly stuffy and restrained version of a George Saunders story.

      Galvhen’s book sounds really compelling until you read it…

      A few are impressive writers of fart jokes with Big Important Events in the background (I’m looking at you, Foer!)

      A couple are talented.

      The rest have good agents.

      Yawn…

  99. Salvatore Pane

      Yeah, I was just going to mention this. Having JCO as your thesis adviser is completely comparable.

  100. Ryan Call

      hewooo everyone! this list is so fucking awesome! im eating dinner right now, but ill get to the entries later tonight!

  101. Sean

      40 oz, which couple are talented?

  102. Ryan Call

      the married couple?

  103. 40 oz.

      I mean, they’re all talented. It’s just that most are also interchangeable.

      You’d hope a best of generation list would include a few writers who have’t simply learned to ape the dominant aesthetic. These guys are part of the whole reason we increasingly think of the short story, the novel, as a form.

      I’m sure they’re all nice people. But if asked to name writers of stunning books, sentences, daring, emotion…would you produce such a list?

  104. lorian

      blah

  105. derrrrrrrks

      Do you ever, ever, ever take Tao Lin’s dick out of your mouth? I mean, EVER? I know you can breathe thru your nose, but don’t you have to eat?

  106. Jen

      Call me cynical, but I only want to read writers without MFAs or obvious connections. I know that’s probably unfair, but that list is troubling. The best writers do NOT necessarily go to school for it. That leaves the last two and that’s it.

  107. zzzzzipp

      joey comeau would never have zipped his way onto his list

      ZZZIPPP THOUGHT COHEN OR LIN EVEN HAD A CHANCE…

  108. zzzzzipp

      onto that list

      ZZZZIPP IS HAVING TROUBLE RIGHT NOW

  109. lily hoang

      They write stories people like to read and they write sentences that make sense. I can’t do that. And I’ve tried. So good for them. Applause.

  110. Iris

      Mine and my partner’s list. 7 right:

      Wells Tower
      Jonathan Safran Foer
      Benjamin Percy
      Anthony Doerr
      Miranda July
      Joshua Cohen
      Charles D’Ambrosio
      Yiyun Lee
      Chris Adrian
      Olga Grushim
      Martha McPhee
      Joshua Ferris
      Nicole Krauss
      ZZ Packer
      Alix Ohlin
      Brady Udall
      Rebecca Curtis
      Augusten Burroughs
      Mark Richart
      Nick Kosc

  111. Greg Gerke

      Oh I like to read your stuff and it makes sense to me.

      The NYer is the wrong entity to be doing this because of their interests. Most all of the writers have been published in the NYer.

      Do we reread this writers? Do they inspire us? I’ll give the first Ferris novel it’s due. It’s holds up the whole way through. But then what? I reread Scott Garson, I reread Joanna Ruocco – that Caketrain story is otherworldly.

  112. Stu

      I’m sure that if Tao wills it, he will be on the next. He’ll still be under 40 in ten years.

  113. Stu

      Honestly, I’m surprised that McDonell is NOT on it. Not that I particularly enjoy his writing, but he is… “coming up” as they say. Aren’t they making a movie out of “Twelve?”

  114. Matt

      Thanks, though I outside of a plot summary I still dont have much of an idea if its worth investing the time to the tune of 800+ pages.

  115. Roxane Gay

      I have no investment in this list one way or the other but there are no surprises and it would have been nice to see surprises. Many of the entries on the list feel like they would have been relevant three or four years ago. The list feels… dated more than anything.

  116. Travis Kurowski

      Here was my list:

      * julie orringer
      * nathan englander
      * joshua ferris
      * wells tower
      * aravind adiga
      * justin taylor
      * gary shteyngart
      * maile meloy
      * jonathan safran foer
      * benjamin percy
      * jesse ball
      * nell freudenberger
      * nick mcdonell
      * daniel alarcon
      * uzodinma iweala
      * salvatore scibona
      * rivka galchen
      * tom bissell
      * john wray
      * yiyun li

      Is similar and (when not the same) largely interchangable with the list. Except I am a bit shocked by the Tea Obreht addition (and the other three largely unknowns: Shun-lien Bynum, Meyer, and Morgan). But of course NYer wanted to be unpredictable—and, they hope, prophetic. Right?

      Good writers, all the rest, no doubt. Look forward to reading more from the other four.

  117. stephen
  118. d

      Surprised Joshua Cohen didn’t make the cut, with Witz being reviewed well in the New Yorker and all.

  119. d

      This was mine:

      Joshua Cohen
      Jonathan Safran Foer*
      Michelle Tea
      Catherynne M. Valente
      Curtis Sittenfeld
      Myla Goldberg
      Gary Shteyngart*
      Ekaterina Sedia
      Jeffrey Renard Allen
      Sister Souljah
      Michael Muhammad Knight
      Zadie Smith (British…)
      Jessica Anthony
      Tao Lin
      Victor LaValle
      Miranda July
      Joey Comeau
      ZZ Packer*
      Asha Bandele
      Joshua Ferris*

      I only got 4 correct. Oh well!

  120. Kyle Minor

      Blake,

      The online version cuts off after two paragraphs. Can you post it here, or will that get you in trouble? I went to the store to get it today, but they only had the May issue.

  121. Blake Butler

      the rest of the review is in the issue

      yes, it is very much worth the time.

  122. Jak Cardini

      ha.

  123. Jak Cardini

      srsly

  124. Brendan Connell

      So much for paying one’s dues.

  125. thad

      haha thats pretty true. wiki is where its at.

  126. Tim Horvath

      Agreed on Karen Russell. Title story and “ZZ’s Sleep-away Camp…” with its brilliant insomnia balloon and the one about the ice-skating yetis–her presence is no surprise and I’m glad to see it there.

      Scibona’s book is quite amazing in an understated way.

  127. thad

      i feel the same way. Most of the authors I know and love are not contemporary, are in fact already dead. I would start reading some of these to familiarize myself with what’s going on today, but I’m already so backed up on my personal “to-read” booklist. I will forever be playing the catch up game, until I die, hallelujah.

  128. lily hoang

      he’s way too good, too challenging, too audacious a writer. the list is *safe.*

  129. jesusangelgarcia

      I’m mostly w/ you on this, Gian, except for Scibona. I read his “The End” (Graywolf), short-list for National Book Award, I think. I bet Mr. Higgs would dig it. Chris?

  130. jesusangelgarcia

      I’m glad I’m not the only one. I know ten.

  131. jesusangelgarcia

      Don’t hold back, Rebekah. Seriously.

  132. jesusangelgarcia

      really? his first novel was a mind-blower. that energy? c’mon…

  133. Mike Meginnis

      Yeah, I never even considered him a possibility. He’s way too much work, way too much fun.

  134. jesusangelgarcia

      why is he a twit?

  135. jesusangelgarcia

      Impressive info. I like it that these two — Jonathan Safran Foer & Nicole Krauss — are partners and writers and both don’t have MFAs.

  136. jesusangelgarcia

      I liked Scibona a bit in parts, especially the language, but I kept getting sidetracked while reading it over many many weeks. Hard to say whether that was life intervening or the book just not compelling me.

  137. Matt

      The buzz about Joshua Cohen’s novel Witz is starting to get loud, but I still havent spoken with anyone who’s actually read the thing. Anybody here read it and care to comment?

  138. jesusangelgarcia

      Are they all on major publishers? Any indies in there? This would be telling, I think.

  139. jesusangelgarcia

      Yes.

  140. jesusangelgarcia

      That’s cute, Lily.

  141. Blake Butler
  142. zzzzzipp

      joey comeau would never have zipped his way onto his list

      ZZZIPPP THOUGHT COHEN OR LIN EVEN HAD A CHANCE…

  143. zzzzzipp

      onto that list

      ZZZZIPP IS HAVING TROUBLE RIGHT NOW

  144. Iris

      Mine and my partner’s list. 7 right:

      Wells Tower
      Jonathan Safran Foer
      Benjamin Percy
      Anthony Doerr
      Miranda July
      Joshua Cohen
      Charles D’Ambrosio
      Yiyun Lee
      Chris Adrian
      Olga Grushim
      Martha McPhee
      Joshua Ferris
      Nicole Krauss
      ZZ Packer
      Alix Ohlin
      Brady Udall
      Rebecca Curtis
      Augusten Burroughs
      Mark Richart
      Nick Kosc

  145. Stu

      I’m sure that if Tao wills it, he will be on the next. He’ll still be under 40 in ten years.

  146. Chris

      Nicole Krauss is fucking awful.

  147. Stu

      Honestly, I’m surprised that McDonell is NOT on it. Not that I particularly enjoy his writing, but he is… “coming up” as they say. Aren’t they making a movie out of “Twelve?”

  148. Matt

      Thanks, though I outside of a plot summary I still dont have much of an idea if its worth investing the time to the tune of 800+ pages.

  149. zusya

      my list:

      1) me
      2) me
      3) me
      4) me
      5) me
      6) me
      7) me
      8) me
      9) me
      10) me
      11) me
      12) me
      13) me
      14) me
      15) me
      16) me
      17) me
      18) me
      19) me
      20) me

      damn. and i spent so much time perfecting all this cloning technology. now what i am supposed to do with it?

  150. stephen
  151. Kyle Minor

      Blake,

      The online version cuts off after two paragraphs. Can you post it here, or will that get you in trouble? I went to the store to get it today, but they only had the May issue.

  152. Blake Butler

      the rest of the review is in the issue

      yes, it is very much worth the time.

  153. Lily Hoang

      Good call. Good book, yes.

  154. Lily Hoang

      i’ll echo blake: yes, it is very much worth the time.

  155. Brendan Connell

      So much for paying one’s dues.

  156. thad

      haha thats pretty true. wiki is where its at.

  157. michael

      agreed

  158. Tony O'Neill

      Am I the only one who would rather drink a pint of someone else’s shit, on the hour, every hour, for the next 70 years than read another sentence by that dull asshole Foer?

  159. The New Yorker’s ’20 Under 40′ list revealed « Eimear Ryan

      […] out some vigorous discussion at HTMLGIANT. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)The New Yorker Stands Tall5 things to think […]

  160. h hg

      I really really hated TWCTTE. Don’t believe I made it past 150pp on that one. I remember being genuinely confused that a lot of people liked that book. I thought that it was boring and unoriginal.

      As my father says, I guess that’s why they make more than one flavor of ice cream.

  161. demi-puppet

      You could have each one write in a different genre!

  162. demi-puppet

      Yeah, that’s it! There are some talented writers on this list, but it’s so predictably “New Yorkerish” that it’s kind of a joke.

  163. demi-puppet

      I really wish they would have done poets and dramatists, too.

      Then again maybe I don’t, judging by what they did here.

  164. zusya

      too late. they’ve all already been let loose into the wild. though i saw one writing a letter of congratulations to Foer so, sadly, i had to put the poor fella down.

  165. Jordan

      No, no love for Then We Came to the End.

  166. Jordan

      They have JCOs.

  167. Schulyer Prinz

      read ‘the literary conference’ yet?

  168. zusya17
  169. BAC

      could have been 200 pages less, but it was solid enough, though eugenides owns the first person plural.

  170. BAC

      Joyce Carol Oates, ha. That’s about all you need.

  171. Chris

      Nicole Krauss is fucking awful.

  172. Christopher Higgs

      I’m not familiar with Salvatore Scibona – will have to check him out. I will say that Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s Madeline is Sleeping (I think is the title?) kicks some ass — it was also shortlisted for the NBA, I think.

  173. d

      Yes, I knew a fair number of the people I picked would never make it, but I didn’t know who else to choose in their place. I picked Curtis Sittenfeld because her mom was my high school librarian.

      Comeau’s LOCKPICK PORNOGRAPHY should be considered one of the great novels of our time.

  174. lily hoang

      Good call. Good book, yes.

  175. lily hoang

      i’ll echo blake: yes, it is very much worth the time.

  176. michael

      agreed

  177. mimi

      zooooooosie!
      you made me laugh!!!!!
      and i’ve heard of all twenty!!!!!!!
      i feel smart

  178. Joseph Riippi

      Then We Came To the End steals its title from the opening line of Delillo’s Americana (Ferris is upfront about this somewhere in the acknowledgements). After finishing TWCTTE, and thinking, “eh, that was funny.” (I write ads during the day, too, and the office humor was very true-to-agency-life) I saw the note about Delillo and thought, “Hey, I should read that Delillo…never got ’round to it.”

      And then I did, and it turns out TWCTTE is basically Americana crossed with The Office.

      Moral of the story: Why read anything if there’s still something by Delillo you haven’t read?

  179. Joseph Riippi

      She did. It was good.

  180. Joseph Riippi

      Would have liked to see D’Ambrosio on the list, even if it meant another Iowa.

  181. Comment2000

      I don’t think Wells Tower is writing restrained versions of Saunders stories. Saunders is a restrained version of Saunders – full of anger about “bigger issues” which he manages to temper and turn into very funny stories that endear him to his readers. Tower writes straight-forward, almost simple stories that are personal in nature. He might belong on a silly list like this New Yorker list because he has a way with language that indicates a potential for greater things. His stories are amusing because he can come up with a funny phrase or situation now and then. But he’s not creating the worlds that Saunders creates in his best work.

  182. Comment2000

      He’s not under 40. In fact, he’s not under 50.

  183. INFO

      Some more interesting information about this list . . .

      16 of the 20 writers on the New Yorker list have a degree from an IVY LEAGUE school—either for undergrad or grad school (or both!)

      IVY LEAGUE CONNECTIONS

      Nell Freudenberger (Harvard)

      Z Z Packer (Yale)

      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (Brown)

      Jonathan Safran Foer (Princeton)

      Daniel Alarcón (Columbia)

      Philipp Meyer (Cornell)

      Rivka Galchen (Princeton and Columbia)

      Chris Adrian (Harvard)

      Dinaw Mengestu (Columbia)

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Yale and Princeton)

      Karen Russell (Columbia)

      C. E. Morgan (Harvard)

      Wells Tower (Columbia)

      Téa Obreht (Cornell)

      David Bezmozgis (Cornell)

      Gary Shteyngart (Currently teaches at Columbia and Princeton)

      “NO” IVY LEAGUE CONNECTION

      Nicole Krauss (But attended Stanford and Oxford)

      Yiyun Li

      Salvatore Scibona

      Joshua Ferris

  184. Matt Salesses

      Why are these comments so angry? I like, at least to some extent, eight of these writers (which I think is a LOT for any of these kinds of lists), don’t know only three, and dislike only three. I’m surprised Maile Meloy got left off.

  185. zusya17

      good to know i’m not the only one not treating these things with a dire seriousness.

      i wish i could say i feel smarted that i’ve only heard of 6, let alone read just a handful.

  186. joseph

      general discontent

  187. joseph

      and “Téa Obreht”‘s presence on this list is probably just-cause for anger being directed at the entire list in general.

  188. Tony O'Neill

      Am I the only one who would rather drink a pint of someone else’s shit, on the hour, every hour, for the next 70 years than read another sentence by that dull asshole Foer?

  189. h hg

      I really really hated TWCTTE. Don’t believe I made it past 150pp on that one. I remember being genuinely confused that a lot of people liked that book. I thought that it was boring and unoriginal.

      As my father says, I guess that’s why they make more than one flavor of ice cream.

  190. Comment2000

      Well, this thread is just what a silly 20/40 list is designed to provoke: criticism and discussion but mostly disgust, envy, anger – from those who wished in their wildest writer fantasies that they too were among the anointed venti.

  191. demi-puppet

      You could have each one write in a different genre!

  192. demi-puppet

      Yeah, that’s it! There are some talented writers on this list, but it’s so predictably “New Yorkerish” that it’s kind of a joke.

  193. demi-puppet

      I really wish they would have done poets and dramatists, too.

      Then again maybe I don’t, judging by what they did here.

  194. J.D.

      Oops… I figured that was bound to happen in some way. We had a dinner party and forgot to submit to the contest before the deadline, so we’ll be bummed if seven correct would have won a prize.

  195. Brendan Connell

      I don’t see much envy in the comments here. Disgust is understandable however, especially for Téa: a Barbie-looking person with 2 short stories to her name. She might be a great writer, but unless one of those short stories is as good as Kafka or Gogol, there is something obscene about it.

      Pretty much underlines the point: youth and sex are what is important in today’s society.

  196. Jordan

      No, no love for Then We Came to the End.

  197. Jordan

      They have JCOs.

  198. Schulyer Prinz

      read ‘the literary conference’ yet?

  199. a snyder

      I’m suffocating under all this cynicism and snark.

  200. Jerk^100

      I’m surprised at how little anger and envy this list has generated. Most people just seem bored. This is not an encouraging sign

  201. Tim Horvath

      This one took concentration for me, too. It felt like work, but rewarding work.

  202. BAC

      could have been 200 pages less, but it was solid enough, though eugenides owns the first person plural.

  203. BAC

      Joyce Carol Oates, ha. That’s about all you need.

  204. J.D.

      This made me wonder about the fact that DFW was included on the ’99 list. His fiction certainly falls into the ‘challenging and audacious’ category. I wonder if he would have been included had he not been such a celebrated, accessible essayist. Infinite Jest definitely gave him some lit celebrity status, but would the New Yorker have included him based on the content of his fiction alone?

  205. Michael Pemulis

      1. Dylan
      2. Dylan
      3. Dylan
      4. Dylan
      5. Dylan

  206. Christopher Higgs

      I’m not familiar with Salvatore Scibona – will have to check him out. I will say that Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s Madeline is Sleeping (I think is the title?) kicks some ass — it was also shortlisted for the NBA, I think.

  207. Mike Meginnis

      Guess I better not finish my MFA so I can be a good writer…

      Does it help if some of the instructors hated you?

  208. d

      Yes, I knew a fair number of the people I picked would never make it, but I didn’t know who else to choose in their place. I picked Curtis Sittenfeld because her mom was my high school librarian.

      Comeau’s LOCKPICK PORNOGRAPHY should be considered one of the great novels of our time.

  209. Comment2000

      Envy in a too-cool-for-this voice.

  210. scgarz

      i like 24 yr olds but i didn’t like that story

  211. Brendan Connell

      Why would anyone be envious of these folks? Criticising something and being envious are not the same thing.

  212. mimi

      zooooooosie!
      you made me laugh!!!!!
      and i’ve heard of all twenty!!!!!!!
      i feel smart

  213. Comment2000

      I never said they were.

      Being named a New Yorker Best 20 Under 40 Writer is not too shabby. This blog asked readers to guess beforehand which writers might get to wear the laurel; there have been 110+ comments here and counting….rightly or wrongly, The New Yorker’s imprimatur is something a lot of writers want.

  214. Joseph Riippi

      Then We Came To the End steals its title from the opening line of Delillo’s Americana (Ferris is upfront about this somewhere in the acknowledgements). After finishing TWCTTE, and thinking, “eh, that was funny.” (I write ads during the day, too, and the office humor was very true-to-agency-life) I saw the note about Delillo and thought, “Hey, I should read that Delillo…never got ’round to it.”

      And then I did, and it turns out TWCTTE is basically Americana crossed with The Office.

      Moral of the story: Why read anything if there’s still something by Delillo you haven’t read?

  215. Joseph Riippi

      She did. It was good.

  216. Joseph Riippi

      Would have liked to see D’Ambrosio on the list, even if it meant another Iowa.

  217. zzzzzipp

      FIRST TIME THROUGH ZZZZIPP DIDN’T MAKE IT PAST THE THIRD CHAPTER

      AND THERE WAS NO BERT HEAD OR ANY HINT OF A BERT HEAD

      YOU NEED TO AT LEAST INTRODUCE THE BERT HEAD BY THE THIRD CHAPTER IF IT’S GOING TO BE ON THE COVER

  218. Comment2000

      I don’t think Wells Tower is writing restrained versions of Saunders stories. Saunders is a restrained version of Saunders – full of anger about “bigger issues” which he manages to temper and turn into very funny stories that endear him to his readers. Tower writes straight-forward, almost simple stories that are personal in nature. He might belong on a silly list like this New Yorker list because he has a way with language that indicates a potential for greater things. His stories are amusing because he can come up with a funny phrase or situation now and then. But he’s not creating the worlds that Saunders creates in his best work.

  219. Comment2000

      He’s not under 40. In fact, he’s not under 50.

  220. zzzzzipp

      this much bitterness over something that can’t be controlled and means nothing to the individual === PROBABLY MOTIVATED BY SOMETHING OTHER THAN DISGUZZZZT

      IN ZZZZIPPP’S OPINION—OH MY GOODNESS THERE’S A RAINSTORM OUTSIDE—I HADN’T PLANNED ON THIS–!!! IF YOU DON’T HAVE A TOP AGENT OR SOMETHING PROBABLY NOT WORTH—IS THAT LIGHTNING???

      NO!!!! TIN DOG!!!!!!!

  221. INFO

      Some more interesting information about this list . . .

      16 of the 20 writers on the New Yorker list have a degree from an IVY LEAGUE school—either for undergrad or grad school (or both!)

      IVY LEAGUE CONNECTIONS

      Nell Freudenberger (Harvard)

      Z Z Packer (Yale)

      Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (Brown)

      Jonathan Safran Foer (Princeton)

      Daniel Alarcón (Columbia)

      Philipp Meyer (Cornell)

      Rivka Galchen (Princeton and Columbia)

      Chris Adrian (Harvard)

      Dinaw Mengestu (Columbia)

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Yale and Princeton)

      Karen Russell (Columbia)

      C. E. Morgan (Harvard)

      Wells Tower (Columbia)

      Téa Obreht (Cornell)

      David Bezmozgis (Cornell)

      Gary Shteyngart (Currently teaches at Columbia and Princeton)

      “NO” IVY LEAGUE CONNECTION

      Nicole Krauss (But attended Stanford and Oxford)

      Yiyun Li

      Salvatore Scibona

      Joshua Ferris

  222. Matt Salesses

      Why are these comments so angry? I like, at least to some extent, eight of these writers (which I think is a LOT for any of these kinds of lists), don’t know only three, and dislike only three. I’m surprised Maile Meloy got left off.

  223. Salvatore Pane

      What does her appearance have to do with anything? Are we still throwing around that sexist ‘she made it on the list because she looks like Barbie’ argument? Having two story pubs to her name is a valid argument, but it’s highly possible they’re basing her inclusion on her novel manuscript.

  224. stephen

      heyyo zzzzipp, when u gonna update yr tumblr??

  225. Comment2000

      I had ZZZZIPPP on my list until I saw ZZZZIPPP using lower case in the above comment. ZZZZIPPP is no longer on my list.

  226. Jibba Jabba

      Writers want to sell books?

  227. Comment2000

      My guess is they wanted someone very young to be on the list, and they chose her. I’m not saying she deserves it or she doesn’t. But I doubt she’s there based solely on those two stories and a manuscript. People on lists like this one make it for numerous reasons – in the case of the NYorker 20/40, reasons that often have nothing to do with their writing. They might all be good writers or promising writers but these are not the only reasons why they made it. Someone (or several people) worked hard to get her on the 20/40. And it worked. But this is true of everyone on the list.

  228. Schylur Prinz

      re: looks like Barbie: no, she doesn’t. She looks like a horror-show. Now, Rikva is a cool glass of water.

      I’m friends with Willing Davis (one of the Fiction editors at the NYer) and I can say that only one name on the list genuinely surprised me.

  229. d

      Maybe Obreht’s novel is really really good. I sure hope so, for her sake.

  230. joseph

      general discontent

  231. joseph

      and “Téa Obreht”‘s presence on this list is probably just-cause for anger being directed at the entire list in general.

  232. Comment2000

      Could be.

  233. Amber

      I’ve been meaning to check out Scibona. Sounds like I’ll probably want to do that while I’m on vacation or at least less distracted.

  234. Comment2000

      Well, this thread is just what a silly 20/40 list is designed to provoke: criticism and discussion but mostly disgust, envy, anger – from those who wished in their wildest writer fantasies that they too were among the anointed venti.

  235. J.D.

      Oops… I figured that was bound to happen in some way. We had a dinner party and forgot to submit to the contest before the deadline, so we’ll be bummed if seven correct would have won a prize.

  236. Brendan Connell

      I don’t see much envy in the comments here. Disgust is understandable however, especially for Téa: a Barbie-looking person with 2 short stories to her name. She might be a great writer, but unless one of those short stories is as good as Kafka or Gogol, there is something obscene about it.

      Pretty much underlines the point: youth and sex are what is important in today’s society.

  237. a snyder

      I’m suffocating under all this cynicism and snark.

  238. Jerk^100

      I’m surprised at how little anger and envy this list has generated. Most people just seem bored. This is not an encouraging sign

  239. Tim Horvath

      This one took concentration for me, too. It felt like work, but rewarding work.

  240. Brendan Connell

      Commenting and wanting are not the same thing. Selling books is always nice, but aside from that it is pretty worthless. Excellency over time is what counts. Too much praise too young is more likely to harm these writers than help them.

      These are the guys and gals who’ll probably be busted shoplifting nasal inhalers when they are in their 50’s.

  241. Brendan Connell

      If they are basing it on an unpublished novel then that is even more absurd. And there is nothing sexist about saying she looks like Barbie.

      Now if I said that she probably slept with the judges….

  242. Brendan Connell

      Which name?

  243. J.D.

      This made me wonder about the fact that DFW was included on the ’99 list. His fiction certainly falls into the ‘challenging and audacious’ category. I wonder if he would have been included had he not been such a celebrated, accessible essayist. Infinite Jest definitely gave him some lit celebrity status, but would the New Yorker have included him based on the content of his fiction alone?

  244. Michael Pemulis

      1. Dylan
      2. Dylan
      3. Dylan
      4. Dylan
      5. Dylan

  245. Mike Meginnis

      Guess I better not finish my MFA so I can be a good writer…

      Does it help if some of the instructors hated you?

  246. Comment2000

      Envy in a too-cool-for-this voice.

  247. scgarz

      i like 24 yr olds but i didn’t like that story

  248. Brendan Connell

      Why would anyone be envious of these folks? Criticising something and being envious are not the same thing.

  249. Joseph Riippi

      Yeah, just saw that. Surprised me.

  250. marshall
  251. Comment2000

      I never said they were.

      Being named a New Yorker Best 20 Under 40 Writer is not too shabby. This blog asked readers to guess beforehand which writers might get to wear the laurel; there have been 110+ comments here and counting….rightly or wrongly, The New Yorker’s imprimatur is something a lot of writers want.

  252. zzzzzipp

      FIRST TIME THROUGH ZZZZIPP DIDN’T MAKE IT PAST THE THIRD CHAPTER

      AND THERE WAS NO BERT HEAD OR ANY HINT OF A BERT HEAD

      YOU NEED TO AT LEAST INTRODUCE THE BERT HEAD BY THE THIRD CHAPTER IF IT’S GOING TO BE ON THE COVER

  253. zzzzzipp

      this much bitterness over something that can’t be controlled and means nothing to the individual === PROBABLY MOTIVATED BY SOMETHING OTHER THAN DISGUZZZZT

      IN ZZZZIPPP’S OPINION—OH MY GOODNESS THERE’S A RAINSTORM OUTSIDE—I HADN’T PLANNED ON THIS–!!! IF YOU DON’T HAVE A TOP AGENT OR SOMETHING PROBABLY NOT WORTH—IS THAT LIGHTNING???

      NO!!!! TIN DOG!!!!!!!

  254. ZZZZZIPP

      COMMENT2000 HOW CAN YOU KNOW HOW OLD A PHOTON IS

  255. Salvatore Pane

      What does her appearance have to do with anything? Are we still throwing around that sexist ‘she made it on the list because she looks like Barbie’ argument? Having two story pubs to her name is a valid argument, but it’s highly possible they’re basing her inclusion on her novel manuscript.

  256. stephen

      heyyo zzzzipp, when u gonna update yr tumblr??

  257. Comment2000

      I had ZZZZIPPP on my list until I saw ZZZZIPPP using lower case in the above comment. ZZZZIPPP is no longer on my list.

  258. Jibba Jabba

      Writers want to sell books?

  259. Comment2000

      My guess is they wanted someone very young to be on the list, and they chose her. I’m not saying she deserves it or she doesn’t. But I doubt she’s there based solely on those two stories and a manuscript. People on lists like this one make it for numerous reasons – in the case of the NYorker 20/40, reasons that often have nothing to do with their writing. They might all be good writers or promising writers but these are not the only reasons why they made it. Someone (or several people) worked hard to get her on the 20/40. And it worked. But this is true of everyone on the list.

  260. Schylur Prinz

      re: looks like Barbie: no, she doesn’t. She looks like a horror-show. Now, Rikva is a cool glass of water.

      I’m friends with Willing Davis (one of the Fiction editors at the NYer) and I can say that only one name on the list genuinely surprised me.

  261. d

      Maybe Obreht’s novel is really really good. I sure hope so, for her sake.

  262. Comment2000

      Could be.

  263. jesusangelgarcia

      Glad to hear, Tim. I thought it was just me. For the record, I’m all for concentration, but I have to have the time and sometimes I just don’t.

      Yeah, Amber, I suggest reading it when you have time to crank through it in a weekend or a week. Otherwise, I dunno… I didn’t approach it that way and it took far too long and I know I didn’t read it well, ya know?

  264. Amber

      I’ve been meaning to check out Scibona. Sounds like I’ll probably want to do that while I’m on vacation or at least less distracted.

  265. jesusangelgarcia

      I think so, Mike. I think that’s a sign of true artistry.

  266. jesusangelgarcia

      Ditto Miranda July. She’s got a saucy voice.

  267. jesusangelgarcia

      Isn’t that b/c you can’t learn to write creatively or well w/out an Ivy-league pedigree? I thought I read that somewhere… in the New Yorker, perhaps?

  268. demi-puppet

      Can someone tell me what is so bad about having “connections”? So JCO was your thesis advisor, and she thought your stuff was good enough to be published, and so she passed on a good for for you. . . and? I don’t think Foer is very good, but his stuff isn’t unpublishable.

      What should he have done?—been like “NO Miss JCO, DO NOT help me out with my career! That would be having. . . CONNECTIONS! If -I- get published, I want it to be because some overworked and overcaffeinated intern with 0 prior publishing experience thought my blind submission was good enough to pass on to his superiors!”

  269. demi-puppet

      good word for you*

  270. Fact-checker on the 20th floor

      “Willing Davis” is your friend?

  271. Jibba Jabba

      People were equally annoyed that much of the initial Foer buzz was created by family friend Dale Peck, who called his book one of the best first novels ever. This is the same Peck who whowrote a whole whiny book about how Foer-style antics are ruining American literature.

      Just a giant shell game with that kid.

  272. Brendan Connell

      Commenting and wanting are not the same thing. Selling books is always nice, but aside from that it is pretty worthless. Excellency over time is what counts. Too much praise too young is more likely to harm these writers than help them.

      These are the guys and gals who’ll probably be busted shoplifting nasal inhalers when they are in their 50’s.

  273. Brendan Connell

      Nothing wrong with Foer using whatever connections he has I suppose. The problem I have is more with the NYer than with the writers they named. The problem with the youth card is it only works while you are young. 20 years from now no one will know who Foer and Tea are I’d imagine. Then there will be some new list of hot young writers. It is not like any of these folks are Goethe or something who had people committing suicide after reading Werther.

  274. Brendan Connell

      If they are basing it on an unpublished novel then that is even more absurd. And there is nothing sexist about saying she looks like Barbie.

      Now if I said that she probably slept with the judges….

  275. Brendan Connell

      Which name?

  276. drew kalbach

      2 authors under 30

  277. demi-puppet

      Dale Peck is a puppet designed to look like a person. One of my profs here once knew him, and told a few stories about him, so I looked up and read a bunch of his stuff. I seriously don’t understand how one person becomes that unhinged while still having that base-level quotidian sanity about them. Dan Schneider is another guy kind of like him: writers whose immense ego and rage prevents them from really ever even presenting a coherent argument.

  278. Jibba Jabba

      Ha. Dan Schneider the cosmoetica guy? He actually hosts a really good MFA article by Brooks Haxton on that site.

      I actually kind of respect The Pecks/ Schneiders of the world. We need more critics with the balls to have an opinion. I do, however, feel equally sad for them. They’re just missing out on so many literary pleasures…

  279. Ryan Call

      the schneiderverse of schneider verse!

  280. Joseph Riippi

      Yeah, just saw that. Surprised me.

  281. Jibba Jabba

      I think so. Everyone was talking about him, and the time everyone was talking about him pretty much coincided with list. Good enough for them.

  282. Jibba Jabba

      You can hear her saucy voice on her audio book! Recommended.

  283. Guest
  284. alan

      Well reviewed? Witz was “briefly noted” in the New Yorker, and that brief note contained phrases like “self-serious.”

  285. ZZZZZIPP

      COMMENT2000 HOW CAN YOU KNOW HOW OLD A PHOTON IS

  286. jesusangelgarcia

      Glad to hear, Tim. I thought it was just me. For the record, I’m all for concentration, but I have to have the time and sometimes I just don’t.

      Yeah, Amber, I suggest reading it when you have time to crank through it in a weekend or a week. Otherwise, I dunno… I didn’t approach it that way and it took far too long and I know I didn’t read it well, ya know?

  287. jesusangelgarcia

      I think so, Mike. I think that’s a sign of true artistry.

  288. jesusangelgarcia

      Ditto Miranda July. She’s got a saucy voice.

  289. jesusangelgarcia

      Isn’t that b/c you can’t learn to write creatively or well w/out an Ivy-league pedigree? I thought I read that somewhere… in the New Yorker, perhaps?

  290. demi-puppet

      Can someone tell me what is so bad about having “connections”? So JCO was your thesis advisor, and she thought your stuff was good enough to be published, and so she passed on a good for for you. . . and? I don’t think Foer is very good, but his stuff isn’t unpublishable.

      What should he have done?—been like “NO Miss JCO, DO NOT help me out with my career! That would be having. . . CONNECTIONS! If -I- get published, I want it to be because some overworked and overcaffeinated intern with 0 prior publishing experience thought my blind submission was good enough to pass on to his superiors!”

  291. demi-puppet

      good word for you*

  292. James Yeh

      “Willing Davis” is your friend?

  293. Jibba Jabba

      People were equally annoyed that much of the initial Foer buzz was created by family friend Dale Peck, who called his book one of the best first novels ever. This is the same Peck who whowrote a whole whiny book about how Foer-style antics are ruining American literature.

      Just a giant shell game with that kid.

  294. Brendan Connell

      Nothing wrong with Foer using whatever connections he has I suppose. The problem I have is more with the NYer than with the writers they named. The problem with the youth card is it only works while you are young. 20 years from now no one will know who Foer and Tea are I’d imagine. Then there will be some new list of hot young writers. It is not like any of these folks are Goethe or something who had people committing suicide after reading Werther.

  295. demi-puppet

      I too like it when critics have the balls to forcefully state an opinion. (I wish we had a modern-day Emerson—dude was so brilliant, and also so brilliantly ruthless.) But to call either Peck or Schneider “critics” is pretty generous, I think.

  296. drew kalbach

      2 authors under 30

  297. demi-puppet

      Dale Peck is a puppet designed to look like a person. One of my profs here once knew him, and told a few stories about him, so I looked up and read a bunch of his stuff. I seriously don’t understand how one person becomes that unhinged while still having that base-level quotidian sanity about them. Dan Schneider is another guy kind of like him: writers whose immense ego and rage prevents them from really ever even presenting a coherent argument.

  298. Jibba Jabba

      Ha. Dan Schneider the cosmoetica guy? He actually hosts a really good MFA article by Brooks Haxton on that site.

      I actually kind of respect The Pecks/ Schneiders of the world. We need more critics with the balls to have an opinion. I do, however, feel equally sad for them. They’re just missing out on so many literary pleasures…

  299. Ryan Call

      the schneiderverse of schneider verse!

  300. Jibba Jabba

      I think so. Everyone was talking about him, and the time everyone was talking about him pretty much coincided with list. Good enough for them.

  301. Jibba Jabba

      You can hear her saucy voice on her audio book! Recommended.

  302. alan

      Well reviewed? Witz was “briefly noted” in the New Yorker, and that brief note contained phrases like “self-serious.”

  303. demi-puppet

      I too like it when critics have the balls to forcefully state an opinion. (I wish we had a modern-day Emerson—dude was so brilliant, and also so brilliantly ruthless.) But to call either Peck or Schneider “critics” is pretty generous, I think.

  304. Edward Champion

      Have any of these writers dined at In-N-Out? Or eaten a good burger in the last year or two? That’s the real story.

  305. d

      That was not the case with the last list they made. A good chunk of the last list went on to write novels that sold very well, and a good chunk of the last list are still fairly ‘big’ writers (for literary fiction).

  306. Dan Wickett

      Well, we know one of them hasn’t don’t we?

  307. Comment2000
  308. Comment2000

      I realize commenting and wanting are not the same thing. Thanks.

      Implicit in the strong interest expressed in this useless list of Writers Born After 1970 is a desire to be on that list by the writers who read this site and who read the New Yorker. If you disagree, fine. I just can’t imagine there are very many people here who write and who are under 40 saying, No thanks, I don’t want to be on that bloody list.

      I know, I know: a TRUE artist…etc. etc. etc.

  309. Comment2000

      Nothing wrong with connections.

  310. Comment2000

      Maybe he has. Now THAT would be a real story.

  311. Comment2000

      I try to keep photons and art separate but I simply cannot.

  312. joseph

      Yeah, I don’t get the “Barbie-Looking” thing. She doesn’t, and if she did, it would make 0 difference to me and probably should to you too. In fact, I’d be impressed with a badass writer who looked like barbie rather than a badass writer.

      the NYer is disgusting, not her. they just creamed their pants/panties (if there are any females on the editing board, I don’t know) when they saw a 24 year old cornell grad with a manuscript about family and war or whatever with an accent mark in her ambiguously ethnic pen-name.

  313. Schulyer Prinz

      Fact checker: you got me, I mistyped a last name. Put me on a boat to Guantanamo.

  314. Comment2000

      He could then write a sequel to his most recent book, using the same title, but writing from a carnivore’s perspective.

  315. Edward Champion

      Have any of these writers dined at In-N-Out? Or eaten a good burger in the last year or two? That’s the real story.

  316. Fact-checker on the 20th floor

      What can I say? Facts are facts. Just seems a little fishy that a “friend” wouldn’t get somebody’s last name right.

      As a former colleague of Mr. Davidson’s, I found a handful of names surprising: Philipp Meyer, C. E. Morgan, and Salvatore Scibona.

  317. d

      That was not the case with the last list they made. A good chunk of the last list went on to write novels that sold very well, and a good chunk of the last list are still fairly ‘big’ writers (for literary fiction).

  318. Dan Wickett

      Well, we know one of them hasn’t don’t we?

  319. Comment2000
  320. Comment2000

      I realize commenting and wanting are not the same thing. Thanks.

      Implicit in the strong interest expressed in this useless list of Writers Born After 1970 is a desire to be on that list by the writers who read this site and who read the New Yorker. If you disagree, fine. I just can’t imagine there are very many people here who write and who are under 40 saying, No thanks, I don’t want to be on that bloody list.

      I know, I know: a TRUE artist…etc. etc. etc.

  321. Comment2000

      Nothing wrong with connections.

  322. Comment2000

      Maybe he has. Now THAT would be a real story.

  323. Comment2000

      I try to keep photons and art separate but I simply cannot.

  324. joseph

      Yeah, I don’t get the “Barbie-Looking” thing. She doesn’t, and if she did, it would make 0 difference to me and probably should to you too. In fact, I’d be impressed with a badass writer who looked like barbie rather than a badass writer.

      the NYer is disgusting, not her. they just creamed their pants/panties (if there are any females on the editing board, I don’t know) when they saw a 24 year old cornell grad with a manuscript about family and war or whatever with an accent mark in her ambiguously ethnic pen-name.

  325. demi-puppet

      I can’t read it!

  326. Schulyer Prinz

      Fact checker: you got me, I mistyped a last name. Put me on a boat to Guantanamo.

  327. Comment2000

      Try again. It didn’t work for me just now but I tried again and was able to pull up the page. The article fyi is: ‘Hatchet Jobs’: Smash-Mouth Criticism, By John Leonard, NY Times, July 18, 2004.

  328. Comment2000

      He could then write a sequel to his most recent book, using the same title, but writing from a carnivore’s perspective.

  329. James Yeh

      What can I say? Facts are facts. Just seems a little fishy that a “friend” wouldn’t get somebody’s last name right.

      As a former colleague of Mr. Davidson’s, I found a handful of names surprising: Philipp Meyer, C. E. Morgan, and Salvatore Scibona.

  330. demi-puppet

      I can’t read it!

  331. Comment2000

      Try again. It didn’t work for me just now but I tried again and was able to pull up the page. The article fyi is: ‘Hatchet Jobs’: Smash-Mouth Criticism, By John Leonard, NY Times, July 18, 2004.

  332. zusya

      rrrrerp! i’m taking the keys to the studio.

  333. Connor Tomas O'Brien › Links: Lit

      […] picks for the top 20 writers under 40 ruffles the feathers of lesser-celebrated writers over at HTMLGIANT. The breakdown of the writers in the list in terms of MFA programs is particularly interesting. Six […]

  334. zusya17

      @ZZZIIIPPPity-doo-dah “NO!!!! TIN DOG!!!!!!!” had me laughing for like 10 minutes. damn/bless you.

  335. Comment2000

      The NY Post gossip page brings it:

      At a book festival in London, Brooklynite and vegetarian Jonathan Safran Foer was discussing, with the zeal of a convert, his book, “Eating Animals,” while sharing the stage with British author Hephzibah Anderson, author of “Chastened.” Anderson promptly reminisced fondly about sharing American-size bacon cheeseburgers with Foer only a few short years ago. How did Foer look in reaction to this? “Sheepish,” said our spy.

      http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/burger_shame_b51MeaQYHrYKuq8QAgi6PJ#ixzz0qOLQziLR

  336. Comment2000

      The NY Post gossip page brings it:

      At a book festival in London, Brooklynite and vegetarian Jonathan Safran Foer was discussing, with the zeal of a convert, his book, “Eating Animals,” while sharing the stage with British author Hephzibah Anderson, author of “Chastened.” Anderson promptly reminisced fondly about sharing American-size bacon cheeseburgers with Foer only a few short years ago. How did Foer look in reaction to this? “Sheepish,” said our spy.

      http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/burger_shame_b51MeaQYHrYKuq8QAgi6PJ#ixzz0qOLQziLR

  337. Wake Up, Wake Up « Big Lucks Literary Journal

      […] 20 Under 40?  I bet you have. You might be interested in seeing where many of these folks got their MFAs.  Lesson: most of us have been doing it […]

  338. C W Kelly

      The best writers now living in USA under 40:

      1. Mark Leidner
      2. Andre Wilkensen
      3. Meghan Lamb
      4. MZA
      5. L.A. Martinson
      6. Mike Kitchell
      7. C.W. Kelly

      The rest I haven’t read yet (or haven’t read enough of to make a call)

  339. marshall

      The RZA, the GZA, the MZA?

  340. C W Kelly

      The best writers now living in USA under 40:

      1. Mark Leidner
      2. Andre Wilkensen
      3. Meghan Lamb
      4. MZA
      5. L.A. Martinson
      6. Mike Kitchell
      7. C.W. Kelly

      The rest I haven’t read yet (or haven’t read enough of to make a call)

  341. Guest

      The RZA, the GZA, the MZA?

  342. d

      Tea Obreht’s story is in the New Yorker about to come out.

  343. d

      (It’s pretty good.)

  344. d

      Tea Obreht’s story is in the New Yorker about to come out.

  345. d

      (It’s pretty good.)

  346. JDB

      Tea Obreht looks like Barbie in What World?

      Anthony Doerr should have topped this list. But then again,he isn’t hip. He doesn’t act hip. He doesn’t have awesome hair or cool glasses or live in Brooklyn. He’s not ethnic. He doesn’t have a sharp cynical aesthetic and a narrow (open)mind. But most of all, he isn’t bounded by hipness. He can write from the point of view of a South African orphan, a teenage suburban girl, or any other point of view on this planet and do so convincingly. He just writes his butt off with a lot of heart and a curious mind, and it shows with things like winning the National Magazine Award this year. His new book Memory Wall is the best SS collection I’ve read in years.

      The New Yorker is hardly a high-watermark for fiction, anyway. Do they pay the best, yes. Is their editorial board full of cowards? Yes. It’s just sad that they are all that’s left doing fiction in the big glossies (Esquire no longer counts due to a decade of things like the overwhelming nature of cologne ads and the recent James Franco piece–remember Murakami and Saunders, Esquire?).

      As far as MFA’s go, what you get from an MFA is time to write, some good readers, and maybe connections–and yes, those in it just for the connections are sick lazy shits. But to exclude writers because they have MFA’s? Have fun reading only blogs the rest of your life. And, I’d count Hemingway in Paris as having been part of an MFA community, as well as Faulkner down in New Orleans with Sherwood Anderson. The times have just changed, but it’s the same arrangement.

  347. d

      “He’s not ethnic.”

      What does this mean?

  348. JDB

      Tea Obreht looks like Barbie in What World?

      Anthony Doerr should have topped this list. But then again,he isn’t hip. He doesn’t act hip. He doesn’t have awesome hair or cool glasses or live in Brooklyn. He’s not ethnic. He doesn’t have a sharp cynical aesthetic and a narrow (open)mind. But most of all, he isn’t bounded by hipness. He can write from the point of view of a South African orphan, a teenage suburban girl, or any other point of view on this planet and do so convincingly. He just writes his butt off with a lot of heart and a curious mind, and it shows with things like winning the National Magazine Award this year. His new book Memory Wall is the best SS collection I’ve read in years.

      The New Yorker is hardly a high-watermark for fiction, anyway. Do they pay the best, yes. Is their editorial board full of cowards? Yes. It’s just sad that they are all that’s left doing fiction in the big glossies (Esquire no longer counts due to a decade of things like the overwhelming nature of cologne ads and the recent James Franco piece–remember Murakami and Saunders, Esquire?).

      As far as MFA’s go, what you get from an MFA is time to write, some good readers, and maybe connections–and yes, those in it just for the connections are sick lazy shits. But to exclude writers because they have MFA’s? Have fun reading only blogs the rest of your life. And, I’d count Hemingway in Paris as having been part of an MFA community, as well as Faulkner down in New Orleans with Sherwood Anderson. The times have just changed, but it’s the same arrangement.

  349. d

      “He’s not ethnic.”

      What does this mean?

  350. Wake Up, Wake Up | Big Lucks

      […] 20 Under 40?  I bet you have. You might be interested in seeing where many of these folks got their MFAs. Lesson: most of us have been doing it […]

  351. Cigarettes Coupons

      and what’s the point?