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Best New Yorker Articles of 1991

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1991 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: Milton Viorst (3)

Most featured section: Fiction

Featured Picks

THE HOUSE OF HASHEM
Milton Viorst · A Reporter at Large · January 7

A REPORTER AT LARGE about Jordan. Writer went to a congress organized by JANDA-Jordanian Arab National Democratic Alliance. The group emerged out of a …

THE EIGHTH BRIDGE
Tom Buckley · A Reporter at Large · January 14

REPORTER AT LARGE about Hell Gate Bridge which opened in 1917. It was the work of an engineer named Gustav Lindenthal who had built up a thriving practice …

From the Sixties—I
John Cheever · Journals · January 21

John Cheever’s notes on his family, his writing, and America.

THE COMPLETE ACTOR
Mel Gussow · Profiles · January 28

PROFILE of English actor Michael Gambon. He has built his reputation principally in plays by Alan Ayckbourn, Simon Gray, and Harold Pinter. During his …

A GOLD COIN
David Blum · Profiles · February 4

PROFILE of violinist Josef Gingold. He was born Oct. 28, 1909 and teaches at the School of Music at Indiana University. Tells about his audition for Eugene…

A Different Kind of Imperfection
Thomas Beller · Fiction · February 11

During Christmas vacation, Alex comes home from Vassar to his mother's apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He is depressed about breaking up…

Wilderness Tips
Margaret Atwood · Fiction · February 18

George and Prue became lovers when he came to Toronto in the late fifties, as a refugee from Hungary. Soon after, he married Prue's younger sister, …

Old Flame
William Trevor · Fiction · February 25

In 1951, Charles, married to Zoe, had an affair with Audrey, a beautiful young woman who worked in his office. Audrey lived with her plain friend, Grace, …

The Very Comical Lament of Pyramus and Thisbe
Susan Sontag · Other · March 4

Susan Sontag’s exploration of a modern-day version of the story from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses."

Al Denny
Garrison Keillor · Fiction · March 11

Al Denny describes his career as a best-selling author of self-improvement books. En route to San Francisco for a conference on Birthing Our …

THE YUGOSLAV IDEA
Milton Viorst · A Reporter at Large · March 18

REPORTER AT LARGE about Yugoslavia made up of six republics & 24 million people. Living within these republics are several dozen ethnic, linguistic, and …

The School on the Links
Muriel Spark · Personal History · March 25

Muriel Spark on how she discovered Miss Jean Brodie.

Onionskin
Allegra Goodman · Fiction · April 1

Story in the form of a letter written by Sharon, a middleaged Jewish college student, to Dr. Friedell, her religion professor at the University of Hawaii. …

Mauser
Louise Erdrich · Fiction · April 8

The narrator works for Jack Mauser's construction and road improvement company near Sioux Falls. Another employe, Travis Houpart, is married to …

ROOTS
Robert Cullen · A Reporter at Large · April 15

REPORTER AT LARGE about two of the Transcaucasus republics Armenia & Azerbaijan. They are Soviet republics. "Glasnost" has undermined Soviet discipline. …

UNCONQUERABLE
Barry Paris · Profiles · April 22

PROFILE of Marcia Davenport, 37, who has spanned the realms of music & literature for half a century. She was the first American to write a biography of …

The Profumo Affair
Ethna Carroll · Fiction · April 29

The narrator returns to Dublin for the funeral of her mother. She lives with her husband, a carpenter, in Detroit. Sorting out the contents of her …

Let’s Pretend
Ingrid Sischy · On Photography · May 6

Ingrid Sischy on the overlooked artist Lady Clementina Hawarden, her modern counterpart Cindy Sherman, and photography that wholeheartedly gives into fantasy.

Four Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Planet
Danny Shanahan · Fiction · May 13

Four-panel cartoon spread, parodying the book "Fifty Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth." 1. "Eat your mail." 2. "Don't drag your feet when you…

A TROMBONE MOUTH
Whitney Balliett · Profiles · May 20

PROFILE of jazz trombonists Jimmy Knepper. The tenor saxophonist and pianist Loren Schoenberg played with him on Staten Island, and said of him recently, …

LOGGING THE RAIN FOREST
Stan Sesser · A Reporter at Large · May 27

Mentioned several times in REPORTER AT LARGE about the Borneo rain forest. The northern third of the island of Borneo is divided into the Malaysian states …

THE POLITICS OF NEIGHBORHOOD
David K. Shipler · A Reporter at Large · June 3

REPORTER AT LARGE about Moscow, especially the Krasno-Presnensky neighborhood. In Mar., 1990 the country's first truly free elections were held. The …

I-CHINATOWN
Gwen Kinkead · A Reporter at Large · June 10

REPORTER AT LARGE about New York's Chinatown, the largest Chinese community in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its inhabitants lead lives segregated …

Living Large
Susan Orlean · Profiles · June 17

Susan Orlean’s 1991 Profile of Fab Five Freddy, the artist, musician, and host of “Yo! MTV Raps.”

GOLDEN MONKEYS
Diane Ackerman · A Reporter at Large · June 24

A REPORTER AT LARGE about the golden lion tamarin monkey, and about a conservation program to reintroduce it to its natural environment in a. rain forest …

PLAYING POSSUM
John Lahr · Profiles · July 1

PROFILE of Australian comic Barry Humphries who gives solo performances on the British stage as Dame Edna Everage, a character he has created. Tells about …

HEART OF THE DELTA
Donovan Webster · A Reporter at Large · July 8

REPORTER AT LARGE about crop dusting in the Mississippi Delta. Just southwest of West Helena, Arkansas writer visited the office of Planter's Ag, one …

I-THE EDUCATION OF AN ARCHBISHOP
Paul Wilkes · Profiles · July 15

PROFILE of Rembert George Weakland, 64, Archbishop of Milwaukee. Writer spoke with him last Sept. just after he came back from a monthlong vacation. He …

II-THE EDUCATION OF AN ARCHBISHOP
Paul Wilkes · Profiles · July 22

PROFILE of Rembert George Weakland, Archbishop of Milwaukee. Writer went with him last Nov. to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops which holds it …

A TOUCH FOR THE NOW
Lauren Michele Jackson · Profiles · July 29

PROFILE of Walter Hopps, 59, consulting curator of the Menil Collection, in Houston, which opened to the public in 1987. Hopps is the founding director. …

AIR WARS
John Newhouse · A Reporter at Large · August 5

REPORTER AT LARGE about U.S.-British negotiations about which two U.S. airlines should be allowed to fly into & out of London's Heathrow Airport, the …

From the Seventies and Early Eighties
John Cheever · Journals · August 12

Excerpts from the diary of John Cheever.

Summer Visitors
Huguette Martel · Fiction · August 19

Full-page color spread about a farmhouse in upstate New York that is visited by famous people. John Wayne rides the neighbor's cow, a French delegation…

People Who Don't Know the Answers
Anne Tyler · Fiction · August 26

Doug Bedloe, a schoolteacher, feels at loose ends when he retires. He lives with his arthritic wife, Bee; their son, Ian; and their young grandchildren, …

Fork
Peter Saenger · Fiction · September 2

Paul, age 11, lives with his uncle Matt and aunt Nancy while his mother is dying. They live on a farm outside Jackson, Massachusetts. After Paul throws a …

The Way People Run
Christopher Tilghman · Fiction · September 9

Barry has been looking for work on the West Coast, after losing his job on Wall Street. While his wife and two small daughters remain in New York, he …

THE BEES FROM RIO CLARO
Wallace White · A Reporter at Large · September 16

REPORTER AT LARGE about Africanized honeybees in Brazil. The first bees originated outside the city of Rio Claro. In the fall of 1956 a Brazilian …

INSIDE/OUTSIDE
Mordecai Richler · A Reporter at Large · September 23

REPORTER AT LARGE about Quebec & the efforts to preserve French as the only language in the province although Canada is a country with two official …

AFTER THE LIBERATION
Milton Viorst · A Reporter at Large · September 30

REPORTER AT LARGE about Kuwait where writer arrived in early August eager to see how the country was faring after 7 months of occupation & 5 of freedom. …

LADYBUGS
Sue Hubbell · A Reporter at Large · October 7

A REPORTER AT LARGE about ladybugs, mainly havesting and selling them. Writer interviews a harvester of ladybugs, Mike Lake; and the owners of Unique …

MOVING TO RICHLAND-I
Philip Schuyler · Profiles · October 14

PROFILE of James L. Acord, Jr., a sculptor who designs an builds nuclear sculptures. Describes his repository for nuclear waste(in this case uranium oxide …

Carried Away
Alice Munro · Fiction · October 21

A short story by Alice Munro explores the letter correspondence between a librarian in Carstairs, Ontario, and a local soldier, away at the front, during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Comment, Pt. I
Louis Menand · Comment · October 28

Comment about the Senate Judiciary hearings on Clarence Thomas and their effects on the American psyche. Thomas, the federal judge nominated by President …

Artists at the Auto Show
Michael Crawford · Fiction · November 4

Color cartoon spread showing automobiles based on paintings and sculptures: Claude Monet's Hay Rover, Picasso's Taurus LX, Constantin …

Bilt-Rite
Alan Sternberg · Fiction · November 11

Ralph Correggio is the owner of Bilt-Rite Construction, Inc., a small construction company in Connecticut. His four employees are Steve Heagan, 37; Paul …

“The Elephant Vanishes”
Haruki Murakami · Fiction · November 18

Archival fiction by Haruki Murakami: The search went on for several days, but the authorities were unable to discover a single clue to the elephant’s whereabouts.

Outlaw Love
Polly Frost · Fiction · November 25

Courtney Millerton-Rodriguez, a schoolgirl, comes home in tears one day because a boy named Wilton Enright interrupted her report on minimizing water …

OPENING WINDOWS
David Owen · Profiles · December 2

PROFILE of Kenny Schaffer. Writer describes him as an exhippie, radio-hobbyist, engineer, inventor, publicist, entrepreneur, rock-star, manager, salesman, …

Attraction
David Long · Fiction · December 9

In the small Western town of Sperry in the early 1960s, the working-class teenager Marly Wilcox is fascinated by Charlie "Chas" Bitterman, the handsome son…

Dirty Words
Antonya Nelson · Fiction · December 16

Bette, 25, moves from La Jolla, California, to Chicago. She marries Sergio Petroski, 53, owner of the Marxist coffeehouse where she works. She feels …

A State of Affairs
Mavis Gallant · Fiction · December 23

M. Maciek Wroblewski, a Polish gentile survivor of Dachau, lives in Paris with his senile wife, Magda Zaleska, and their schnauzer, Hector. After the war, …

Oliver North’s Iran-Contra Commodity
Mark Danner · Comment · December 30

With the publication of the Colonel’s memoirs and his nineteen-city tour to promote it, the Iran-Contra affair began its inevitable transformation from tragedy into farce into “product,” Mark Danner wrote, in 1991.

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