Samarkand, complaining, Siberian hamsters
Issue 7 of n+1 magazine, which contains Part One of my memoir about Samarkand, is returning from the printers today. Let me clarify that when I say “returning from the printers,” I don’t mean it will happen by magic or thanks to a federal bail-out, but, rather, that the editors are going to drive to Pennsylvania in a U-Haul to get them. Subsequently there will be an “unloading party” at the n+1 offices in Dumbo. They will ply their writers and subscribers and the readers of their writers’ blogs with beer, in the effort to get them to unload the truck. Needless to say this is just the kind of literary-proletarian evening I myself particularly relish, but to my dismay I somehow find myself 3000 miles away. But the truck will be at 68 Jay Street, #405 (the corner of Front and Jay, a block from the F station), ETA 8pm, and those of you in New York are warmly invited.
In other news, I also have a piece called “On Complaining” in the upcoming issue of the LRB. It’s kind of ironic because “On Complaining” takes a generally negative attitude towards complaining, whereas in the Samarkand memoir I myself kind of do a lot of complaining. This is another example of the complexity of the human condition. Still, you definitely don’t want to miss that issue of the LRB because I hear it will also contain Keith Gessen’s “notes about his grandmother.” And you don’t even have to unload their truck.
Dear readers, I leave you with an image unrelated to this post, except maybe in some deeper, metaphysical sense. But I just can’t stop thinking about these Siberian hamsters:
Tags: animals, Keith Gessen, n+1, publications, Uzbekistan
November 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Hey Elif. I’m excited for your LRB article, “On Complaining” and can’t wait to forward it to all my exes. Also, I’d help unload the n+1 truck were I not working tonight.
Hamsters!,
Tara
November 8th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Elif dear,
I feel exactly like one of those hamsters these days, but I–diligent subscriber–look forward to finding fresh copies of both journals in my modest Sicilian mailbox.
November 9th, 2008 at 7:33 am
How does one get one of them LRB things?
November 9th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Dear Tara, Marilena and Peli,
I am really touched by your interest in my thoughts on complaining! Peli, yes, I’m afraid it’s going to be tough for you to rustle up a copy of the LRB in a cultural wasteland like Harvard… I think I actually saw one once on the floor of the toilet in the Barker center (but that was of course the women’s toilet). I will put up a link when it comes out—I think it’s gonna be the issue of 11/20.
Hamsters! e
November 10th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I’m scared that if I go into Widener a man with the head and the tail of a bull will devour me!