The 2005 Fiction Issue
An introduction
An Interview With C. Michael Curtis: The Atlantic Monthly's fiction editor discusses short stories, discovering new writers, and his long tenure at the magazine.
Features
Writers and Mentors
The author of The Ice Storm and Demonology thinks back to his earliest years as a writer, and the kind of teaching that helped or hindered him
Moral Fiction
A distinguished novelist and teacher argues that we should look to serious fiction for moral complexity, not moral certainty
The Perils of Literary Success
Her novel, unexpectedly, became a best seller. Then the fun began
Agenda
*BD* 11 1 86
He wondered what letters of recommendation his teachers were writing for him. What was in the confidential file locked away in the principal's office?
Coming Soon: The astonishingly prolific novelist and critic Joyce Carol Oates talks about modern science, the writing life, and "*BD* 11 1 86," her short story in this issue.
How We Avenged the Blums
We wanted to do battle with the local Anti-Semite. A school janitor offered commando training
The House on Kronenstrasse
Her mother's last words led to a place Christiane had fled as a child—and where truth lay concealed
Poor Devil
They were, sadly, splitting up and leaving the house they'd shared for eight years. Who knew where a kiss would take them?
Director's Cut
His mother's reappearance was bad enough. Even worse was the documentary she proposed to make
Weightlifting for Catholics
Harry suddenly wanted to find God. His confessor, a renegade Dominican priest, had problems of his own
City Visit
The other boys had slammed him against the lockers. Now, in New York, he could buy the experience he wanted
Interviews: Adam Haslett talks about the rhythm of language, studying law, and "City Visit," his short story in the fiction issue
Tell Them, Please Tell Them
Fear slowly consumed Sasha, until terror was all that was left of him
Books
Alfred Kazin on Hemingway
Most writers struggle to produce well-crafted sentences. But as the literary critic and author Alfred Kazin explained in 1964, for Hemingway the perfect sentence was almost an obsession.
James Atlas on Disparagement
In 1981 the author and literary critic James Atlas explained why the most powerful and engaging book reviews tend to be scathing.
Eudora Welty on the Short Story
Wherein lies a great short story's allure? In 1949 the novelist and short-story writer Eudora Welty sought to convey a sense of the beauty, mystery, and spontaneity that make some stories special.
Wallace Stegner on Profanity
Even authors with no qualms about using an obscenity here and there for emphasis have their limits. In 1965 Wallace Stegner, the novelist of the American West, criticized the tendency of many fledgling writers to substitute a surfeit of profanity for powerfully crafted prose.
Edith Wharton on Characters
Which comes first—the characters or the plot? In 1933 the novelist Edith Wharton explained that sometimes it was a character and other times a situation that suggested to her the idea for a story.
Vladimir Nabokov on Chekhov
In a lecture posthumously published in 1981, Vladimir Nabokov commended the brooding works of his countryman Anton Chekhov to contemporary readers.
Saul Bellow on Moralism
In 1963 the novelist Saul Bellow warned against the temptation to weigh down a work of art with gratuitous negativity or heavy-handed moralism.
Charles Dickens on Stardom
In 1842 Charles Dickens, who was by then an international literary celebrity, made a highly publicized visit to the United States. In a letter to a friend, the British author John Forster, Dickens complained of being overwhelmed by the attentions of his fans.
Pursuits
Seed Packet
[with audio]
Bus to San Miniato al Monte
[with audio]
The Peasants' Revolt
[with audio]
Sovereign Joy
[with audio]
Doin' It in the Park: No Gatorade (Excerpt) 
The Visual Clichés of Instagram 
Synthetic Biology 
