The Paris Review
Edited by Lorin Stein

The Dance – Does any magazine do a better job of celebrating writers and good writing? Volumes 195 and 196 feature interviews with Jonathan Franzen, Louise Erdrich, Ann Beattie, and Janet Malcolm as well as the prose, poetry and artwork of two dozen others. In one especially memorable moment, Ann Beattie describes the dance between the writer and what is being written – and cites the moment when a writer realizes she knows as much about the story as the character being created. Katie Roiphe’s interview with the reluctant-to-reveal-much Janet Malcolm is equally intriguing. It’s like watching Roiphe attempt the tango while Malcolm insists on the fox trot.