Few snippets from
Jennifer Egan's excellent
short fiction work,
“Black Box,”
in the June 4 & 11, 2012 issue of
The New Yorker, The
Science Fiction Issue.
 |
| Jennifer Egan, "Black Box" : The New Yorker |
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Some citizen agents have chosen not to
return.
They have left their bodies behind, and
now they shimmer sublimely in the
heavens.
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...Necessary ingredients for a successful projection: giggles; bare legs; shyness.
The goal is to be both irresistible and invisible.
When you succeed, a certain sharpness will go out of his eyes.
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Some powerful men actually call their beauties "Beauty."
Counter to reputation, there is a deep camaraderie among beauties.
If your Designated Mate is widely feared, the beauties at the house
party where you've gone undercover to meet him will be especially kind.
Kindness feels good, even when it's based on a false notion of your identity and purpose.
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Posing as a beauty means not reading what you would like to read on a rocky shore in the
South of France....
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Eagerness and pliability can be expressed even in the way you climb from the sea onto chalky yellow rocks.
"You're a very fast swimmer," uttered by a man who is still submerged, may not be intended as praise...
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...The directive "
Relax" suggests that your discomfort is palpable.
"No one can see us" suggests that your discomfort has been understood as fear of physical exposure.
"Relax, relax," uttered in rhythmic, throaty tones, suggests that your discomfort is not unwelcome.
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Here Deborah Treisman talks with Jennifer Egan about her story “
Black Box,”
written as a series of Tweets. And
Jonathan Lethem,
Junot Díaz, and
Sam
Lipsyte share their science-fiction thoughts and book recommendations.
Listen to the mp3 on the player above, or
right-click here to download.
