The New Yorker has been in existence for 100 years: 'Journalism is the heart, humor the blood'

On the cover of the very first issue of The New YorkerThat came out in February 1925, a drawing of a somewhat faded dandy from the nineteenth century, complete with a high black hat, who studies a butterfly through a monocle. The young man radiates complacency and superior boredom. A hundred years later, Eustace Tilley, the name De Dandy got in later years, is still the logo of the magazine – although the New Yorker would rather talk about 'the mascot'.

The current editor-in-chief, the David Remnick, who took office in 1998, recently acquitted in a TV interview that he has mixed feelings with the mascot. « I am afraid that people will see Eustace as a sign of snobism, or excessive pride, » said Remnick.

Adam Gopnik (68), who has been connected to The New Yorker as a writer since 1986, understands that his editor -in -chief is worried about that, but sees no harm in it. « It was an ironic joke of a few bijde managing Jewish New Yorkers about how they might happen to. That does not mean that they identified with Eustace. « 

The Bijdehantant New Yorkers about whom Gopnik has it were the founders of the weekly: editor -in -chief Harold Ross and his wife, New York Times-Reporter Jane Grant, lender Raoul Fleischmann and Art Director Rea Irvin. The latter not only designed the mascot, but also the font that is still being used, according to Gopnik a « brilliant act. »

The first New Yorker was primarily a humorous magazine, full of cartoons, satire, sharp culture criticism and scandalous stories about the high society of Manhattan. These elements are still fully present in the magazine, but the mix has been expanded with serious journalism, essayistics, fiction and poetry. « Journalism is the heart, humor the blood, » says Gopnik about the current New Yorker, who has 1.2 million paying subscribers.

Owl houses

No subject is too crazy for The New Yorker. The magazine is known for long, in -depth stories, which might as well be about campaign financing or nuclear weapons in Iran as about Uilenhuizen, Magic or mysterious deaths. Yet they are all typical New Yorker stories. That has to do with the difficult word to translate sensibility ('sensitivity' comes close), Gopnik explains. « A book review has been written with us with a certain humorous, sometimes even cheerful tone. Even someone like John Updike adhered to, who dealt with themes such as adultery and the American working class in serious novels. Humor is the foundation of the magazine. We are also the only Anglo -Saxon magazine in which cartoons are dominant. « 

And then there is the style, Gopnik continues. « In scientific journals and with opinion leaves it is often about making an argument, while we give a series of observations at The New Yorker. »

He himself got the hang of that by writing stories about life in New York in the section in his first years in the section The Talk of the Town. « No creative writing course can compete with that. » The New Yorker works with writers who like to use literary resources, says Gopnik.

A good example of this is the 30,000 -word story Hiroshima by John Hersey, which appeared in the magazine in 1946. « Hersey wrote down the experiences of eight residents of Hiroshima during and after the impact of the American atomic bomb. He used a literary remedy, enlarging the personal experience, to make an indescribable tragedy tangible. The piece changed thinking about nuclear weapons in the United States. « 

Gopnik's favorite genre is the personal essay, for which he gets plenty of room at The New Yorker. He apparently chooses insignificant events from his life to cut a subject that interests him. That's how he described in the witty Driver's Seat From 2015 how he got his driver's license at the age of 55. « What happens to us when we learn and what is the relationship with a teacher? That was the real subject of the piece. « 

Fact checkers

Asked if his preference for the personal essay is also a way to avoid the dreaded fact checkers of the magazine, Gopnik says: « If only it were true. I once described the American Museum of Natural History through the eyes of my children. The fact checkers only wanted to publish the piece when they had spoken with the children. My daughter was six and was asked: was the Coyote really your favorite animal? ”

Nowadays the fact checkers are from another blow, says Gopnik. « When I started it was even older people with a library background, nowadays it is twenties who are promoted in comparative literary sciences. You feel how they see the stupidity of the writers with rolling eyes. ”

In terms of content, the magazine has also changed over the years. « Under the current editor -in -chief, we have become more political and more driven by the news, » says Gopnik. « A good choice, given the contradictions in the country. »

The New Yorker is seen in the US as links. Gopnik understands that, but points out that it is not an ideological magazine. “Magazines as The New Republic or The Nation Often write in favor of the politics of the Democrats. We don't do that. The New Yorker is a magazine with room for liberal humanism. We approach the world from tolerance and humor, there is no place for fanaticism and dogmatism. « 

One of the journalistic means that The New Yorker uses to beat politics and current events is the profile. Gopnik calls it « Rondingjournalism (Hangin around journalism)« : A reporter gets weeks, sometimes even months to spend as much time as possible with the subject. Editor -in -chief Remnick did that in 2014 with the story On And Off The Road With Barack Obama. According to some critics, the profile gave a better insight into Obama's thinking than its own books.

Hemingway

Perhaps the most controversial profile that the magazine ever published was not about a politician, but about the writer Ernest Hemingway, which Lilian Ross published in 1950. Such a profile was at the time a novelty and critics spoke of it: Ross would have been ridiculous to ridiculing Hemingway. What could be the intention of a fragment like this, in which Hemingway bought a belt and the seller said he probably had size 44 or 46:

« Betting on not? » Asked Hemingway. He took the seller's hand and hit himself in his stomach.

« Jee, he has a hard stomach, » said the seller. He mat hemingways waist. « Thirty -eight! » He reported. « Small waist for your size. Are you doing a lot of sports? ”

Hemingway pulled his shoulders, did a boxing movement, laughed and seemed happy for the first time since we had left the hotel.

« What makes controversy years later fascinating, » says Gopnik, « is that Hemingway was absolutely not insulted by the profile. Ross had written down what he said and did. He has never questioned the accuracy of her reporting. « 

Then « That does not mean that there were no questions from the fact checkers. »

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