The Decameron Project

29 New Stories from the Pandemic

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• Publisher: Scribner UK
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781398502185
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398502161
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

A stunning collection of new short stories originally commissioned by The New York Times Magazine as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, from twenty-nine authors including Margaret Atwood, Tommy Orange, Colm Toibin, Kamilia Shamsie and more, in a project inspired by Boccaccio’s The Decameron.

When reality is surreal, only fiction can make sense of it.

In 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote “The Decameron”: one hundred nested tales told by a group of young men and women passing the time at a villa outside Florence while waiting out the gruesome Black Death, a plague that killed more than 25 million people. Some of the stories are silly, some are bawdy, some are like fables.

In March of 2020, the editors of The New York Times Magazine created The Decameron Project, an anthology with a simple, time-spanning goal: to gather a collection of stories written as our current pandemic first swept the globe. How might new fiction from some of the finest writers working today help us memorialize and understand the unimaginable? And what could be learned about how this crisis will affect the art of fiction?

These twenty-nine new stories, from authors including Margaret Atwood, Tommy Orange, Colm Toibin, Kamila Shamsie and David Mitchell vary widely in texture and tone. Their work will be remembered as a historical tribute to a time and place unlike any other in our lifetimes, and offer perspective and solace to the reader now and in a future where coronavirus is, hopefully, just a memory.

Table of Contents:
“Preface” by Caitlin Roper
“Introduction” by Rivka Galchen
“Recognition” by Victor LaValle
“A Blue Sky Like This” by Mona Awad
“The Walk” by Kamila Shamsie
“Tales from the LA River” by Colm Tóibín
“Clinical Notes” by Liz Moore
“The Team” by Tommy Orange
“The Rock” by Leila Slimani
“Impatient Griselda” by Margaret Atwood
“Under the Magnolia” by Yiyun Li
“Outside” by Etgar Keret
“Keepsakes” by Andrew O’Hagan
“The Girl with the Big Red Suitcase” by Rachel Kushner
“The Morningside” by Téa Obreht
“Screen Time” by Alejandro Zambra
“How We Used to Play” by Dinaw Mengestu
“Line 19 Woodstock/Glisan” by Karen Russell
“If Wishes Was Horses” by David Mitchell
“Systems” by Charles Yu
“The Perfect Travel Buddy” by Paolo Giordano
“An Obliging Robber” by Mia Cuoto
“Sleep” by Uzodinma Iweala
“Prudent Girls” by Rivers Solomon
“That Time at My Brother’s Wedding” by Laila Lalami
“A Time of Death, The Death of Time” by Julián Fuks
“The Cellar” by Dina Nayeli
“Origin Story” by Matthew Baker
“To the Wall” by Esi Edugyan
“Barcelona: Open City” by John Wray
“One Thing” by Edwidge Danticat

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Preface by Caitlin Roper
• Life Saving Tales an Introduction by Rivka Galchen
• 1. Recognition by Victor LaValle
• 2. A Blue Sky Like This by Mona Awad
• 3. The Walk by Kamila Shamsie
• 4. Tales from the L.A. River by Colm Tóibín
• 5. Clinical Notes by Liz Moore
• 6. The Team by Tommy Orange
• 7. The Rock by Leïla Slimani
• 8. Impatient Griselda by Margaret Atwood
• 9. Under the Magnolia by Yiyun Li
• 10. Outside by Etgar Keret
• 11. Keepsakes by Andrew O’Hagan
• 12. The Girl with the Big Red Suitcase by Rachel Kushner
• 13. The Morningside by Téa Obreht
• 14. Screen Time by Alejandro Zambra
• 15. How We Used to Play by Dinaw Mengestu
• 16. Line 19 Woodstock/Glisan by Karen Russell
• 17. If Wishes Was Horses by David Mitchell
• 18. Systems by Charles Yu
• 19. The Perfect Travel Buddy by Paolo Giordano
• 20. An Obliging Robber by Mia Couto
• 21. Sleep by Uzodinma Iweala
• 22. The Cellar by Dina Nayeri
• 23. That Time at My Brother’s Wedding by Laila Lalami
• 24. A Time of Death, the Death of Time by Julián Fuks
• 25. Prudent Girls by Rivers Solomon
• 26. Origin Story by Matthew Baker
• 27. To the Wall by Esi Edugyan
• 28. Barcelona: Open City by John Wray
• 29. One Thing by Edwidge Danticat
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Copyright