The Norton Anthology of Short FACTion

The Norton Anthology of

Short Faction Edited by Emily Greenberg

F i r s t

E d i t i o n

The Norton Anthology of Short Faction Edited by Emily Greenberg

Contents Introduction by Emily Greenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix The Arrangements by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Sexing the Pheasant by Lydia Millet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The Astral Plane Nail and Waxing Salon by Mary Gaitskill . . . . . . . . . . . .39 A Wall Street Christmas Carol! by Dean Borok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Jeb @ by Jeff VanderMeer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 My Appearance by David Foster Wallace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The Infernal by Mark Doten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Michiko Kakutani and the Sadness of the World!

by Joseph P. Michaels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Democracy 3.0 by Gideon Lichfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Love in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Fetch by Heidi Julavits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Night Walk by Adam Haslett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 The Museum of Near Misses by J. Robert Lennon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

By Fire by Tahar ben Jelloun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Janelle Asked to Bedroom by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie . . . . . . . . . . 155

Acknowledgments Stories in this anthology were originally published in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Electric Literature, Playboy, Guernica, Essays & Fictions, Quartz, Willow Springs, Slate, and The New Yorker.

ALL YOUR FAVORITE FAKE STORIES ABOUT . . .

REAL PEOPLE * MOHAM E D B O U A Z I Z I * T H E B U S H FA M I LY * * ASHLE Y D U P R E * A L B E RTO G O N Z A L E Z * * HARRY H A R L OW * M ICHIKO K AK UTA NI * * DAVID L E T T E R M A N * B E R N I E M A D O F F * *MADONNA * BARACK OBAMA * GEORGE SOROS * * DONALD J. TRUMP * MELANIA TRUMP * * MARK ZUCKERBERG * Do you like reading about real people doing fictional things? Well, cool.

You’re definitely in luck. Here are a whole bunch of them. Fifteen to be exact. Do you also like facts? Well, you should maybe look elsewhere. But if you don’t mind facts stretched in cool ways maybe you should stick around and actually read this thing. What are facts anyways? Maybe you will find out if you keep reading. Also, there’s a cool essay by me. Also, this must be a real book because it has a barcode and everything.

* CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE * DEAN BOROK * * MARK DOTEN * MARY GAITSKILL * ADAM HASLETT * * TAHAR BEN JELLOUN * HEIDI JULAVITS * * J. ROBERT LENNON * GIDEON LICHFIELD * * JOSEPH P. MICHAELS * LYDIA MILLET * * JEFF VANDERMEER * DAVID FOSTER WALLACE * Cover design by Emily Greenberg Cover art by Lisa Larson-Walker

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