Parenting Issue
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Five Dials Number 19 The Parenting Issue Katha Pollitt 4 The Newborn Takes Over alaiN de bottoN 10 Late Night Doubt, Early Morning Truth heidi Julavits 11 On Learning to Re-feel Pain alexaNdra styroN 21 On the Myth of her Father dariN strauss 26 My One Parenting Regret, So Far louis theroux 30 Sometimes I’m Rousseau, Sometimes I’m Prussian Military . plus Arthur Bradford, Kevin Baker, and the wisdom of a group of randomly selected nine-year-olds. CONTRIBUTORS William berliNd’s writing has appeared Peter mehlmaN is a journalist and TV emily robertsoN is an illustrator living in The New York Times and The New York writer who wrote for Seinfeld for nine and working in London. She is also co- Observer. In addition to producing, arrang- seasons. In 1999, he created the series It’s founder of the artist collective PLATS. She ing and engineering numerous recordings, Like, You Know…, and in recent years has has drawn for Marks & Spencers, Mol- he played keyboards on Burning Spear’s written screenplays, a novel, and various teni & C, Apartamento magazine, Graphic recent Grammy-winning reggae album, humour pieces. He is the host of the TNT Thought Facility, Faber & Faber, Picador, Jah is Real. Sports (and Webby-nominated) Pete Mehl- and Suddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. man’s Narrow World of Sports. KeviN baKer is the author of four nov- dariN strauss is the author of the nov- els, including the ‘City of Fire’ series sarah miller is the author of The Other els Chang & Eng, The Real McCoy, and of historical novels about New York Girl and Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn. More Than It Hurts You, and the memoir City: Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Striv- She also contributed an essay to the The Half a Life. He is a Clinical Associate Pro- ers Row. He is also the co-author of the Bitch in The House: 26 Women Tell the Truth fessor at NYU’s creative writing program. graphic novel, Luna Park (DC Comics). About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage. She has written for Men’s Health, alexaNdra styroN is the author of arthur bradford is the author of Dog- Best Life and Yoga Life, among others. the novel All the Finest Girls. She has con- walker and a forthcoming children’s book, tributed to several anthologies as well as Walrus and Slugs Together. He is the creator tucKer Nichols is an artist based in San The New Yorker, The New York Times, and and director of the documentary series Francisco. His work has been shown in Interview, among other publications. The How’s Your News? galleries and museums around the world. following excerpt is taken from Styron’s His drawings have been published in forthcoming book, Reading My Father, a alaiN de bottoN is a founder of The McSweeney’s, J&L Books, The Thing, Nieves memoir of life growing up with William School of Life and the author of numerous Books, and the Op-Ed pages of The New Styron. She lives with her husband and bestselling books, including How Proust Can York Times. two children in Brooklyn, NY. Change Your Life. christoPh Niemann is an illustrator, louis theroux is an award-winning hugh gallagher lives in Bangkok and is graphic designer, and co-author of several British documentary maker. Most recent- hard at work on The Bournacle, an online books. His work has appeared on the covers ly he spent more than a month making a oracle based on The Bourne Supremacy. of The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The New two-part series about the inmates at one His work can be seen at hughgallagher.net. York Times Magazine and American Illustration. of America’s most violent jails in Miami. heidi Julavits is the author of three Katha Pollitt is the author of four Jim WiNdolf has had short stories pub- novels, most recently The Uses of Enchant- books of essays and two collections lished in Ontario Review, Sonora Review, ment. Her fiction has appeared inHarper’s, of poems, including her most recent, The and The New Yorker. He writes regularly Esquire, The Best American Short Stories, Mind-Body Problem. She has won a Nation- for Vanity Fair, where he is a contributing among others. She’s a recipient of a Gug- al Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry editor, and reviews fiction and nonfiction genheim Fellowship and a founding edi- and two National Magazine Awards for for The New York Times Book Review. He tor of The Believer magazine. Her fourth essays and criticism. She lives in New is also the co-writer of the popular wise_ novel, Vanishing, will be published in 2012. York City with her husband, and has kaplan and CrankyKaplan Twitter feeds. generously allowed Five Dials to reprint JohN Kenney’s writing has appeared in one of the essays from her 2007 collection Designed by Dean Allen The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories. The International Herald Tribune, and The Thanks: simoN Prosser, Anna Kelly, New Yorker. Some of his stories appear in Piers Paul read is the author of a Juliette mitchell, ellie smith, caro- a collection of The New Yorker’s humour number of novels and works of non- liNe Pretty, felix and JoaN dolaN, writing, Disquiet, Please! He recently com- fiction, among themAlive: The Story of the sam buchaN Watts, matt clacher, pleted his first novel. Andes Survivors. His most recent novel is Jessica JacKsoN, soPhia augusta, Jeff The Misogynist. gorlecheN at Six Point Brewery, Medea Vodka, and Nat damm. Subscribe: hamishhamilton.co.uk a letter from the editors cobra. Also, as is traditional at most news- weeklies, someone just put a plastic tiara on my head and then ran away laughing On Foreign Bureaus and Parenting Issues at me. —craig taylor PareNtiNg is an intensely personal expe- he Five Dials parenting issue couldn’t deck.) As regular readers know, the rience and hard to write about directly Tcome at a better time as one of the magazine is often edited in the quiet without inviting a well-meaning reader staff of the magazine is getting ready to solemnity of the Penguin offices at 80 to sleep. I approached some writers for welcome a child into the world at this Strand in London, where our operation is this issue who said yes, but then disap- very moment and the rest of us are hop- surrounded by some of the great London peared because they couldn’t square the ing he might take a chance and name the literary editors of the day, who pore over creepiness of unpacking their kids’ lives child Fivedials or at least Dialsy, though manuscripts and pencil in editorial sug- in print. I understand why, and am there- the suggestions so far have been met by gestions. This issue has been edited in a fore thrilled that so many other great a resounding silence, which perhaps says slightly different environment, Deirdre’s writers agreed to give it a shot. more about the immaturity of the staff apartment, which I guess you could call I enjoy talking to people about being than anything else, and by ‘staff ’ I mostly our New York office. Like many other parented and how they parent, and get mean ‘me.’ offices it is open plan, and if you don’t that most people’s stories come down I don’t have any children, and at each look too closely (or listen to the sound to one of two things – “they did their stage of assembling this issue I have of Harriet, the dog, snoring on the sofa) best,” or “we did our best.” In our age of been skeptical of what can be said about you’ll see it resembles the workspaces competitive parenting and aggressive self- parenting, and what people will want of ‘real’ magazines. For instance, we understanding it’s a slightly bitter pill to to read about parenting. But again and too have a young woman working at swallow – so boring and true. It’s also not again I have been won over – hugely won the front desk, though that front desk is something you hear people say too often. over – because of the talent of the writers very small and she refuses to answer our In all of the essays and fiction that involved. As a non-parent I was reminded phones because she’s busy using a purple follow, writers acknowledge in vari- that writing about parenting means crayon to draw a big heart with glitter ously funny, sad, and truthful ways the writing about life, death, betrayal, trust, inside. Like the New York Times, there is humbling compromise that is parenting. love, revelation, pain, compromise, mess, a muted television on in the corner so In Alain de Botton’s brazen but comfort- epiphany, and that’s a decent enough we can constantly monitor world events, ing tweets about human nature; in Sarah index for any issue of a literary magazine. though the only news we’re monitoring Miller’s frustration with breeder pride; If you’re getting the sense I was a at the moment is whether or not Princess and in Katha Pollitt’s gorgeous chronicle passive force in this process, I mostly Jasmine will escape from a large hourglass of the ease with which newborns can was. The guest editor of this issue is a and help Aladdin defeat the evil Jafar, make away with our identities, however longtime friend, writer, editor and New who has turned himself into an enormous temporarily.