A short story by Joshua Ferris: The Pilot

Joshua Ferris is a writer I’m curious about. If I hear he published a story in a magazine, I run and buy that magazine. If I hear he is working on a new book, I am thrilled. he is actually working on a new book at the moment, and I am thrilled about it. I hope it will be as good as as best stuff, maybe even better, and by best stuff I mean his first book and his latest published short story, The Pilot.

This short story was published last month (June 14 & 21 2010) in The New Yorker Magazine, as a part of their 20-under-40 issue (which included 20 writers under 40 year old, an interesting way of looking at literature I guess). I read it online, as my new subscription to the magazine is on hold until I find myself a permanent address. Reading from the screen is only doable with stuff you really just can’t stop reading. I did it with ease with Joshua Ferris’ new short story.

The story is about a struggling screenwriter, one that his unpolished pilot is his only chance, that is invite to a party. He’s not sure he was even invited. Or was it just a mass email mistake, and he would very much like to know if he was actually invited to this party. And perhaps he should not go, all by himself, with the unpolished pilot still waiting to be polished one day.

It’s another funny-disturbing story from the successful young writer Joshua Ferris, who wrote And Then We Came To The End (his debut roman) and other fiction (another books and a few short stories). He’s considered one of the hottest names in the contemporary literature world right now, or maybe better say the American Contemporary Literature world.

He is, in fact, a very American writer, and The Pilot is a very American short story. The kind that embraces the failure that comes hand in hand with the American Dream. Hey, does anybody dream any more over there? It’s all so…dark. And so is this story, that leaves no hope for our poor alcoholic screenwriter.

It’s a small story, of a small screenwriter, or a wanna-be, of an alcoholic, of a man who fights until he cannot fight anymore. It’s a sad story, beautifully written. I’m waiting for Ferris’ next book. I still have some hope.