Author’s note
In the Renaissance blue was an expensive pigment; a patron commissioning a painting would specify how much blue the painter was to use. Fiction today has its own prohibitively expensive pigments. Edward Tufte took out a second mortgage on his house to self-publish his spectacularly handsome first book; this meant he could marshal a crack production team. The writer who lacks his resources has a couple of options: 1, try to persuade skeptical agents to find a publisher who will provide technical support; 2, spend hundreds of hours coding, hundreds more grappling with Adobe Illustrator, and so on. “Long and winding road” and “Faint but pursuing” are my two most common e-mail subject lines. “Dear Paul, THANK you for your help with ArabTeX!” is typical content.
Over the years visitors to my blog (paperpools.blogspot.de) have generously helped me live to fight another day. While The Last Samurai was out of print buyers of secondhand copies would send donations to the beleaguered author. More recently two dedicated readers have been thinking of ways to approach the challenge in a less haphazard manner; anyone who would like to be involved should contact me at helen.dewitt@gmx.net to be put in touch. Readers who would like to sustain an author wandering the labyrinth of Stack Overflow can buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/dewitt.
Praise for Some Trick
“As you’re reading these 13 genius and altogether delightful short stories by Helen DeWitt, you may not have any idea where you’ll end up, but you can read assured, because the destination, however unexpected, is always a fascinating, expansively erudite thrill.”
“DeWitt reasserts herself as one of contemporary fiction’s greatest minds in this dazzling collection of stories about misunderstood genius. DeWitt’s disdain for those who seek to profit off of genius is sharp and refreshing, and her ability to deliver such astounding prose and thought-provoking stories constitutes a minor miracle. This is a gem of a collection.”
Also by Helen DeWitt
from New Directions
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Helen DeWitt
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Published by arrangement with the author.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to quote from the following:
“We’re Off to See the Wizard” (from The Wizard of Oz) Music by Harold Arlen, lyric by E. Y. Harburg. Copyright © 1938 (renewed) Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. Copyright © 1939 (renewed) EMI Feist Catalog Inc. Rights throughout the world controlled by EMI Feist Catalog Inc. (publishing) and Alfred Music Publishing Co., Inc. (print). All rights reserved. Used by permission of Alfred Publishing, LLC.
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” Copyright © 1963 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991 by Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.
“Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (from Shall We Dance)
Music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. Copyright © 1936 (renewed) Ira Gershwin Music and George Gershwin Music. All rights on behalf of Ira Gershwin Music Administered by WB Music Corp. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Alfred Publishing, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard LLC.
A publisher’s note begins on page 195.
Manufactured in the United States of America
New Directions Books are printed on acid-free paper
First published clothbound by New Directions in 2018
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dewitt, Helen, 1957– author.
Title: Some trick : 13 stories / Helen DeWitt.
Description: First edition. | New York : New Directions Publishing, [2018]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017055363 (print) | LCCN 2017057388 (ebook) | ISBN 9780811227834 | ISBN 9780811227827 (acid-free paper)
Classification: LCC PS3554.E92945 (ebook) | LCC PS3554.E92945 A6 2018 (print) | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017055363
eISBN: 9780811227834
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011