Saïd Sayrafiezadeh Reads Samuel Beckett

April 1, 2023

Listen to this story

Listen and subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google | Wherever You Listen

Sign up to receive our weekly newsletter of the best New Yorker podcasts.

Photograph by Alberto Cristofari / Contrasto / Redux

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Ill Seen Ill Said,” by Samuel Beckett, which was published in The New Yorker in 1981. Sayrafiezadeh is the author of a memoir and two story collections, the most recent of which, “American Estrangement,” was published in 2021.

New Yorker Favorites

What boredom does to us—and for us.
The enduring allure of the personality quiz.
The faces of Americans living in debt.
Did making the rules of war better make the world worse?
The ten best weather events in fiction.
Dispatch by Joan Didion: how a once idyllic town fell under the sway of a teen gang.

More:Fiction Short Stories Writers Interviews Literature

The Musical Life

Why the New Kesha Doesn’t Miss the Old Kesha

At a friend’s art show, the pop singer revealed the recipe for her new album, “Gag Order”: holing up in Hawaii, weepy meditation sessions, and howling at the moon.

By Doreen St. Félix

The Sporting Scene

Is the New P.G.A. Motto “Always Take the Money”?

The Saudi-backed LIV tour, which paid some golfers a hundred million dollars or more to defect from the Tour, turned into an expensive, expandable negotiating tool.

By Zach Helfand

The New Yorker Interview

A. G. Sulzberger on the Battles Within and Against the New York Times

The paper’s publisher discusses bias in reporting, the Times’ financial comeback, and criticisms of its coverage of Trump, trans issues, and the war in Ukraine.

By David Remnick

The Front Row

The Rapturous Romance and Desperate Tragedy of Elaine May’s “A New Leaf”

The actor-director’s feature début is among the greatest of romantic comedies.

By Richard Brody

New Yorker Favorites

Books & Fiction