A Poor-Aunt Story

December 3, 2001 P. 86

December 3, 2001 P. 86

The New Yorker, December 3, 2001 P. 86

Short story about a man visiting a museum who decides to write about a poor aunt although he doesn't actually have a poor aunt... His companion that day does, although she declines to write about her or talk about her... The narrator acquires a spectral poor aunt attached to his back... Addressing his readers, the narrator tells us that most people don't have poor aunts, but that we've all seen them at other people's weddings... . Some, like poor aunts, have names that fade before they die... The narrator's friends drop away from him... . Reporters show up, and then are disappointed when the poor aunt's photographs fail to come out clearly... The narrator says the poor aunt is a conceptual sign that has affixed itself to him... The girl calls the narrator after seeing him on television. She asks if the poor aunt has helped him to write. There are millions of reasons people can become poor aunts, but in the end, a poor aunt exists, and that is all. The poor aunt's existence is the her reason for existing, just as with everybody else... The poor aunt leaves him in autumn...

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