Emily Fraysse
Short Feature Assignment
January 14, 2013
The New Yorker articles “Go East,” by Anna Altman and “Graham After Graham,” by Joan Acocella, illustrate the features in a short feature assignment. One of the key reasons why they are both feature stories is because they both have an absence of a straight-news lead. They both attempt to lure in the reader by setting the scene and jump right into a sentence that is alluring. Both also jump between the third person narrative and the first person narrative by providing their opinions.
In “Graham After Graham,” Acocella starts out the article by setting the reader in the present by describing the physical surroundings of the place that she continues to talk about for the rest of the story. From there, she going back to the past to describe the past renters of the space and at the very last of the articles ends it by describing what is in store for the space in the future. Altman does the same in her article; start in the present, then the past, and end it with the future.
In addition to those similarities, they both add quotes, which build on the underlying stories. They give well-researched background information to help set the story into context. Acocella, however, quotes other people who are correlated to the story, opposed to Altman who quotes only the main subject. The only thing I didn’t like about either of the stories is the way that Acocella abruptly ended her story. I felt like Altman ended her article in a very nice way by saying, “leaving individuals adrift in the repression that remains.” Both of the short features give an emotional side to an individual’s life or lifestyle with description, scene setting, and other key feature writing elements.
Altman: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/east-germany-in-barbara.html?printable=true¤tPage=all
Acocella: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/graham-after-graham.html
The Graham piece is close to a film review, which by definition won’t include many sources or scenes, except from the movie, and includes a lot of writer opinion. The Acocella piece is a more conventional feature, focusing on a dance space being taken over by a once almost-expired company.