“Nondisclosure Agreement”
by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
from the May 9, 2022 issue of The New Yorker
This week we get another story from Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, who has always been a bright spot in my New Yorker fiction reading. And I need a bright spot, since I have only been able to hide from Covid for so long and came down with it this past weekend. That said, I am not 100% sure when I’ll have the brain energy to read the story! Fortunately, my main complaint is fatigue and some cold symptoms, so I don’t think it will be too long before I’m through it.
In the meantime, check out the first paragraph, which promises some uncomfortable reading.
There must have been some sort of defective wiring in the early-warning system of my brain, because by the time the owner put his hand on my thigh I was already in way too deep. Later, I would try to piece it all together, remembering how, at my one and only interview for the job, he had offered, without prompting, to give me more money than I was asking for. “Why don’t we just make this simple and double it?” he’d said. He’d smiled. He’d held out his open hand as I pictured everything I would suddenly be able to pay for—including my student loans. Then he’d taken me on a brief tour of the office, a former FedEx with the original carpeting and an open floor plan—“I believe in transparency”—which was situated above a topiary shop, of all things. There were four other employees, all women, none of whom happened to be there at the time, and he’d said, breezily, “It’ll be nice to finally have some male energy around here for a change.” I could smell the faint scent of gardening coming from below.
I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to reading thoughts below.
Trevor — Sorry you’re ill. Hope you get well quick.
I’d say to skip this read, not worth the energy.
I felt this story was promising and interesting and then just sort of ended too early and even if it had gone further it didn’t seem that a story of workplace harassment, timely and important an issues as it is, really was the way to cap off this particular story about the grim lot of the over-educated under capitalism.
I disagree totally with Dee bee, and I disagree with Ken’s statement that this story was mediocre — not his word, but I think it’s a fair summary of his comment.
What is good about this story is that it is not just another story of a highly educated person not being able to practice his craft, literature, it is a SPECIFIC strory about a SPECIFIC person in this situation. The specifics of his MFA, his prior jobs, the specific current job where he is paid more, the fact that the whole company is a sham so the boss/owner can collect his remittance from his family, the fact that all of the main character’s computer inputting is pointless and a waste of time, the piles of boxes of catalogs that will never be sent the illustration captures the context and tone of the story very well), the fact of the owner having tried to start a literary magazine and been stopped by his family, and the fact of the owner being a jerk — all make this a pointed situation.
Also, the writer depicts well the humiliation of the character being in this position. He is a trained writer who is beholden to a man who wasn’t dedicated enough to literatiure to withstand his family. And the narrator is the employer’s pet writer. And the boss has the hubris to offer to edit the narrator’s manuscripts! And to say tthat he will publish them after he fixes them.
Most important the employer uses his position of power to exploit the narrator. At the beginning there is a brief phrase about the employer putting his hand on the writer’s leg during the interview. Then a mention of a lawsuit. And in the last scene the employer forces the narrator to sit closely next to him — and the writer sees extensive red marking on his manuscript– the boss’s final act of literary humilition. From all this we can infer a sexual advance. Very subtle.
All in all, a well-crafted story.
William, I actually thought the story better than mediocre. And…when discussing it over the phone with a friend, it sort of grew in my estimation. You make a very well-argued case here which I agree with.
My friend said that one difference between literary fiction and fiction involves the need for the pay off and here I was somehow wanting more clarification of the lawsuit, potential harassment etc. But…maybe it’s been there all along (as you seem to think) and that’s where this is more literature than genre fiction.
Krn —
Nice distinction. I think it applies here, as you said.
I loved the complexity of the narrator’s ascension through the ranks of mindless jobs and the wonderful irony of his education’s bringing him almost to its intended climax when whammo! It was another kind of climax entirely. Maybe the telegraphing was too early and unsubtle, but I really liked the story. If I were still teaching, I would put this on the list. It’s packed with irony and suspense and wonderfully clever.