“Roy Spivey”
by Miranda July
from the June 11 & 18, 2007 issue of The New Yorker
reprinted in the August 29, 2022 issue of The New Yorker
I apologize for not posting this on time (though I am back-dating it). I thought I had gotten it posted, but nope! It is interesting to me that The New Yorker decided to reprint Miranda July’s “Roy Spivey,” which was originally published in their June 11 & 18, 2007 issue. But it does give us an opportunity to read it if we missed it the first time or forgot it!
Twice I have sat next to a famous man on an airplane. The first man was Jason Kidd, of the New Jersey Nets. I asked him why he didn’t fly first class, and he said that was because his cousin worked for United.
“Wouldn’t that be all the more reason to get first class?”
“It’s cool,” he said, unfurling his legs into the aisle.
I let it go, because what do I know about the ins and outs of being a sports celebrity? We didn’t talk for the rest of the flight.
The heart of the story is the second encounter, with the celebrity Roy Spivey (“which is almost an anagram of his name”).
Please share your thoughts below!
This Miranda July “Roy Spivey” is an apparently deja vu reappearance. There is a blithe insouciance that make July’s writing cruise easily and winningly by. It’s gentle smoothness is disarming. Neither steps over the line but playfully meet and enjoy each other’s company. I liked the way it seemed acceptable flirting yet it seemed conditional and never overbearing. No imperative and it gets left like that. Am glad she didn’t call and possibly cause a problem though she still sort of wanted to. It would have been a tiny loss. Interested in what other readers think.
I agree. The “Brief Encounter” pathos undergirds the clam, affectless tone. She avoids making easy points about celebrities or power imbalances and she leaves the story at the right point exactly.
Totally agree with Ken’s observation about July that she avoids making easy points about celebrities or power imbalances.
“Roy Spivey” might be considered lightweight but the prose glides smoothly across the page about some little thing not much considered, may look easy, but can be unusually difficult.
“Spivey” so exactly describes meeting a famous person and having unusual reactions yet needing to be on one’s best behavior as they must also. Yet the possibility of the unexpected almost impossibly happens but for the small lapse of the protagonist’s intention and her return to the boring regularity of normal life.