He’s transitioning to be a man, and while he was working through that, he wrote a book, The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror.
On the one hand, it’s very much a work of fiction. It is not a thinly veiled retelling of relationships and experiences I have had personally. And yet I also began thinking very seriously about my gender identity and the possibility of transition about halfway through writing it. And the title, the idea of a merry spinster — the idea of jolly, self-sufficient female solitude — that’s very dear to me. And in some very real ways, that’s no longer mine.
There’s a line in one of the stories in the book, Cast Your Bread Upon The Waters, where the main character – whose gender is never clarified – refers to their son, against whom they’ve been plotting murder, like this: “My son Johnnie was very beautiful, and I loved him.” It’s one of the first unmitigated statements they make about a person they very clearly loved but are trying to build a case against. Only after they’ve done the deed can they honestly say, I loved him. I don’t want to cheapen the story by saying, “Ah, yes, I too have released someone I love into the sea, it is a point-by-point allegory for transition.” But man. That merry spinster, that Toastified Mallory Ortberg — she was beautiful, and I loved her. And she is! And I do! And she is not gone, there has been no death, no act of violence, no act of disavowal or abnegation or dismissal. And yet she’s not herein the way that she was. Anyhow, it’s a good book, I think, and I’m glad we wrote it.
And still the same writer. It looks good!
I miss the Toast dearly. Daniel’s pieces in particular. Monks and people in art, it was all fantastic and funny.
Bought and downloaded. I needed a new book to read, thanks!
damn i am so sorry idid not know about the toast sooner. i read your columns in slate all the time. you are a good writer and i think you give good advice
oooos. i forgot to say by the way, your orientation makes not a damn bit of difference to me. just play it as it lays and good luck. you must be thrilled and terrified both.
Here’s a great interview with Ortberg. Still feels weird to think of him as a guy.
As he has done for going on, what? Ten years now? Ever since the Hairpin, anyway, Daniel captures my thoughts — and deeply discomfiting fears — exactly. For one brief moment, upon hearing the news, I wondered if we were ~losing~ our generation’s Barbara Pym. But, no. We are just gaining Daniel. I’m looking forward to this and his future books.