Maraú Península: Art Against the Odds

Sunday, December 6

Art Against the Odds

From The New Yorker’s archive: stories about artists, musicians, and writers who have overcome great challenges.
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Art Against the Odds

In 2003, the novelist Laura Hillenbrand published a piece in The New Yorker about a debilitating illness she suffered while writing her best-selling book “Seabiscuit.” As the piece unfolds, Hillenbrand deftly chronicles her lengthy, arduous battle against chronic-fatigue syndrome. It was during this period of her life, as her physical world constricted, that her work suddenly flourished. “Living in my subjects’ bodies, I forgot about my own,” she observes. This week, we’re bringing you a trio of pieces about artists, musicians, and writers who have overcome great challenges. In “The Sonata Seminar,” Alex Ross writes about the musical talents of the pianist Leon Fleisher, who lost the use of his right hand for decades due to a neurological condition. And, in “Life Lines,” Daniel Zalewski explores the world of the artist Lonni Sue Johnson, who continues to suffer from amnesia after contracting viral encephalitis, in 2007. We hope that you find these pieces as captivating as we do.

— David Remnick