This holiday weekend, as we celebrate the season, we’re bringing you a selection of pieces about gifts of many varieties. In “All That,” by the late wizard of prose David Foster Wallace, a man recalls receiving a toy cement mixer for Christmas and ruminates on intimate matters. In “Mr. MOMA,” Calvin Tomkins writes about the nature of charity after an obscure art collector from Vermont makes a fantastically large donation to the museum. In “Borough Haul,” Patricia Marx explores trendy gift shops and artisanal boutiques, and jokes, “If Brooklyn were a country, its chief exports would include artisanal pickles, eco-friendly yoga wear, Red Hook-made Saipua soap (responsible for every store smelling like clove geranium), and books written by men named Jonathan.” In “The Gift,” Ian Parker writes about altruism and the fascinating case of a philanthropist who felt compelled to donate one of his kidneys to a complete stranger. Finally, in “Memento Mori,” David Sedaris considers how some gifts linger in your memory, if not your closet. Of buying presents for his husband, he writes, “Hugh thinks that lists are the easy way out, and says that if I really knew him I wouldn’t have to ask what he wanted. It’s not enough to search the shops; I have to search his soul as well.”
—David Remnick
From The New Yorker’s Archive
Fiction
“All That”
“There are little boys who like trains and little boys who like vehicles—I liked the latter.”
By David Foster Wallace | December 6, 2009
Reflections
Memento Mori
When gifts come back to haunt you.
By David Sedaris | April 30, 2006
On and Off the Avenue
Borough Haul
Are you hip enough to shop in Brooklyn?
By Patricia Marx | February 28, 2010
Newsletters
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Windfalls
Mr. MOMA
A rare and enormous gift.
By Calvin Tomkins | September 28, 2009
Annals of Philanthropy
The Gift
Zell Kravinsky gave away millions. But somehow it wasn’t enough.
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