I have spent ten days lounging on the western shore of Brooklyn, idling among the brownstones of the wealthy. But, if I am to succeed as peddler, I must go back to old neighborhood, where the streets are always clogged with hungry laborers. I must return at once to Williamsburg…

Read the third installment of Simon Rich’s hilarious novella “Sell Out,” about a pickle-maker from the early 20th century who is magically transported to modern-day Brooklyn and must fend for himself: http://nyr.kr/VpsWgo

…and come back tomorrow for the fourth and final installment.

Even though I possess seven pennies, I know I must be careful about spending them. New York is expensive city. There is no telling how long they will last.

The trick to surviving with low funds is to not have such high standards. For example, in Slupsk, you could buy bowl of milk for three rubles. But they would sell you milk for just two rubles if you drank it directly from goat. It was not easy drinking from the goat, because she was strong and had anger problems. Still, a ruble is a ruble, and I always made sure to refuse bowl. As the saying goes in Slupsk: “Sometimes you must drink milk right out of the goat, because it costs two rubles instead of the three rubles.” 

I think about this saying as I walk the streets of Brooklyn. There are so many decadent restaurants, each one more luxurious than the last. I pass one named in honor of the pirate Long John Silver, which serves assorted treasures from the sea. Then I pass one that serves chicken that is crisped, in the style of Kentucky. Most amazing to me is a large white castle, which sells Salisbury steaks between breads. Their food is so rich I can smell it from the street. My stomach is rumbling, but I know that these places are beyond me. Their signs are spelled out with electric, flashing lights. If I want to survive, I must find someplace more humble…

Read Part 2 of Simon Rich’s “Sell Out,” about the journey of a pickle-maker from the past who tries to fend for himself in modern-day Williamsburg: http://nyr.kr/WvrV9J

Read new fiction by Nicole Krauss featured in this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/Xy6DVp

…and here, Krauss discusses her story with fiction editor Deborah Treisman: http://nyr.kr/SZU9t6

“Clark Kent has Superman, Beyoncé has Sasha Fierce, and I have old Jewish men…” 

New fiction by Steven Millhauser, featured in this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/YrwMLa

In this month’s fiction podcast, Tessa Hadley reads “City Lovers,” a story by the South African writer and 1991 Nobel Prize, winner Nadine Gordimer. Listen to the story, and click-through for more: http://nyr.kr/RLOUHe

Click-through to read “Job,” a story by I.B. Singer appearing here in English for the first time: http://nyr.kr/TB06d7

Editors’ Note: This story, by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991), was first published in Yiddish in 1970, and is appearing here in English translation for the first time (See the translator’s note below about how it came to light.) Singer published more than sixty stories in The New Yorker, beginning in 1967; we’re grateful for this chance to present his work once again.

Photograph of Isaac Bashevis Singer by Bruce Davidson/Magnum.

What the tellers do on stage is so simple.  So ancient and traditional.  And so fucking hard.

Nathan Englander writes a love letter to The Moth literary festival: http://nyr.kr/MK2OrG

This Week in Fiction, Peter Stamm writes “Sweet Dreams.”  Read an interview with Stamm about his story here.