Lost McInterney on FiveChapters

The literary fiction site FiveChapters.com is celebrating its one-year anniversary this week by serializing a short story by Jay McInerney. But not just any post-“The Good Life”-in-between-wine-columns story. What makes this one newsworthy—and worth reading—is its origin. Stolen from the author’s apartment by a fan 20 years ago, “If Wishes Were Porsches” just came back into McInerney’s possession last year. The story was actually written back in 1986, shortly after his pioneer novel “Bright Lights, Big City” ignited the trend in “Yuppie Fiction.” Here’s the first paragraph:

…Your penis gets bigger, of course. Or your breasts. And generally you change your name. You start with a name like Norma Jean or Archie Leach. It’s not required, of course. But here in America, it’s good to remember that we like people to start from scratch. We like inventors. So get with the program. Catch the buzz. Life and liberty you got, now get happy. Don’t be a wimp, don’t be a geek. Get hip. Get laid. Get rich. Think big.

Dave Daley, editor of Five Chapters, calls the story “a time capsule, but an incredibly prescient one, as how much has really changed? Its characters aspire to the agented professions, watch early incarnations of reality TV, fight with landlords of apartments they pay way too much for, and understand that the way they read the Sunday Times says much about who they are.”

The themes of conspicuous consumption, social climbing and and twenty-something angst are as prevalent in 2007 as 1986. No wonder the cash-hungry, coke-fueled fiction of the 80’s (e.g. McInerney, Ellis, Wolfe) has a cult following today. Really, young urbanites are the same, except we have new fancy gadgets to drool over and skinnier celebs to worship. Speaking of, “Sunday Styles” has another socialite story–this time about Topper Mortimer (husband to Tinsley). Did Yuppie Culture ever die? Or is this the redux? Either way, we can’t wait for the next installment…

FiveChapters.com