In a Paris Review “Art of Fiction” interview, this character’s creator denied that she was autobiographical and regretted giving her an ironic name. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this recurring protagonist of the stories “Listening” and “The Used-Boy Raisers.” This character watches a playground from a sycamore tree in a story from Enormous Changes at the Last Minute.
ANSWER: Faith Darwin [or Faith Darwin; accept “Faith in a Tree”]
[10e] Faith Darwin was created by Grace Paley, who noted that she was stereotyped as one of this magazine’s writers even though it only published three of her stories. This magazine printed “The Swimmer” and “The Lottery.”
ANSWER: The New Yorker
[10m] The narrator of a Paley story struggles to tell one of these people a simple plot because she believes that “Everyone [...] deserves the open destiny of life.” A “dead” one of these people titles a novella by Paley’s friend Donald Barthelme.
ANSWER: father [or dad; accept “A Conversation With My Father”; accept The Dead Father; prompt on parent, relative, or family member; prompt on medical doctor or physician]
<S, American Literature>