A Famed Upper West Side Novelist (and WSR Tipster) Discusses His New Book of Short Stories

By Gus Saltonstall

Ed Park has lived on the Upper West Side for close to 30 years. He is a celebrated author whose new book of short stories, “An Oral History of Atlantis,” came out on Tuesday. His most recent novel, published in 2023, “Same Bed, Different Dreams,” was the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist.

He also just so happens to be the West Side Rag tipster who alerted us about a couch somehow ending up in a tree near West 95th Street and Amsterdam in 2019, which became one of our most popular stories of that year.

“It was so exciting,” Park told West Side Rag about the reaction to the couch saga. “I thought I had to tell people what was up. It was really fun to watch the story balloon from there with the TV news crews, and, either way, I’m glad they got it down. I like the little bit of surrealism. A couch in a tree. Maybe I should have put that in the book.”

Park visited the Rag offices on Monday to discuss his new book, the process behind it, and how the Upper West Side and Manhattan played a role within the pages.

Here is our conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

WSR: Would you begin with a general outline of the new book?

Park: “An Oral History of Atlantis” is 16 short stories that I’ve written over the past 25 — or so — years; the first one came out in 1998. Not all of them take place in New York, but they were all written in New York. Atlantis is a metaphor that can mean different things to different people, but for me, it’s this idea of a lost time of one’s life, in the case of Manhattan and the West Side, things that aren’t there anymore, venues that aren’t there anymore, people that are gone.

Essentially, the stories were just a lot of fun for me to write, and looking over them, they feel different than my novels. There is something about the shorter form that is funnier, sharper in some ways, possibly more poetic. I’m really happy about it, in part because when you’re writing these stories over the years, you wonder if they will ever come together.

WSR: Like you said, this book was decades in the making. How does it feel to have gotten to the point of publication?

Park: I’m totally thrilled because the title story, “An Oral History of Atlantis,” was one of the very first stories I published in the summer of 2001. I wrote it for a reading and the story was about Manhattan, but in a dystopic way, a sort of reckoning with a ruined version of the city.

Then, a couple of months later, 9/11 happened. I can never forget the circumstances of writing that story and the historical context. I knew pretty soon that if I could ever publish a collection of shorter stories, that would be the title, “An Oral History of Atlantis.” Even though that story is from 2001, I had this idea that the title would organize the book ultimately, even without the other stories being written yet.

WSR: How difficult was it to decide on the 16 stories you would feature in the book?

Park: In a previous draft, there was definitely a moment where I wanted to get rid of a story, or a story I liked at the time and then didn’t think it held up as well. But it wasn’t painful to be honest. It’s quite different from the novel, especially with my second novel that was long and took many years. There were many moving parts that I had to keep track of, but with a short story, you don’t have to do that. A lot of novelists that write stories love that aspect of it. You can write a story in an afternoon. In an hour. And feel good about it.

WSR: Would you say it was a more enjoyable process than your novels? [Park also published a novel in 2008 called “Personal Days.” It was named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice].

Park: I think so. It was easier and I was happier. I do think of myself as a comic novelist, so I’m always trying to get things as funny as possible, but somehow with stories, it is easier. There is somehow both less at stake because it’s a short story, but it also makes you attempt things that maybe you wouldn’t in a novel. I’d add that I wrote the title story of this book for a reading, and a lot of the stories were like that, where I was invited to a reading of some sort. I had a day job throughout many of these stories. I worked at the Village Voice for a long time, and I worked in publishing. So the idea of a deadline created by some public reading three weeks in the future would push me to write a new story within that timeframe. Nobody was telling me I had to write new stuff, but my mind responded to those reading dates in a way that a journalist might, which ended up being very helpful in creating new work.

WSR: How often does the Upper West Side and Manhattan appear in the book? And is the Upper West Side almost a character in itself?

Park: I would like to think so. There is a story that takes place in California, but the rest are in New York or some sort of undefined anywhere USA. A character in “Eat, Pray, Click,” which is about a haunted Kindle, lives on the Upper West Side. In “An Oral History of Atlantis,” the character ends up on the Upper West Side after going into a topsy turvy Times Square where the peep shows are all about watching whales. The book is a fantasy of New York. Born of having been here so long. The experience of living here and living in different apartments, different rooming situations. The myths of New York and the history of New York seep through in the stories.

WSR: [Park grew up in Buffalo, New York, before attending Yale, and after a few years in Korea after graduation, he came to New York City and the Upper West Side in 1993.] You moved to the Upper West Side in the 90s, but what made you want to stay in the neighborhood and make the community your longtime home? And then also, do you think there is anything about the Upper West Side that writers and artists are attracted to?

Park: I guess in my mind, the Upper West Side always seemed like where literary New York is. On 86th Street near Broadway, it is Isaac Bashevis Singer Boulevard, and Edgar Allan Poe is on 84th Street. The neighborhood is just so rich in literary history.

I’m now almost 55 and in the older generation, but definitely for the generation before me, the Upper West Side is where a lot of writers were. It is safe to say now that the center of gravity, at least in perception, is that Brooklyn is where a lot of literary New York is taking place, but for me, once I got to this neighborhood, why leave? There was a moment where a lot of my friends moved to Brooklyn. There was a moment during the pandemic where a lot of people left the city, but I just thought, “where am I going to go?” There is nothing as interesting to me as living on the Upper West Side. If I get stuck, I go for a walk, I go to Westsider Books, I run on Riverside. Any time I go outside, I feel the stimuli in a way that really helps me as a writer.

WSR: What are some of your favorite spots in the neighborhood?

Park: Westsider Books [on Broadway between West 80th and 81st Streets]. I love Riverside Park. That park has changed since I started living here, the whole development as you go a little bit south and Pier i, it’s a perfect summer afternoon to meet friends and have a beer. I love just being able to walk to my friends who live nearby.

WSR: And to return to the book, what are you hoping readers get out of it?

Park: Somebody sent me a really nice message this morning saying she had her favorite stories, but just that the whole mood of the book — the humor and the nostalgia — it’s sort of an escape from our current reality that a lot of us might need. I wrote these stories over time, so they are not tied down to the present moment and they feel outside of history. Anyway, this reader told me somehow this was the most refreshing thing she’s read in months and it just lifted her mood as she was able to live in these characters.

WSR: Any final message?

Park: I would say, not to overdo the idea of Atlantis being New York, but this book is kind of this love letter to the city. I wouldn’t be a writer without New York. I wouldn’t be a writer without the Upper West Side, and even more so than my novels, this book feels like a way to recognize that – as a document to my writing life, but also my home life, and bringing up my kids here.

You can find out more about “An Oral History of Atlantis” — HERE.

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