Culture
NHL predictions 2.0: New Stanley Cup favorite, surprise Hart Trophy front-runner and more
How much could have changed in a month?
Ask the Edmonton Oilers. When The Athletic polled its NHL staff for 2024-25 predictions in the preseason, Connor McDavid was the prohibitive favorite for the Hart Trophy, and his team was the front-runner to win the Stanley Cup.
Now? Well, the Oilers are the top pick in another category, but it’s not a good one. A new team takes the top spot for who we think will win it all, and another Western Conference superstar — who didn’t get any votes in the preseason — is our Hart Trophy pick.
What else has changed? This week, we polled staffers on the same set of questions we asked in the preseason. Here’s how our expectations for 2024-25 have already evolved, with expert analysis and critique from senior writers James Mirtle and Sean Gentille, analytics know-it-all Shayna Goldman and NHL betting expert Jesse Granger.
Who will win the Stanley Cup?
Goldman: The Stars are the quietly effective, balanced team of all of our dreams. It’s no surprise to see them at the top here — especially after the Oilers have gotten off to another iffy start. It’s not as dramatic or dire as last year, but they aren’t inspiring a ton of confidence yet.
Granger: I personally chose the Rangers, but it’s hard to argue with any of the top three picks here. The Stars are as complete of a team as there is in the league right now, and the Rangers and Panthers look like they’re in their own tier in the East, at least early.
Gentille: I rarely bail on my preseason Cup picks period, let alone after a month, but I’m concerned enough with Stuart Skinner to deviate from protocol. Hello, Dallas.
Mirtle: I have company with the ‘Canes now! A 10-2-0 start, offensive explosion (more than four goals per game) and Martin Nečas arriving certainly help embiggen their case.
THIS MAN CAN’T BE STOPPED!!! pic.twitter.com/EZW21YE58t
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 6, 2024
Who will be the runners-up?
Goldman: Apparently it’s win or bust for the Hurricanes and Panthers! I went with the Lightning here, who look a lot stronger than the last couple of seasons. With a pair of seconds and fourths in the 2025 draft, management should be able to address their depth — as long as they don’t spend all their picks on a player like, I don’t know, Tanner Jeannot.
Granger: It’s interesting to see how little the faith in Edmonton has wavered after the 6-7-1 start, both in this poll and in the betting odds. The Oilers are still the favorites to win the Cup at +700 despite currently sitting in fifth place in the Pacific Division standings with the third-fewest goals scored per 60 minutes.
Gentille: Yeah, I’m sticking with the Rangers here. They’ve got an elite goaltender in Igor Shesterkin, a Hart candidate in Artemi Panarin and enough five-on-five substance to keep me on the train.
Mirtle: No one be-Leafs anymore, after a tepid eight wins in 15 games start. (I don’t blame them.) I went with the Jets here, as with Connor Hellebuyck this dialed in, they could have a nice run.
The Sharks had the worst record in the league last season. This year, things are just as bleak. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Who will finish in last place?
Goldman: The Sharks, even without Macklin Celebrini, have had some interesting games lately … but we all know where their season is going. The big difference between them and the Ducks? Lukáš Dostál.
Granger: I thought the Sharks would be significantly better this season, and so far that’s proven to be very wrong. They obviously don’t have the talent to compete with the best teams, but they also sit back so passively on defense, letting teams pass the puck around the outside almost as if they’re on a power play for the majority of the game.
Gentille: San Jose needs to call up Yaroslav Askarov (.950 save percentage in his first six AHL games) to make this one interesting.
Mirtle: The Habs might make this one interesting if they keep playing this way defensively. Two wins in their last 11 games doesn’t look like a blip.
Who will be the biggest disappointment?
Must be projected at 100-plus points by Dom Luszczyszyn’s model at the start of the season. Projected point total in parentheses.
Granger: The top three teams are all in this spot thanks to subpar goaltending. The difference between the three is that Alexandar Georgiev and Skinner have long enough track records for me to believe they’ll eventually regress back to being league-average goalies. Meanwhile, it’s looking less likely Thatcher Demko is stepping through that door to save the Canucks, so I’m most worried about Vancouver.
Mirtle: No love for Kevin Lankinen! He’s been excellent, and the Canucks’ underlying numbers are solid. Their backup is hurting them (.797 save percentage for Artūrs Šilovs), but with Demko joining the main group at practice this week, they could be fine?
Granger: You might be right. Maybe I’m not giving Lankinen enough credit. He was excellent against the Kings on Thursday, and his numbers are great. I’m still a bit skeptical that will continue for an entire season, but if Demko returns soon it’ll change my mind in a hurry.
Gentille: Carolina is currently playing at a 137-point pace. Whoops!
Goldman: The Oilers bounced back from worse last year, so maybe that’s why I am not super worried there. Maybe the Maple Leafs should be higher. Or we all expect them to disappoint us, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if it happened.
Who’s your dark horse Cup contender?
Must be projected as a middle-of-the-pack team, between 85 and 100 points by Dom’s model at the start of the season. Projected point total in parentheses.
Goldman: The Wild and Capitals have gotten off to better-than-expected starts, which makes them dark-horse playoff teams. But contenders? I don’t think anyone sees them standing in the final four in the spring. That’s what separates them from the Jets, Devils, Lightning and Golden Knights.
Granger: I’m still alone on the Senators bandwagon, but I’m still comfortable despite the middling start. Ottawa is scoring at a good pace, and the goaltending has been better than the numbers suggest. They’re not as good as Tampa Bay or Vegas, but I find it hard to consider them dark horses.
Gentille: The Lightning are a bit of a riser here, which makes sense. They’re getting secondary production from their forwards, and that was a huge issue for them last season.
Mirtle: Sticking with Vegas. They’re riding a shooting percentage bender, sure, but offense sure doesn’t look like it’ll be the issue some thought it was this season. Pavel Dorofeyev has arrived.
Pav got us going!!! 🚪 pic.twitter.com/G1kdbFZagh
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 3, 2024
Who’s your surprise playoff team?
Must be projected below 85 points by Dom’s model at the start of the season. Projected point total in parentheses.
Granger: The Flames are playing some fun, high-event hockey, and both Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar are off to good starts in net. More than anything, I just think the Pacific Division is the easiest to earn a playoff spot in.
Gentille: Ideally, we could’ve left this one blank, but I can see the Blues making a run once Robert Thomas is back in the lineup.
Mirtle: Yeah, this really feels like none of the above at this point. Good for Columbus, though; finally feels like they’re building something interesting there. They’ve been fun to watch.
Goldman: The door should be open for Detroit here with the Islanders, Penguins and Bruins all going through it, but … nope, the vibes are simply off there as well.
Will Derek Lalonde be the first coach fired this season? (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Who will be the first coach fired?
| Coach | Preseason | Now |
|---|---|---|
|
21.4% |
35.5% |
|
|
7.1% |
29.0% |
|
|
21.4% |
19.4% |
|
|
0.0% |
9.7% |
|
|
3.6% |
3.2% |
|
|
0.0% |
3.2% |
|
|
10.7% |
0.0% |
|
|
7.1% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
Goldman: There is a good case to make for any of the top three names here. Mike Sullivan would be purely for a change of direction. A team with Derek Lalonde at the helm shouldn’t be this bad defensively. But I personally went with Jim Montgomery. The Bruins look lost in the early goings of the season and are seeing their playoff chances trend down by the day at this point.
Gentille: Gotta say, I did not expect to see Montgomery challenging for the crown here. I still think it’s Lalonde, though. If Detroit’s power play goes cold for a protracted amount of time, things are gonna get ugly in a hurry.
Mirtle: I second Montgomery. It’s not so much Boston’s record, which isn’t great. They’ve been as bad defensively as we’ve seen in … 20 years? And even David Pastrňák looks out of sorts now.
East playoff field
We asked each voter to pick the eight East playoff teams. Here is the percentage of the votes received by each team.
(*-playoff team in 2023-24)
Granger: There seems to be a pretty clear cutoff after the top eight teams, both in these poll results and the betting odds. Boston is still a -135 favorite to make the playoffs despite the slow start, while the next-closest team (Ottawa) is a slight +110 underdog to make it.
Gentille: Eight-for-eight thus far. End the season immediately.
Mirtle: One vote for Ottawa for me. They’ve looked really good lately and managed to nab some points when Linus Ullmark was out of the lineup. Maybe ease up on those Travis Hamonic minutes a bit, though, Mendes.
Goldman: The East feels somewhat decided besides that eighth seed. Boring!
West playoff field
We asked each voter to pick the eight West playoff teams. Here is the percentage of the votes received by each team.
(*-playoff team in 2023-24)
Granger: What a fall for Nashville, from 92.9 percent to 32.3 percent in only a month of hockey. The Predators are still favorites to make the playoffs according to the oddsmakers, though.
Gentille: I love what the Kings are doing. They’re a top-10 five-on-five team, and that bodes well for them snagging one of the wild cards, especially given how lost Nashville has looked.
Mirtle: The rise of the Wild could make the West race pretty dull. I have a hard time seeing any of the bottom seven get in at this point. Prove me wrong, Utahns!
Goldman: Time to cancel another trip to Sphere or something to get Nashville back in this race. Utah had a lot of momentum early on and wow, did it fade quickly.
Hart Trophy
Given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team. Voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA).
Gentille: It’s worth noting that we voted while Connor McDavid was on the shelf, and he wound up missing a grand total of three games. At 6.5 percent, he came in a little light.
Mirtle: Kirill Kaprizov is a fine choice, but I think we’re chasing the shiny new toy here a bit. Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon have been amazing lately and are going to make this one interesting, I think.
Goldman: No disagreements with Kaprizov and Kucherov leading the way, but goalies (and Shesterkin, specifically) should be in the conversation more often.
Get yourself a glass 🥛 pic.twitter.com/W0QrBuHni4
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 9, 2024
Rocket Richard Trophy
Given to the leading goal scorer at the end of the regular season.
Goldman: Who among us expected Kucherov to score this much with a 40-goal scorer like Jake Guentzel on his wing?
Gentille: “Me,” I say very dishonestly. He didn’t get any votes, but I feel it necessary to point out that Tage Thompson leads the league with nine five-on-five goals. If Buffalo’s power play gets it together, he should have a shot.
Mirtle: The Auston Matthews skepticism also comes with him on the shelf for a few games, but the concern is warranted. His shooting percentage is down by half, the Leafs power play had a rough start but is getting better, and it feels a bit like the off-year he had in 2022-23 so far.
Norris Trophy
Given to the defenseman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position. Voted on by the PHWA.
Granger: Cale Makar is scoring at an 82-game pace of 135 points …
Gentille: Makar has been undeniably sick, but I went with Quinn Hughes here if only to make a point. His work in his own end has been both incredible and a step up from last season, when he won Norris No. 1. His campaign for a repeat deserves to start now.
Mirtle: I picked Makar, but glad to see Brock Faber here. If the Wild make the playoffs, he’s going to be getting votes for this, no question.
Goldman: Hughes is having such an excellent start that he probably should be getting more hype. No shade to Makar, who rightfully leads the way here. It just feels like it should be a bit tighter.
GO DEEPER
16 stats: Sabres’ second-line issues, Timothy Liljegren trade, Quinn Hughes’ Norris case
Selke Trophy
Given to the forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. Voted on by the PHWA.
Goldman: Aleksander Barkov is the easy answer here and will probably be a perennial finalist for the rest of his career. But Nico Hischier’s scoring could finally push him to the top of the list this year, since there is so much more emphasis on two-way play in today’s game.
Gentille: That was my logic, too. Barkov missed some time and Hischier is scoring enough (10 goals) to bolster his case.
Mirtle: The 12th (Sidney Crosby) and 13th (Anze Kopitar) oldest skaters are getting reputation votes here, but it’s pretty remarkable that both are still putting up better than a point a game at age 37.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin is playing on his own planet and perhaps his own universe. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Vezina Trophy
Given to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position. Voted on by the general managers of all 32 NHL clubs.
Granger: Shesterkin is playing on his own planet — perhaps his own universe — at the moment. The 11.97 goals he’s saved above expected this season (even after a rare bad outing on Thursday) rank second in the league. It’s almost unfair when he’s this locked in.
Gentille: I’m Team Shesterkin, too, but shoutout to Jake Oettinger, who’s having the type of regular season (.922 save percentage, fifth in the NHL in goals saved above expected) that plenty of us expected in 2023-24.
Mirtle: Quite a negotiation strategy from Shesterkin right now …
GO DEEPER
Goalie Tracking: The top storylines in net from the first month of the NHL season
Jack Adams Award
Given to the coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success. Voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association.
| Coach | Preseason | Now |
|---|---|---|
|
0.0% |
29.0% |
|
|
42.9% |
22.6% |
|
|
0.0% |
12.9% |
|
|
0.0% |
9.7% |
|
|
3.6% |
6.5% |
|
|
3.6% |
3.2% |
|
|
3.6% |
3.2% |
|
|
3.6% |
3.2% |
|
|
3.6% |
3.2% |
|
|
0.0% |
3.2% |
|
|
0.0% |
3.2% |
|
|
10.7% |
0.0% |
|
|
7.1% |
0.0% |
|
|
7.1% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
|
|
3.6% |
0.0% |
Goldman: We saw Spencer Carbery do a lot with a little last season. With some roster additions, the Capitals are thriving. He deserves a lot of credit for it. If Washington can stay in the playoff race, he feels like the slam-dunk pick for this award.
Gentille: I’d love to see Carbery stay in the discussion here. Too many Jack Adams candidates are propped up by overachieving goalies, and that hasn’t been the case in D.C. They’re across-the-board good.
Mirtle: Carbery was pegged by a lot of organizations as a rising star after what he did as an assistant in Toronto, and that’s definitely playing out right now. Few saw this kind of a rise from the Capitals, who suddenly look very legit. Great hire by Brian MacLellan.
Granger: The Senators aren’t quite playing well enough for Travis Green to fly up this list, but I like what he’s doing with that young team.
Calder Trophy
Given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the NHL. Voted on by the PHWA.
Gentille: As I type this, Matvei Michkov has been healthy-scratched. It was bound to happen at some point, I suppose.
Goldman: The Sharks scored more than expected without Macklin Celebrini, so if they can build on it with him back in the fold (he scored two goals on Thursday), he could emerge as the favorite.
MACKLIN’S GOT ANOTHER ONE ✌️ pic.twitter.com/zX4UW1hZlq
— NHL (@NHL) November 8, 2024
Mirtle: I’m heavily biased here because I’ve watched him with my hometown team for years, but folks are sleeping on Logan Stankoven. His line has been great defensively, and his point-per-game pace isn’t percentage-driven. He’s going to have a great career.
Granger: Stankoven was so good in the playoffs last year and has rolled it right into this season. The guy is everywhere when he’s on the ice, a great forechecker and has plenty of skill with the puck once he gets it.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic. Photos: Bruce Kluckhohn, Andre Ringuette / NHLI; Joel Auerbach / Getty Images)
Literature
‘Prayer’ (1985) by Galway Kinnell
Whatever happens. Whatever
what is is is what
I want. Only that. But that.
“I typically say Kinnell’s words at the start of my day, as I’m pedaling a traffic-laden path to my office,” says Major Jackson, 57, the author of six books of poetry, including “Razzle Dazzle” (2023). “The poem encourages a calm acceptance of the day’s events but also wants us to embrace the misapprehension and oblivion of life, to avoid probing too deeply for answers to inscrutable questions. I admire what Kinnell does with only 14 words; the repetition of ‘what,’ ‘that’ and ‘is’ would seem to limit the poem’s sentiment but, paradoxically, the poem opens widely to contain all manner of human experience. The three ‘is’es in the middle line give it a symmetry that makes its message feel part of a natural order, and even more convincing. Thanks to the skillful punctuation, pauses and staccato rhythm, a tonal quality of interior reflection emerges. Much like a haiku, it continues after its last words, lingering like the last note played on a piano that slowly fades.”
“Just as I was entering young adulthood, probably slow to claim romantic feelings, a girlfriend copied out a poem by Pablo Neruda and slipped it into an envelope with red lipstick kisses all over it. In turn, I recited this poem. It took me the remainder of that winter to memorize its lines,” says Jackson. “The poem captures the pitch of longing that defines love at its most intense. The speaker in Shakespeare’s most famous sonnet believes the poem creates the beloved, ‘So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.’ (Sonnet 18). In Rilke’s expressive declarations of yearning, the beloved remains elusive. Wherever the speaker looks or travels, she marks his world by her absence. I find this deeply moving.”
“Clifton faced many obstacles, including cancer, a kidney transplant and the loss of her husband and two of her children. Through it all, she crafted a long career as a pre-eminent American poet,” says Jackson. “Her poem ‘won’t you celebrate with me’ is a war cry, an invitation to share in her victories against life’s persistent challenges. The poem is meaningful to all who have had to stare down death in a hospital or had to bereave the passing of close relations. But, even for those who have yet to mourn life’s vicissitudes, the poem is instructive in cultivating resilience and a persevering attitude. I keep coming back to the image of the speaker’s hands and the spirit of steadying oneself in the face of unspeakable storms. She asks in a perfectly attuned gorgeously metrical line, ‘what did i see to be except myself?’”
‘Sonnet 94’ (1609) by William Shakespeare
They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmovèd, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces
And husband nature’s riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die;
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity.
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
“It’s one of the moments of Western consciousness,” says Frederick Seidel, 90, the author of more than a dozen collections of poetry, including “So What” (2024). “Shakespeare knows and says what he knows.”
“It trombones magnificent, unbearable sorrow,” says Seidel.
“It’s smartass and bitter and bright,” says Seidel.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
More in Literature
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Literature
FRANCE
According to the writer Leïla Slimani, 44, the author of ‘The Country of Others’ (2020).
Classic
‘Essais de Montaigne’ (‘Essays of Montaigne,’ 1580)
“France is a country of nuance with a love of conversation and freedom and an aversion to fanaticism. It’s also a country built on reflexive subjectivity. Montaigne reveals all that, writing, ‘I am myself the matter of my book.’”
Contemporary
‘La Carte et le Territoire’ (‘The Map and the Territory,’ 2010) by Michel Houellebecq
“Houellebecq describes France as a museum, where landscape turns into décor and where rural areas are emptying out. He shows the gap between the Parisian elite and the rest of the population, which he paints as aging and disoriented by modernity. It’s a melancholic and yet ironic novel about a disenchanted nation.”
JAPAN
According to the writer Yoko Ogawa, 64, the author of ‘The Memory Police’ (1994).
Classic
‘Man’yoshu’ (late eighth century)
“‘Man’yoshu,’ the oldest extant collection of Japanese poetry, reflects a diversity of voices — from emperors to commoners. They bow their heads to the majesty of nature, weep at the loss of loved ones and find pathos in death. The pages pulse with the vitality of successive generations.”
Contemporary
‘Tenohira no Shosetsu’ (‘Palm-of-the-Hand Stories,’ 1923-72) by Yasunari Kawabata
“The essence of Japanese literature might lie in brevity: waka [a classical 31-syllable poetry form], haiku and short stories. There’s a tradition of cherishing words that seem to well up from the depths of the heart, imbued with warmth. Kawabata, too, exudes more charm in his short stories — especially these very short ‘palm-of-the-hand’ stories — than in his full-length novels. Good and evil, beauty and ugliness, love and hate — everything is contained in these modest worlds.”
INDIA
According to Aatish Taseer, 45, a T contributing writer and the author of ‘Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey Through Islamic Lands’ (2009).
Classic
‘The Kumarasambhava’ (‘The Birth of Kumara,’ circa fifth century) by Kalidasa
“This is an epic poem by the greatest of the classical Sanskrit poets and dramatists. The gods are in a pickle. They’re being tormented by a monster, but Shiva, their natural protector, is deep in meditation and cannot be disturbed. Kama, the god of love, armed with his flower bow, is sent down from the heavens to waken Shiva. Never a wise idea! The great god, in his fury, opens his third eye and incinerates Kama. But then, paradoxically, the death of the god of love engenders one of the greatest love stories ever told. In the final canto, Shiva and his wife, the goddess Parvati, have the most electrifying sex for days on end — and, 15 centuries on, in our now censorious time, it still leaves one agog at the sensual wonder that was India.”
Contemporary
‘The Complex’ (2026) by Karan Mahajan
“This state-of-the-nation novel, which was published just last month, captures the squalor and malice of Indian family life. Delhi is both my and Mahajan’s hometown and, in this sprawling homage to India’s capital, we see it on the eve of the economic liberalization of the 1990s, as the old socialist city gives way to a megalopolis of ambition, greed and political cynicism.”
THE UNITED KINGDOM
According to the writer Tessa Hadley, 70, the author of ‘The London Train’ (2011).
Classic
‘Jane Eyre’ (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
“Written almost 200 years ago, it remains an insight into our collective soul — or at least its female part. Somewhere at the heart of us there’s a small girl in a wintry room, curled up in the window seat with a book, watching the lashing rain on the window glass: ‘There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. …’ Jane’s solemnity, her outraged sense of justice, her trials to come, the wild weather outside, her longing for something better, for love in her future: All this speaks, perhaps problematically, to something buried in the foundations of our idea of ourselves.”
Contemporary
‘All That Man Is’ (2016) by David Szalay
“Though he isn’t quite completely British (he’s part Canadian, part Hungarian), Szalay is brilliant at catching certain aspects of British men — aspects that haven’t been written about for a while, now updated for a new era. Funny, exquisitely observed and terrifying, this novel reminds us, too, how absolutely our fate and our identity as a nation belong with the rest of Europe.”
BRAZIL
According to the writer and critic Noemi Jaffe, 64, the author of ‘What Are the Blind Men Dreaming?’ (2016).
Classic
‘Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas’ (‘The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas,’ 1881) by Machado de Assis
“Not only is it experimental in style — very short chapters mixed with long ones; different points of view; narrated by a corpse; metalinguistic — but it also introduces an extremely ironic view of the rising bourgeoisie in Rio de Janeiro at the time, revealing the hypocrisy of slave owners, the falsehood of love affairs and the only true reason for all social relationships: convenience and personal interest. After almost 150 years, it’s still modern, both formally and, unfortunately, also in content.”
Contemporary
‘Onde Pastam os Minotauros’ (‘Where Minotaurs Graze,’ 2023) by Joca Reiners Terron
“The two main characters — Cão and Crente — along with some of their colleagues, plan to escape and set fire to the slaughterhouse where they work under exploitative conditions. The men develop sympathy for the animals they kill, and one of them becomes a sort of philosopher, revealing the sheer nonsense of existence and the injustices of society in the deepest parts of Brazil.”
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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Literature
The Myth of Meeting Oneself
“This is evident in Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ (circa 30-19 B.C.) when Aeneas witnesses his own heroic actions depicted in murals of the Trojan War in Juno’s temple, and again in Miguel de Cervantes’s ‘Don Quixote’ (1605-15) when Quixote enters a printer’s shop and finds a book that has been published with fake details about his quest even as he’s living it,” says Ben Okri, 67, the author of “The Famished Road” (1991) and “Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted” (2025). “In both stories, individuals throw themselves into the world and think they encounter objects, personae, obstacles and antagonists, but what they actually encounter is themselves. In our time, where our actions meet us in the echo chamber of social media, the process is magnified and swifter. Now a deed doesn’t even have to take place for it to enter the realm of reality.”
The Myth of Utopia
“I’ve always had trouble with the idea of utopia, feeling it derives its energy more from what it wishes to dismantle than what it wishes to enact,” says the T writer at large Aatish Taseer, 45, the author of “Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey Through Islamic Lands” (2009). “Ram Rajya, or the mythical rule of the hero Ram in the Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’ (seventh century B.C.-third century A.D.), like all visions of perfection, contains a built-in violence.”
The Myth of Invisibility
“Invisibility bears power and powerlessness at the same time,” says Okri. “In ancient cultures, it was a gift of the gods. Jesus, for example, walks unrecognized among his disciples, and in Greek myths, Scandinavian legends and ancient African tales, heroes are gifted invisibility in the form of cloaks, sandals or spells. Modern works like the two ‘Invisible Man’ novels, by H.G. Wells (1897) and Ralph Ellison (1952), and the ‘Harry Potter’ novels (1997-2007) by J.K. Rowling reach back to those ideas. But today, people talk about visibility as the highest form of social agency, while invisibility can render a whole class, race, caste or gender unseen.”
The Myth of Steadiness vs. Speed
“‘The Tortoise and the Hare,’ one of Aesop’s fables (sixth century B.C.), doesn’t necessarily strike a younger person as promising — possibly it has a whiff of morality in it,” says Yiyun Li, 53, the author of “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” (2005) and “Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life” (2017). “But the longer I live and work, the more I understand that it’s the tortoiseness in a person that carries one along, not the swiftness of the mind and body of the hare.”
The Myth of Magic
“Ancient magical tales like Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ (late eighth to early seventh century B.C.) were allegories of transformation, of secret teachings,” says Okri, “whereas modern forms of magic are narrative devices and tropes of storytelling that continue the child’s wonder of life. I think of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1925), Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ (1967) and, again, the ‘Harry Potter’ books. The intuition of magic persists even in these atheistic and science-infested times, where nothing is to be believed if it can’t be subjected to analysis. This is perhaps because the ultimate magic confronts us every day in the mystery of consciousness. That we can see anything is magical; that we experience love is magical; and perhaps the most magical thing of all is the imagination’s unending power to alter the contents and coordinates of reality. It hides tenaciously in the act of reading, which is the most generative act of magic.”
The Myth of the Immortal Soul
“ ‘The soul is birthless and eternal, imperishable and timeless and is not destroyed when the body is destroyed,’ says Krishna in the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ (second century-first century B.C.). This belief in the immortality of the soul — what used to be called Pythagoreanism in ancient Greece — is still the most pervasive myth in India,” says Taseer, “and has more influence over behavior and how one lives one’s life than any other.”
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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