BASS 2026: Nathan Englander, “What Are We Doing, What Have We Done” from The Yale Review #113.4

A bunch of years back, my wife and I were walking through the woods with our friends, Rachel and Steve, on their farm in Sandwich, New Hampshire. Along the way, Farmer Steve, who knows every tree in those woods, stopped to show off a stand of ash. Then, matter of fact, he told us all those trees would soon be gone. That the emerald ash borer beetles were coming and would kill every last one. Simple as that. The moment stayed with me, and I’ve been drafting a story revolving around it ever since….. But I’d like to believe – and I hope there’s a flicker of optimism in the story’s end – that, despite this sort of loss, a time of positive change and renewal is yet to come. Nathan Englander, Contributor Note, Best American Short Stories 2026 Again, a story that raises a lot of questions but doesn’t answer them. I rather like this approach, since it gives me as a reader something to do. And it lets me wander off on not-totally-relevant tangents. The first question I have is: What’s wrong…