What have you done for us lately? : Great short-story writers and The New Yorker

Old friend E.S. and I have resumed a 30-year-old discussion, carrying it forward on line now, regarding literature, short fiction, especially short fiction in The New Yorker, and though we haven't been in touch for many years great to see the ES and I still agree in the realm of taste, especially these salient points: Updike was one of the great writers of the century, Trevor is the greatest living writer in English, other great masters of she English-language short story include Welty and Cheever. ES asked me what I've been reading lately of interest and among other things I mention William Maxwell LoA edition; ES was surprised, considers him second-tier, but I think he deserves his spot in the Pantheon for So Long, See You Tomorrow, even if nothing else of his measures up to that height. Among short-story writers, ES recommended I read Malamud and Jean Stafford - have read almost no Stafford and will give her a try and have read Malamud only from time to time but have a few of his books and will go back to them. ES and I agree wholeheartedly that it's a shame that TNYer no longer develops and nurtures short-story talent - they tend to publish well-established or well-hyped writers and rarely publish true stories, very often just excerpts from soon-to-appear novels - they're shills, in other words. ES, however, notes two that TNYer has championed: Lahiri and Ha Jin. I've read Jin's Waiting but don't remember his stories; Lahiri is truly a master, but I have found that her stories all strike the same elegaic tone and reading a collection of her work can be trying. I would add Menueddin as one the magazine has championed who seems to me to be a potentially great writer.