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The Ecstasy Of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc. (2011)

by Jonathan Lethem(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0385534957 (ISBN13: 9780385534956)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Doubleday

review 1: Thoughtful and sometimes hilarious essays, especially the autobiographical ones. Unfortunately they do get bogged down in meta-commentary that's supposed to make fun of post-modernism but ends up just being annoying. One essay promises to be a postmodern look at "Who Shot Liberty Valence?" -- a film that just cries out for "postmodern" analysis -- but really it's just an incomprehensible scrum of words, which Lethem wants us to think any essay on that topic should be. His essay on "The Searchers", in "The Disappointment Artist," is way better
review 2: Is Lethem working in the wrong genre? In this collection of non-fiction pieces culled from new York newspapers and magazines, Lethem among other things claims if he wasn't a writer he'd be a hipster book clerk. ... moreI disagree. Clearly the sheer depth and breadth of his reading and analytical insight point towards academia, and this collection ends up being perhaps a brilliant semester's worth of classes. Quite the trip 4/5 but we're left with the conundrum: if Lethem had only one more book in him, would you plead for a novel or a history of the novel?Contains extensive references and leads for further reading. A public intellectual's touchstone less

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