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Conversation: Jonathan Lethem

Posted by Jeffrey Brown , November 6, 2009

Chase Insteadman is a former child TV-star, now fiance of an astronaut stranded in space. Perkus Tooth is a forgotten culture critic with a deep sense of paranoia. These two and friends travel through a Manhattan that is both very recognizable -- from the billionaire mayor to the burgers at a local diner -- while also surreal. Among other things, an escaped tiger is on the loose and part of the city is shrouded in a strange fog that won't go away.

It's all part of the new novel "Chronic City," the latest from author Jonathan Lethem, whose other books include "the Fortress of Solitude" and "Motherless Brooklyn," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Comments

Posted:
11/ 8/09 at
12:54 PM

meb : Wonderful interview with this fascinating and insightful author. His view of the many personal and cultural pieces and dreams in an individual's life and the life of the city as a whole and the real and surreal complexities they weave is an important level of comprehension - seeing the forest and the trees at the same time. I look forward to reading how he orders it all.
Posted:
11/15/09 at
10:42 PM

sprachnroll : After spending much of the day reading Lethem's latest, it's great to be able to turn to this interview. Jeffrey Brown is a terrific interviewer too, making you wish it was you who was asking those perceptive questions. However, I have to admit I was distracted by the thought that Lethem was going to take those glasses off and suddenly reveal himself to really be Stephen Colbert. Anyone else see a resemblance?

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