There was a recent examination of John Darnielle’s novel Wolf in White Van published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin–focused primarily on the accuracy of regional locations talked about in that book–with a mention of JL’s forthcoming The Feral Detective. Your Aggregator highly recommends Wolf in White Van, as well as the music of The Mountain Goats, and looks forward to the examination of Feral by the same writer in the Daily Bulletin.
Harlan Ellison Is Dead
But before he died, he managed to read aloud the first two paragraphs of Lethem’s short story Using It and Losing It, while being filmed. Ellison comically mangles a sentence in there.
Telluride Film Festival’s 45th Guest Director
Should you be able to attend the Telluride Film Festival this coming Labor Day Weekend, you will be pleased to learn that JL has been selected as the Guest Director there.
The Feral Detective, coming soon to bookstores AND the screen
JL’s latest novel will be published in November, but has already been optioned for adaptation by the same producer (now with her own company) responsible for the forthcoming Motherless Brooklyn.
Remembering Philip Roth
JL has a very wonderful, brief tribute to the late writer, alongside Gary Shteyngart and Louise Erdrich, in The New Yorker. Also, all the books mentioned in it are wonderful, but especially The Street of Crocodiles, the titular story of which was adapted into one of the greatest short films you will ever see.
And read American Pastoral.
Think Again
Here is a brand-new podcast interview with JL that was just posted. It’s so new, JL refers to Emmanuel Macron’s recent appearance before the US Congress, about there not being a Planet B.
Nancy, All Too Nancy
JL’s contribution to the landmark Fiftieth Issue of the ongoing McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern is available for view online, since the publication is sold out. Recommended as well, for those of you interested in Ernie Bushmiller’s undying character, is this remarkable in-depth book-length study of one three-panel strip.
The Map Is Not The Territory
For JL readers interested in the process of how A Gambler’s Anatomy came into being, with insights into what he reads (DeLillo, McEwan, Dostoevsky, Graham Greene), and what he watches (Robert Altman’s California Split), and how he spins the plates, there is the latest installment in the educational podcast called “The How, The Why.” Highly recommended for anyone willing to invest the time.
The Hidden Masterpieces Of The N.Y.C. Subway
On May 1, a new book about Philip Ashforth Coppola, who has been trying to preserve the art of the New York Subway system by recreating them in drawings, will be published by Princeton Architectural Press, with a Foreword by Jonathan Lethem. It looks like a real keeper.
Dissident Gardens
In the Netherlands, Dissident Gardens has been translated into an actual garden.
