Auticulture Podcast
I did a two-part podcast with Jasun Horsley of AUTICULTURE: JUST THIS WEEK
First Public Reading from The Feral Detective
I’ll read at Red Hen’s benefit luncheon on October 28th. This will be the first-ever public reading from The Feral Detective, which comes out just a week late. more info
The Magnificent Ambersons
I wrote an essay for the new Criterion edition of Magnificent Ambersons, out in November
Manny Farber and Termite Art
I talked with curator Helen Molesworth at MOCA about Manny Farber and Termite Art.
Knitting The Monster’s Socks
I wrote the catalog essay, “Knitting the Monster’s Socks”, for the Metropolitan Museum’s new show Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy.
Scarcity of Tanks: Hinge
I wrote a liner note for Scarcity of Tanks’ new album, Hinge more info
The Literature of the Inland Empire Grows
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,
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
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
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.
Motherless Brooklyn. At last.
Edward Norton’s film adaptation of Motherless Brooklyn has hit the ground running — as has co-star Bruce Willis, as you can see in this behind-the-scenes clip.
Animal Ambivalence
It wasn’t a tiger. It was a raccoon, and so, alas, we are not in Chronic City. (“They do both have black markings.”)
David Bowman’s Big Bang
I wrote a (long) introduction, and memoir of friendship, for David Bowman’s posthumously published novel, Big Bang.
Mourning, Loss, and Despair. Yes.
This Andrew Rowcroft knows a thing or two. Andrew Rowcroft on Dissident Gardens
Chronic City thanks Chronic City
Why, thank you Chronic City! The feeling is mutual! Chronic City recommends Chronic City
A movie called LETHEM
http://metrograph.com/film/film/1022/lethem This is intriguing, and possibly awkward. A film about him, who is me. He/I looks stressed out in that still from the Metrograph website. Is the film unauthorized? Come and find out.
We like this.
We’re thankful, Mr. Wood. http://quarterlyconversation.com/zipping-up-the-elephant-suit-jonathan-lethems-latest-quartet
Cluuuuuute!
No knock on anyone else, but until you’ve been read by John Clute you might not have been read at all. John Clute review
Talking With Kleffel About Talking With Rickels
I always look forward to seeing Rick Kleffel in San Francisco. It’s one of the best conversations a writer on book tour could hope for, and he and I have been carrying it on intermittently for two decades now. Kleffel talk.