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Jonathan Lethem




Title Author Publisher Price
The Better of McSweeneys Jonathan Lethem, Glen David Gold, A. M. Homes, David Foster Wallace and more ... McSweeney's $15.75
($18.00 list)
Bettermcsweeneys
Read more and comment... 		This is a jam-packed assortment culled from the now out-of-print first ten issues of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern.  Editor David Eggers has written plenty of fresh commentary specifically for this volume, so even if you are one of the tiny minority who already posses the first ten issues of MQC, you still might want to consider this one.  Authors whose work grace this collection include Jonathan Lethem, Glen David Gold, A. M. Homes, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, Amanda Davis, George Saunders, Paul Collins, and William T. Vollmann, as well as many talented newcomers.
The Disappointment Artist Jonathan Lethem $11.44
($22.95 list)
Disappointment
Read more and comment... 		Lethem's first essay collection, The Disappointment Artist is a rallying cry for fan boys of all stripes.  Within its pages you will find the laid bare soul of a pop culture fiend.  The novels of Philip K Dick, the comics of Jack Kirby, the films of John Cassavetes, Star Wars, The Searchers and more are shown as being worthy and sturdy foundations for building a life upon  --  or at least of retreating into, to escape, if only momentarily, from the vicissitudes of fate.  And there's more:  a paean to the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station, a personal memoir of a bohemian childhood, and a charting of the formation of identity through a personal constellation of pop culture artifacts.  For readers whose identities are likewise constructed out of the bric-a-brac of popular culture, ephemeral and otherwise, this is the book you've been waiting for.
Men & Cartoons Jonathan Lethem $4.95
($19.95 list)
Men-and-cartoons
Read more and comment... 		He was just here in person -- at the Carnegie Lecture Hall, as part of the American Shorts series.  Now here's his latest book:  a collection of short stories dealing with... well, the title sort of gives it away.  Want to know more?  Check out the everyman review by a Lethem fan on Pop Matters on the one hand, and then the NY Times review by Jay McInerney, on the other.  hardcover
The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem $12.70
($14.95 list)

Read more and comment... 		OK, now there's no excuse:  read this book of the meeting of the meeting of the minds; of the cross fertilization of complementary (if nevertheless antagonistic) sub-cultures; of the baby steps that lead to cultural evolution; of how the margins of the 1970s erupted into the mainstream a generation later; of Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude; of comic books and hip-hop.  A note to Pittsburghers:  Jonathan Lethem will visit Pittsburgh and give a lecture on (we believe) Thursday, October 28, 2004 at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland.  Don't hesitate to contact us for details.
Read Hard Paul La Farge, Ben Ehrenreich, William T. Vollmann, Jonathan Lethem and more ... McSweeney's $9.95
($18.00 list)
OUT OF STOCK!
Readhard
Read more and comment... 		We're offering a special price on some McSweeney's publications this month, so if you've been thinking about checking in with them, sow's your chance.  Here's the publisher's official word:  "This volume collects the finest essays and articles from the four-time National Magazine Award–nominated Believer magazine. The book combines all the erudition and wit readers have come to expect from its pages: Jonathan Lethem on Nathanael West, William T. Vollmann on W. G. Sebald, Ben Ehrenreich on Brian Evenson, Paul La Farge on Dungeons & Dragons, and much, much more. It’s an essential anthology, collecting the best in creative nonfiction, the best in literary journalism, and the best writing in English from the beginning of the twenty-first century, from one of the smartest, weirdest, and funniest magazines in the country. SPECIAL WEB ONLY SALE!!!
Chronic City Jonathan Lethem Doubleday $8.88
Chronic
Read more and comment... 		Those of you who enjoyed Lethem's contribution to The Book of Other People – as we most certainly did here at Copacetic – will be pleased to discover that it was an excerpt from this novel, about which David Shields has to say:  "I'm reminded of the well-rubbed Kafka line:  A book must be the axe to break the frozen sea within us.  Lethem's book, with incredible fury, aspires to do little less.  It's almost certainly his best novel.  It's genuinely great."  How about them apples!  IMPORT SPECIAL
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick, Pamela Jackson, Jonathan Lethem Houghton Mifflin $35.00
($40.00 list)
Dickexegesis
Read more and comment... 		Philip Dick had a very certain kind of mind.  You either relate to him or you don't.  It was a mind that turned ever increasingly in on itself during a lengthy career that began in 1954 with turning out science fiction stories and novels at a frantic pace and ending with a sort of quasi-relgious mysticism attempting to ground itself in hard science.  To say Dick lived life on the edge is putting it mildly, and in February and March of 1974 he experienced a multi-episode revelation that changed the course of his life for its remaining eight years, and The Exegesis is, more or less, his attempt to understand it.  The Exegesis is an investigation of the process of thought itself and so involves being self-aware and self-watching as the investigation proceeds knowing that the investigation ultimately transpires in the mind and so must itself be investigated at the same time that it proceeds.  Dick believed that it is precisely this delicate oroborosian, mobius strip highwire balancing act of consciousness watching itself which germinates the seed of discovery.  It is fascinating and frustrating in equal measure as Dick spent years pouring his thoughts out onto thousands upon thousands of pages (the introduction states that the unedited total length of The Exegesis is an estimated two million words).  Thus what we have in this published volume is only a sampling of the whole, but it is a sampling that is the result of (thirty!) years of work by the people best suited for the job – including Paul Williams, Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem – and so brings you, the reader, the best possible version that could be presented in under 1000 pages.  Hardy souls, prepare to venture forth!
The Ecstasy of Influence Jonathan Lethem Doubleday $25.00
($27.95 list)
Lethemecstasy
Read more and comment... 		Twenty years on, Lethem is unique among contemporary novelists in continuing to bring the full force of both his critical acumen and his phosphorescent prose stylings to bear on a wide breadth of subjects that other writers often ignore – despite his having achieved the Empyrean heights of world class critical renown signified by a MacArthur prize.  Lethem remains ever true to his roots, and is the champion of the importance and lasting value of an intelligent American popular culture rooted in arts and literatures of all stripes, including comics and science fiction (foremost among which might be his devotion to Philip K. Dick; see immediately above), movies and music, novels and paintings, and more.  The Ecstasy of Influence is the collection of these writings that we've all been waiting for.  Seventy-nine engaging pieces of sterling prose – consisting of a mix of long form essays and short form reviews, as well as pieces that fall somewhere between – celebrating culture and the individual's identity-forming interactions with it that will leave every one of its readers wiser and more self-aware.