Conversations With Jonathan Lethem

Conversations with Jonathan Lethemcollects fourteen interviews, conducted over a decade and a half, with the Brooklyn-born author of such novels as Girl in Landscape, Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, Chronic City, and many others. Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award, Lethem (b. 1964) covers a wide range of subjects, from what it means to incorporate genre into literature, to the impact of the death of his mother on his life and work, to his being a permanent "sophomore on leave" from Bennington College, as well as his flight from Brooklyn to California and its lasting effect on his fiction. Lethem also reveals the many literary and pop culture influences that have informed his writing life. Readers will find Lethem as charming and generous and intelligent as his work. His examination of what it means to live a creative life will reverberate and enlighten scholars and fans alike. His thoughts on science fiction, intellectual property, literary realism, genre, movies, and rock 'n' roll are articulated with el#xE1;n throughout the collection, as are his comments on his own development as a craftsman.

Jaime Clarke is the co-owner of Newtonville Books in Boston. He is also the co-founder of Post Road magazine, author of the novel We're So Famous, and editor of Don't You Forget about Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes and No Near Exit: Writers Select Their Favorite Work from Post Road Magazine.