Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, '' Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

, was published in 1994. In 1999, Lethem published '' Motherless Brooklyn'', a

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".The Fortress of Solitude'', which became a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. In 2005, he received a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

. Since 2011, he has taught creative writing at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

Early life

Lethem was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, to Judith Frank Lethem, a political

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, and Richard Brown Lethem, an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

painter. He was the eldest of three children. His father was Protestant (with Scottish and English ancestry) and his mother was Jewish, from a family with roots in Germany, Poland, and Russia. His brother Blake became an artist involved in the early New York

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

scene, and his sister Mara became a photographer, writer, and translator. The family lived in a commune in Brooklyn, in the northern section of the neighborhood of Gowanus (now called Boerum Hill). Lethem's fourth grade teacher at P.S. 29 in nearby Cobble Hill was future New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, whom he called the "perfect" teacher and to whom he dedicated his first novel, '' Gun, with Occasional Music''. Despite the racial tensions and conflicts, he later described his bohemian childhood as "thrilling" and culturally wide-reaching.McGlone, Jackie
"Brooklyn Dodger"
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', 2007-05-26. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. He gained an encyclopedic knowledge of the music of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, saw ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' 21 times during its original theatrical release,Edemariam, Aida
"The Borrower"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 2007-06-02. Retrieved on 2007-08-01. and read the complete works of the

writer Philip K. Dick. Lethem later said Dick's work was "as formative an influence as

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

—as equally responsible for beautifully fucking up my life, for bending it irreversibly along a course I still travel." His parents divorced when Lethem was young. When he was thirteen, his mother Judith died from a malignant

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

, an event which he has said haunted him and has strongly affected his writing. (Lethem discusses the direct relation between his mother and the

song "

Like a Rolling Stone "Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhauste ...

" in the 2003 Canadian documentary ''Complete Unknown''.) In 2007, Lethem explained, "My books all have this giant, howling missing enter��language has disappeared, or someone has vanished, or memory has gone." Intending to become a visual artist like his father, Lethem attended the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High S ...

in New York, where he painted in a style he describes as "glib, show-offy, usually cartoonish"."Interview: Jonathan Lethem"
, ''Post Road Magazine,'' Fall/Winter 2002. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. At Music & Art, he produced his own zine, ''The Literary Exchange,'' which featured artwork and writing. He also created animated films and wrote a 125-page novel, ''Heroes'', still unpublished. After graduating from high school, Lethem entered

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

in 1982 as a prospective art student. At Bennington, Lethem experienced an "overwhelming. ... collision with the realities of class—my parents' bohemian milieu had kept me from understanding, even a little, that we were poor. ... at Bennington that was all demolished by an encounter with the fact of real privilege." This, coupled with the realization that he was more interested in writing than art, led Lethem to drop out halfway through his sophomore year. He hitchhiked from

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, in 1984, across "a thousand miles of desert and mountains through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada, with about 40 dollars in my pocket", describing it as "one of the stupidest and most memorable things I've ever done."Kelleghan, Fiona
"Private Hells and Radical Doubts: An Interview with Jonathan Lethem"
''

Science Fiction Studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As Science fiction studies, the name implies, the journal publishes articles and ...

'' 25.2, July 1998. Retrieved on 2007-09-17 Lethem lived in California for twelve years, working as a clerk in used bookstores, including Moe's and Pegasus & Pendragon Books, and writing on his own time."License at the Margins"
, ''California Magazine'', June 2010. Retrieved on 2010-07-04. Lethem published his first short story in 1989 and published several more in the early 1990s.Houle, Zachary

''The SF Site'', November 2000. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.

Career

First novels

Lethem's first novel, '' Gun, with Occasional Music'', is a merging of science fiction and the Chandleresque detective story, which includes talking

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s, radical futuristic versions of the drug scene, and

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington, DC in 1971) endorsed a univers ...

prisons. The novel was published in 1994 by

Harcourt Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...

, in what Lethem later described as a "delirious" experience. "I'd pictured my first novels being published as paperback originals", he recalled, "and instead a prestigious house was doing the book in cloth. ... I was in heaven." The novel was released to little initial fanfare, but an enthusiastic review in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', which declared ''Gun'' an "audaciously assured first novel", catapulted the book to wider commercial success.Gaffney, Elizabeth
"Jonathan Lethem: Breaking the Barriers Between Genres"

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

, 1998-03-30. Retrieved on 2007-09-19. ''Gun, with Occasional Music'' was a finalist for the 1994

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

, and placed first in the "Best First Novel" category of the 1995 '' Locus Magazine'' reader's poll. In the mid-1990s, film producer-director Alan J. Pakula optioned the novel's movie rights, which allowed Lethem to quit working in bookstores and devote his time to writing. His next book was '' Amnesia Moon'' (1995). Partially inspired by Lethem's experiences hitchhiking cross-country, this second novel uses a

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

narrative to explore a multi-

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

future landscape rife with perception tricks. After publishing many of his early stories in a 1996 collection, '' The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye'', Lethem published his third novel, '' As She Climbed Across the Table'' (1997). It starts with a physics researcher who falls in love with an artificially generated spatial anomaly called "Lack", for whom she spurns her previous partner. Her ex-partner's comic struggle with this rejection, and with the anomaly, constitute the majority of the narrative. In 1996, Lethem moved from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

back to Brooklyn. His next book, published after his return to Brooklyn, was '' Girl in Landscape''. In the novel, a young girl must endure

puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles i ...

while also having to face a strange and new world populated by aliens known as Archbuilders. Lethem has said that ''Girl in Landscape''s plot and characters, including the figures of a young girl and a violently protective father figure, were "very strongly influenced" by the 1956

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...

'', a movie with which he is "obsessed".

Mainstream success and "genre bending"

Jonathan Lethem at the Brooklyn Book Festival

The first novel Lethem began after returning to New York City was '' Motherless Brooklyn'', a return to the detective theme. He maintained objective realism while exploring subjective alterity through Lionel Essrog. His protagonist has

Tourette's syndrome Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinki ...

and is obsessed with language. Lethem later said that Essrog

... obviously sthe character I've written with whom I most identify ... he novelstands outside myself ... It's the only one which doesn't need me, never did. It would have found someone to write it, by necessity.

Upon its publication in 1999, ''Motherless Brooklyn'' won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, The Macallan Gold Dagger for crime fiction, and the Salon Book Award; it was named book of the year by ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

''. In 1999, actor

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. After graduating from Yale College in 1991 with a degree in history, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to New York City ...

announced that he was planning to write, direct and star in a film adaptation of the novel. Norton's film was released in 2019. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', the mainstream success of ''Motherless Brooklyn'' made Lethem "something of a hipster celebrity", and he was referred to several times as a "

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

bender".Cardwell, Diane
"Untangling the Knots of a Brooklyn Boyhood"
''

'', 2003-09-16. Retrieved on 2008-03-28. Critics cited the variety of Lethem's novels, which were alternately hard-boiled detective fiction, science fiction, and autobiographical. Lethem credited his comfort in genre-mixing to his father's art, which "always combined observed and imagined reality on the same canvas, very naturally, very un-self-consciously." In ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine, Lev Grossman classed Lethem with a movement of authors similarly eager to blend literary and popular writing, including

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...

(with whom Lethem is friends),Henderson, Eleanor
"From Pittsburgh to Sitka: On Michael Chabon’s ''The Yiddish Policemen’s Union''"
(book review), '' The Virginia Quarterly Review'', Summer 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, and Susanna Clarke. In 2003, Lethem commented on the concept of "genre bending":

The fact is, I used to get very involved, six or seven years ago, and before that, in questions of taxonomy of genre, and in the idea—which is ultimately a political idea—that a given writer, perhaps me, could in some objective way alter or reorganize the boundaries between genres. ... Nowadays, I've come to feel that talking about categories, about "high" and "low", about genre and their boundaries and the blurring of those boundaries, all consists only of an elaborate way to avoid actually discussing what moves and interests me about books—my own, and others'. What I like are books in their homely actuality—the insides of the books, the mysterious movements of characters and situations and the emotions that accompany those movements. The play of sentences, their infinite variety."Jonathan Lethem Interview"
, ''FailBetter.com,'' Summer/Fall 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.

In the early 2000s, Lethem published a story collection, edited two anthologies, wrote magazine pieces, and published the 55-page novella ''This Shape We're In'' (2000). ''This Shape We're In'' was one of the first offerings from

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American nonprofit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal'' Timothy McSw ...

Books, the publishing imprint that developed from Dave Eggers' '' McSweeney's Quarterly Concern''. In November 2000, Lethem said that he was working on an uncharacteristically "big sprawling" novel, about a child who grows up to be a rock journalist. The novel was published in 2003 as '' The Fortress of Solitude''. The semi-autobiographical ''

bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

'' features dozens of characters in a variety of milieus, but features a tale of racial tensions and boyhood in

during the late 1970s. The main characters are two friends of different backgrounds who grew up on the same block in Boerum Hill. It was named one of nine "Editor's Choice" books of the year by ''

'' and has been published in fifteen languages. Lethem's second collection of short fiction, ''Men and Cartoons'', was published in late 2004. In March 2005, ''The Disappointment Artist'', his first collection of essays, was released. On September 20, 2005, Lethem received a

. In an interview with ''Armchair/Shotgun'' in 2009, Lethem said of short fiction:

I'm writing short stories right now, that's what I do between novels, and I love them. I'm very devoted to it. You know, it's funny. There seems to be some sort of law that you only get to be celebrated for one or the other. And then a couple of people will break it. Updike did. They didn't review his story collections by saying, "Well, these are nice, but he's a novelist." Or review his novels by saying, "Well, too bad he can't do the longer stuff." Other people tend to get patronized on one end or the other—and I'll take it. I have a very happy life as a novelist. But the story collections I've published are tremendously important to me. And many of the uncollected stories—or yet-to-be-collected stories—are among my proudest writings. They're very closely allied, obviously, to novel writing. But also very distinct, and, you know, there's no need to choose.

2005–present

Jonathan Lethem Occupy Wall Street 2011 Shankbone

In September 2006, Lethem wrote the article "The Genius of Bob Dylan", a lengthy interview with Bob Dylan, which was published in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. The interview contained Lethem's reflections on Dylan's artistic achievements. It revealed Dylan's dissatisfaction with contemporary recording techniques and his thoughts on his own status. After ''Motherless Brooklyn'' and ''The Fortress of Solitude'', Lethem decided that " was time to leave Brooklyn in a literary sense anyway ... I really needed to defy all that stuff about place and memory." In 2007, he returned as a novelist to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where some of his earlier fiction had been set, with '' You Don't Love Me Yet'', a novel about an upstart rock band. The novel revolves around a woman in the band, Lucinda, who answers phones for her friend's complaint line and uses some of a caller's words as lyrics. According to Lethem, the book was inspired by the years he spent as the lead singer in an upstart California band in the late 1980s and early 1990s, during what he called "the unformed posturing phase of life".Gilbert, Megan
"A Hit Song of the Mind: Profile of Jonathan Lethem, Author, You Don't Love Me Yet"
2007-05-21. Retrieved on 2012-01-27. The novel takes its title from two (otherwise unconnected) songs of the same title by

Roky Erickson Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson (July 15, 1947 – May 31, 2019) was an American musician and singer-songwriter. Called an "outsider genius," he was a founding member and the leader of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic r ...

and The Vulgar Boatmen. The original title was ''Monster Eyes'', but Lethem was convinced to change it by his publisher. He later admitted to an interviewer that the association with the two songs "made it feel very lucky to me to put it on the book," and that even though the new title "isn’t my phrase, for a book about appropriated language and the way things can be repurposed, it seemed okay. And, it’s a beautifully passive-aggressive title." The novel received mixed reviews. In 2005, Lethem had announced that he was planning to revive the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

character

Omega the Unknown Omega the Unknown is an American comic book published by Marvel Comics from 1976 to 1977, featuring the eponymous fictional character. The series, written by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes and illustrated by Jim Mooney, ran for 10 issues before can ...

in a ten-issue series to be published in 2006. After hearing of the project, Omega co-creator

Steve Gerber Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include '' Man-Thing'', ''Omega the Unknown,'' ''Marvel Spotlight ...

expressed personal outrage over the use of the character without his participation, though he later discussed the project with Lethem and admitted that he had "misjudged" him.Johnson, Rich
"Into the Unknown"
, Comic Book Resources, 2005-06-14. Retrieved on 2006-12-23. In May 2006, Marvel Editor-in-Chief

Joe Quesada Joseph Quesada (; born January 12, 1962'' Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; page 107) is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, ...

explained that the series had been delayed to 2007, saying that "winning the MacArthur Grant put additional and unexpected demands on ethem'stime." The revamped ''Omega the Unknown'' series was published in ten monthly issues from October 2007 to July 2008; the issues were published in a single volume in October 2008. In early 2007, Lethem began work on '' Chronic City'', which was published on October 13, 2009. In July 2008, Lethem said that ''Chronic City'' is "set on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, it's strongly influenced by

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

, Philip K. Dick, Charles G. Finney and Hitchcock's ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

'' and it concerns a circle of friends including a faded child-star actor, a cultural critic, a hack ghost-writer of autobiographies, and a city official. And it's long and strange."Renaud, Jeffrey
"Lethem Exits the Unknown with ''Omega''"
Comic Book Resources, 2008-07-18. Retrieved on 2008-08-03. His essay, "The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism" (2007), is a passionate defense of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

and a call for a return to a "

gift economy A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there ...

" in the arts. He writes,

The kernel, the soul—let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances—is plagiarism ... Don't pirate my editions; do plunder my visions. The name of the game is Give All. You, reader, are welcome to my stories. They were never mine in the first place, but I gave them to you.

The essay was included in his 2011 collection, ''The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.'' In 2011, ''The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick'', edited by Pamela Jackson and Lethem, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Among other projects, Lethem published short books about John Carpenter's film '' They Live'' (published in October, 2010 as ''They Live'') and the

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

album '' Fear of Music''.Scott, Ronnie
"The Rumpus Long Interview with Jonathan Lethem"
The Rumpus, 2010-01-19. Retrieved on 2010-03-20. Starting in 2011, he served as the Roy E. Disney Professor in Creative Writing at

, a position formerly held by the late

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...

. Lethem's ninth novel, entitled '' Dissident Gardens'', was released on September 10, 2013. According to Lethem in an interview with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', the novel concerns "American leftists", very specifically "a red-diaper baby generation trying to figure out what it all means, this legacy of American Communism." Regarding the novel's setting, Lethem said in the same interview that it is

set in Queens and Greenwich Village, another New York neighborhood book, very much about the life of the city ... writing about Greenwich Village in 1958 was really a jump for me, it was as much of an imaginative leap as any of the more fantastical things I've done. But really exciting, too.

''Dissident Gardens'' was quickly followed up in February 2015 with ''Lucky Alan and Other Stories'', Lethem's fifth short story collection. Lethem's tenth novel, '' A Gambler's Anatomy'' (or, alternatively, ''The Blot'' in the United Kingdom), published in October 2016, concerns "an international backgammon hustler who thinks he's psychic". After changing publishers from Doubleday to Ecco, Lethem followed ''A Gambler's Anatomy''/''The Blot'' with ''The Feral Detective'' in November 2018, Lethem's first foray back into the detective novel genre since the acclaimed ''Motherless Brooklyn''. Lethem's twelfth novel, ''The Arrest'' - an "utterly original postapocalyptic yarn about two siblings, the man that came between them, and a nuclear-powered super car," according to the publishers - was published in November 2020. Lethem co-wrote six out of nine songs on the

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ...

album '' Electric Trim'', released in 2017. He wrote the introduction to David Bowman's 2019 novel, ''Big Bang''.

Personal life

In 1987, Lethem married the writer and artist Shelley Jackson; they were divorced by 1997. In 2000, he married Julia Rosenberg, a Canadian film executive; they divorced two years later. As of 2007, Lethem lived in Brooklyn and Berwick,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, with his third wife, the filmmaker Amy Barrett. He has two sons.

Bibliography

Novels

*'' Gun, with Occasional Music'' (1994) *'' Amnesia Moon'' (1995) *'' As She Climbed Across the Table'' (1997) *'' Girl in Landscape'' (1998) *'' Motherless Brooklyn'' (1999) *'' The Fortress of Solitude'' (2003) *'' You Don't Love Me Yet'' (2007) *'' Chronic City'' (2009) *'' Dissident Gardens'' (2013) *'' A Gambler's Anatomy'' (2016) *''The Feral Detective'' (2018) *'' The Arrest'' (2020) *''Brooklyn Crime Novel'' (2023)

Short fiction

Novellas

*''This Shape We're In'' (2000) *''The Collapsing Frontier'' (2024)

Short story collections

*'' The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye'' (1996) *'' Kafka Americana'' (1999) (with Carter Scholz) *''Men and Cartoons'' (2004) *''How We Got Insipid'' (2006) *''Lucky Alan and Other Stories'' (2015)

List of short stories

Comics

*''

'' (2007)

Art Books

*''Cellophane Bricks: A Life in Visual Culture'' (2024)

Non-fiction

"Monstrous Acts and Little Murders"
('' Salon.com'' essay, January 1997) *''The Vintage Book of Amnesia'' (editor, 2001) *''Da Capo Best Music Writing: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country and More'' (editor, 2002)
"You Don't Know Dick"
(''

Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. After announcing that it would cease publication in December 2022, it reported its relaunch under the direction of ''The Nation'' magazine six mo ...

'' essay, Summer 2002) *''The Disappointment Artist'' (2005) *"The Beards" (''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' February 28, 2005) *''Believeniks!: 2005: The Year We Wrote a Book About the Mets'' with Christopher Sorrentino, as "Ivan Felt and Harris Conklin" (2006) *''The Subway Chronicles'' (contributor, 2006)
"Being James Brown"
(''

'' essay, June 2006)
"The Genius of Bob Dylan"
(''

'' interview, September 2006)
"The Ecstasy of Influence"
(''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'' essay, February 2007) *''Brooklyn Was Mine'' (contributor, 2008) *''They Live'' (2010) *''The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc.'' (2011) *'' The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick'' (2011, co-editor with Pamela Jackson) *''Talking Heads' Fear Of Music'' (2012) (for ''

33⅓ ' (''Thirty-Three and a Third'') is a series of books, each about a single music album. The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, RPM. History Originally published by Continuum, the series was founded by editor David Ba ...

'' series) * *''More Alive and Less Lonely: On Books and Writers'' (2018)

Film adaptations

*'' Light and the Sufferer'' (2009) – screenplay by Christopher Peditto based on a short story by Lethem *''The Epiphany'' (2011) – short film by SJ Chiro based on a short story by Lethem *'' Motherless Brooklyn'' (2019) – screenplay by Edward Norton

References

Sources

External links

*
Pomona College faculty page
* * * * Jonathan Lethem Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lethem, Jonathan 1964 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers Bennington College alumni The High School of Music & Art alumni Jewish American novelists Jewish American short story writers MacArthur Fellows American male essayists People from Berwick, Maine American postmodern writers The New Yorker people World Fantasy Award–winning writers Writers from Brooklyn Novelists from New York City Novelists from California Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American essayists 21st-century American essayists Novelists from Maine 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers People from Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Pomona College faculty 21st-century American Jews Philip K. Dick scholars National Book Critics Circle Award winners