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Jonathan Lethem: Writing at the margins
July 12, 2010
Jonathan Lethem, one of my favorite authors, writes about his days working in some of my favorite bookstores in the Berkeley area. I particularly like his thoughts about writing at the "margins":
"It was at Moe’s, in that huge literature section, that I was constantly discovering all these forgotten authors that I ended up being powerfully influenced by. Just handling this ocean of different books—new and used, in and out of print, famous and forgotten—it was literature as this giant mosaic of texts and experiments and attitudes. I think it’s just very liberating to break out of a great man’s theory of history.
"I guess I’ve always liked working from that sense of—what would you call it?—license that the margins permit. I always just visualize myself writing books that were meant one day to be dusty, forgotten volumes being encountered by intrepid browsers in a used bookstore. It was a much less freighted way to think about trying to enter the conversation than to imagine I had to write The Great Gatsby."
To read more >>
© 2013
July 12, 2010
Jonathan Lethem, one of my favorite authors, writes about his days working in some of my favorite bookstores in the Berkeley area. I particularly like his thoughts about writing at the "margins":
"It was at Moe’s, in that huge literature section, that I was constantly discovering all these forgotten authors that I ended up being powerfully influenced by. Just handling this ocean of different books—new and used, in and out of print, famous and forgotten—it was literature as this giant mosaic of texts and experiments and attitudes. I think it’s just very liberating to break out of a great man’s theory of history.
"I guess I’ve always liked working from that sense of—what would you call it?—license that the margins permit. I always just visualize myself writing books that were meant one day to be dusty, forgotten volumes being encountered by intrepid browsers in a used bookstore. It was a much less freighted way to think about trying to enter the conversation than to imagine I had to write The Great Gatsby."
To read more >>
© 2013
COMMENTS
Number of comments: 2
click here to add a comment
Jo Reed
The "margins" implies a judgement as to literary quality or the impact on the reading public?
Todd
Perhaps more the latter.
click here to add a comment
Jo Reed
The "margins" implies a judgement as to literary quality or the impact on the reading public?
Todd
Perhaps more the latter.
ARCHIVE
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April 21, 2013 (3)
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March 30, 2013 (1)
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Feb. 28, 2013 (2)
Review: Salvation of a Saint
January 19, 2013 (2)
2012 in review
December 30, 2012 (2)
Review: Ninja
September 30, 2012 (2)
Review: My Postwar Life
August 21, 2012 (1)
New interview with Colin Marshall
July 15, 2012 (3)
Book events
April 25, 2012 (2)
Subduction
March 14, 2012 (8)
Review: A Room Where the Star Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard
January 14, 2012 (1)
Review: Plainsong
December 20, 2011 (3)
Review: The Devil's Disciple
November 29, 2011 (2)
Haruki Murakami
October 5, 2011 (2)
Busyness and demons
September 25, 2011 (2)
Characters: The Bully
July 30, 2011 (3)
Review: Manazuru
June 28, 2011 (2)
Deadlines!
June 24, 2011 (2)
Review: Butterfly's Sisters
May 18, 2011 (1)
Review: Isle of Dreams
April 20, 2011 (2)
Cades Award for Literature press release
April 12, 2011 (2)
Japan and other news
March 29, 2011 (1)
Borders bankruptcy
February 17, 2011 (2)
2010 review
December 17, 2010 (6)
Congratulations Mario Vargas Llosa
October 7, 2010 (2)
OH! wins best book award
September 23, 2010 (2)
Review: Kissing the Mask
August 22, 2010 (1)
Jonathan Lethem: Writing at the margins
July 12, 2010 (2)
Review: Love in Translation
June 22, 2010 (3)
Jose Saramago
June 18, 2010 (0)
Marketplace of Ideas interview
June 11, 2010 (2)
Imagining Memory
May 6, 2010 (1)
Upcoming Los Angeles events
April 7, 2010 (2)
Time and energy
March 30, 2010 (2)
Review: Botchan
February 28, 2010 (2)
J.D. Salinger
January 28, 2010 (1)
2009 Reviewed
December 31, 2009 (5)
Review: The Word Book
December 12, 2009 (1)
Chaat and Chat event with OH!
November 6, 2009 (2)
Home at last
November 2, 2009 (2)
Los Angeles events
October 17, 2009 (1)
Poets and poetry
October 7, 2009 (1)
Time + place
September 24, 2009 (1)
The future of books
September 23, 2009 (1)
October book tour
September 6, 2009 (1)
Blogging at Powell's Books
August 28, 2009 (2)
The evolution of an idea
August 3, 2009 (1)
The Poetics of Motoori Norinaga: A Hermeneutical Journey
July 9, 2009 (2)
Tour debrief
July 2, 2009 (3)
Book tour events
May 18, 2009 (3)
Simply in the mood
April 24, 2009 (2)
Book tour
April 8, 2009 (6)
The Necessary Book
March 2, 2009 (2)
"Murder Makes the Magazine"
February 7, 2009 (3)
John Updike
January 27, 2009 (2)
2008 misc. (good news, bad news)
January 1, 2009 (3)
Publishing woes and query letters
December 13, 2008 (4)
Punctuation compunction
November 16, 2008 (3)
The Fountain of Youth (and other Ideas)
October 10, 2008 (2)
David Foster Wallace
September 14, 2008 (2)
Ending it all
September 12, 2008 (2)
The mystery of plotting, the plotting of mysteries
August 29, 2008 (3)
Blocking out the block
August 20, 2008 (3)
"What kind of books do you write?"
August 8, 2008 (2)
Theory of Satisfaction: Part 4
July 21, 2008 (3)
Show and tell
July 14, 2008 (3)
Theory of Satisfaction: Part 3
July 7, 2008 (7)
Advice for first-time writers (Barry Gifford and me)
June 30, 2008 (6)
Theory of Satisfaction: Part 2
June 18, 2008 (3)
To be or not to be
June 10, 2008 (6)
Theory of Satisfaction: Part 1
June 3, 2008 (6)
Virtual unreality
May 31, 2008 (4)
The purpose of this blog
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