The Collapsing Frontier

Having stormed mainstream literature from the outskirts, Lethem has won a readership both wide and deep, all of whom appreciate his literary excellence, his mordant but compassionate humor, and the cultish attentiveness of his SF origins. He has earned the right to tread anywhere, and his many admirers are ready to follow.

This collection compiles his intensely personal takes on the most interesting and deplorable topics in post-postmodern America. It moves from original new fiction to insights on popular culture, cult and canonical authors, and problematic people.

“David Bowman and the Furry-Girl School of American Fiction” is a personal true adventure, as Lethem tries (with the help of a seeming expert) to elbow his way into literary respectability. “The Collapsing Frontier” is a brand-new fictional journey into an ominous new unmapped realm. “Calvino’s 'Lightness' and the Feral Child of History” is an intimate encounter with a literary legend, where Calvino’s Italy and Lethem’s Brooklyn meet cute. In “My Year of Reading Lemmishly” and “Snowden in the Labyrinth” he explores courage, art, and the search for truth, with wildly different results. A bibliography is also provided as well as our usual Outspoken Interview.

Praise

“Lethem is one of our most perceptive cultural critics, conversant in both the high and low realms, his insights buffeted by his descriptive imagination.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“One of America’s greatest storytellers.”
—Washington Post

“An artist to watch in the twenty-first century.”
—Newsweek

“Aside from being one of the most inventive writers on the planet, Lethem is also one of the funniest.”
—San Francisco Examiner

About the Author

Jonathan Lethem is the author of The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, as well as more recent best-sellers, The Feral Detective and The Arrest. Several of his novels have been made into major movies, and his shorter works can often be found in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and many other venues. One of the MacArthur “Genius” grant winners, Lethem is well-known and widely respected for his vivid literary style, sardonic humor, and deep understanding of American culture.

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