In my post-reading on Jonathan Lethem’s novel The Fortress of Solitude I came across a
comment (somewhere that’s difficult to find again after an hour of web surfing)
that anyone interested in further reading should check out Lethem’s 2005
collection of essays and assorted non-fiction The Disappointment Artist.
Taking the comment at face value, I invested.
Falling somewhere in the fuzzy arena of memoir, cultural reflection,
and book and film commentary, The
Disappointment Artist is, if anything, fully Jonathan Lethem. Indeed linking directly and indirectly to The Fortress of Solitude, Lethem looks
back at his youth in Brooklyn, the biographies of various artists, his evolving
relationships with his family and friends, schoolmates and other people in his
neighborhood, often through the lens of his artistic interests, and the music
and movies that have informed his views, his craft and the person he was, is,
and may become, making for an interesting collection for those with similar
interests or curiosity about the man behind the fiction.
Fully cathartic, in “Defending The Searchers” Lethem recalls his history with the John Ford film,
particularly his youthful willingness to defend its artistic integrity, and
slow acceptance that in fact there is little to defend. A humbling piece, Lethem’s very detailed
memories of the moments he tried to sell the film on friends and colleagues come
across as authentically human, even as he wars within himself that they are
right—that there isn’t much to sell. In
“13, 1977, 21”, Lethem recalls the summer of his thirteenth year, in 1977, when
he went to the cinema twenty-one times to see Star Wars. More a reflection
on the person that would do such a thing rather than a rehashing of what makes Luke
Skywalker a geek god, the reader likewise gets a glimpse of what Brooklyn was
like in the 70s through Lethem’s hashing out of what seems borderline absurd
behavior.
One of the longer entries in the collection, the title piece
“The Dissappointment Artist – Mrs. Neverbody vs. Edward Dahlberg” is more
historical than personal in that greater page-time is spent citing the life of
the lesser-known writer Edwarg Dahlberg and his idiosyncracies (aka
curmudgeonly stoddiness). Lethem does
tie himself to Dahlberg along certain lines, but overall the reader gets a
wider view to Dahlberg the man. “Speak,
Hoyt-Schermerhorn” is personal reflection combined with anecdotes on the
history of Hoyt-Schermerhorn as NYC’s first subway station. Imbued with enough engaging material to make
it interesting to non-New Yorkers, Lethem even manages a genre connection.
Part autobiographical and part personal reflection, in “Lives
of the Bohemians” Lethem discusses the details of his parents’ lives, their careers,
as well as his evolving relationship with them and the idea of them as his
parents, particularly: how to rebel against people who are already rebels. A light tribute also tucked subtly inside the
essay, readers can come to appreciate their efforts and endeavours alongside
Lethem’s. Where Lethem has edited the
Library of America’s Philip K. Dick omibus editions as well as The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, in “You
Don’t Know Dick” he puts his knowledge of the author to more personal use,
relating his discovery of Dick, as well as his opinion on numerous of the eccenctric
writer’s novels. (Good to know I’m not
the only one who thinks Flow My Tears,
the Policeman Said is far from Dick’s best.)
In “Identifying with Your Parents, or The Return of the King”, Lethem contrasts the interplay of Jack
Kirby and Stan Lee in the world of comic books to how his parents’ art informed
his own craft. Likewise a semi-history
of the evolution of comic books, readers who grew up with 70s DC and Marvel
comics will enjoy it. “Two or Three
Things I Dunno About Cassavetes”, as the title indicates, is a breakdown of the
art and career of the lesser-known actor/director John Cassavetes, and should
be of interest to film buffs. In “The
Beards”, Lethem goes through a list of artists—Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Stanley
Kubrick, and a handful of others—as they appeared in his life, and are
discussed in how they informed Lethem as a person and writer at those times.
More revelatory and personal than The Fortress of Solitude, The
Disappointment Artist offers up secrets of Lethem’s childhood, artistry,
interests, and taking all those combined, a glimpse of who Lethem is as a human. Clearly not intended as a companion piece to
the novel, The Disappointment Artist
nevertheless can act in said capacity if the reader so chooses to draw the
connections. For all others, the
collection should be viewed as an erudite self-examination and revelation in
the context of writers, directors, and musicians Lethem apparently feels are
key to his own worldview and evolution.
Each essay tightly and compactly written, it comes recommended.
The following are the nine essays and assorted non-fiction
collected in The Disappointment Artist:
Defending The
Searchers
The Dissappointment Artist – Mrs. Neverbody vs. Edward
Dahlberg
13, 1977, 21
Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn
Identifying with Your Parents, or The Return of the King
You Don’t Know Dick
Lives of the Bohemians
Two or Three Things I Dunno About Cassavetes
The Beards
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