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The Disappointment Artist and Other Essays
The Disappointment Artist and Other Essays Author:Jonathan Lethem This book shows the development of Jonathan Lethem's imagination through the movies, comics and books he read as a child - it is a rich mixture of personal memories and cultural commentaries. In the title piece, a letter from his aunt (a children's book author) spurs a meditation on the value of writing workshops, the role and influence of revie... more »ws, and the uncomfortable fraternity of writers. In 'Defending The Searchers', Lethem explains how a passion for the classic John Wayne Western became occasion for a series of minor humiliations. In 'Identifying with Your Parents', an excavation of childhood love for superhero comics expands to cover a whole range of nostalgia for a previous generation's cultural artefacts. And '13/1977/21', which begins by recounting the summer he saw Star Wars twenty-one times, 'slipping past ushers who'd begun to recognize me...', becomes a meditation on the sorrow and solace of the solitary moviegoer.« less