Q&A with Sean Wilsey in The Boston Globe. Oh the Glory of It All—which I'm now reading seriously, start to finish—is a marvel. You know how it's a sin not to read certain books in, say, Italian or Japanese? This one's worth learning English for. It makes me wish I were still teaching freshman comp. so I could assign some chapters to the little devils. Even the surly, sleepy undergraduates of NYU would be moved, and I hope they'd even wake up enough to see how hysterically funny sincerity can be. It's inspiring writing, outlandishly true to the state of the post-Baby Boomer mind (often regressed, often old before its time, always kaleidoscopically referential to pop culture, Great Themes, and itself). If you're married to the idea that your childhood was weird and fractured, filled with hostile mystery, be forewarned: You're about to become (yikes!) normal.

Categories: Wilsey