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Franzen Thinks Big about Floridian Plovers and Chinese Gulls
Filed under: Jonathans are Illuminated Tagged: Calvin Trillin, Christina Stead, David Remnick, E. M. Forster, Graham Greene, Jane Smiley, Jonathan Franzen, Paul Muldoon
Martin Schneider writes:
The website bigthink.com has just put up a bunch of entertaining clips featuring the full-throated inflections of Jonathan Franzen. There’s one on his difficulties accepting Oprah’s endorsement in 2001, a pair on over- (Forster, Greene) and underrated (Smiley, Stead) books, and a few on China. And there are some I haven’t even mentioned!
I’m a recent devotee of birdwatching, so I choose to single out Franzen’s “Idea” in which he reads a portion of his glum and illuminating essay, “My Bird Problem,” (abstract only) which
(continued)
Revealed! Jonathan Lethem's True Identity!
Filed under: Jonathans are Illuminated Tagged: Jonathan Lethem, Paul Schmelzer
It turns out that Jonathan Lethem is actually Paul Schmelzer.
Or else, he was Paul Schmelzer when he wrote Amnesia Moon.
It is not out of the question that Jonathan Lethem has amnesia. —Martin Schneider
(continued)
Festival: Saunders and Foer Get Incredible
Filed under: New Yorker Festival Tagged: Ernest Hemingway, events, Franz Kafka, George Saunders, Jonathan Safran Foer, Leo Tolstoy, New Yorker Festival, The New Yorker
If the High Line Ballroom is an interesting venue, the Angel Orensanz Foundation is a gorgeous one. Not having ever been there before, I cannot divulge whether the blue and purple rear facade is a permanent feature or a creation of the lighting crew. Either way, the effect was jaw-dropping.
In these stately trappings, Saunders and Foer explored the concept of the Incredible. It was an interesting evening of chat. Unlike the earlier Pamuk/Rushdie event, Foer and Saunders genuinely didn’t see eye to eye on more than a few matters, and therefore something rather unexpected occurred — genuine hortatory verbal sparring, albeit respectful.
(continued)
Tonight, Tonight, You'll See Gaiman, Wilsey, Ames, &c. Tonight
Filed under: On the Spot Tagged: cartoons, comics, events, fiction, Jonathan Ames, memoir, Sean Wilsey
Park yourself at 37 Arts, a gleaming new West Side performance complex, for a literary evening tonight. First up: the cartoonist Neal Gaiman, the African children’s book author Marguerite Abouet and Sean Wilsey, the author of “Oh the Glory of it All,” the poor-little-rich-boy memoir that Michiko Kakatuani called “by turns heartfelt, absurd, self-indulgent, self-abasing, silly and genuinely moving.” Then Mr. Gaiman joins Jonathan Ames, Pico Iyer and Edgar Oliver, the Poe of the East Village, to tell tales of home and travel for the Moth storytelling series. Just by staying in your seat you’ll seem erudite.(continued)
Sean Wilsey talk, 6 p.m, and the Moth readings, 8 p.m., 37 Arts, 450 West 37th Street, Clinton, (212) 560-8912; $15 and $30.
Jonathan Lethem's Book Tour Schedule
Filed under: Jonathans are Illuminated Tagged: books, events, fiction, Jonathan Lethem
Wed 3/21 New York, Barnes & Noble Union SquareMore after the jump. (continued)
Thurs 3/22 Philadelphia, Free Library
Mon 3/26 Raleigh, North Carolina, Quail Ridge Books
Tues 3/27 Boston, Brookline Booksmith/Coolidge Theater
Wed 3/28 Princeton New Jersey, Princeton University
Thurs 3/29 Washington D.C., Politics and Prose
Fri 3/30 New York, Housing Works
Mon 4/2 Minneapolis, University Book Center
