Description: "Did I say I love this book? Well, OK then, I love this book....bring[s] a novelist's sensibility to these essays, to find a through line, to approximate a narrative. It offers a way, in other words, to rethink the collection as a book in its own right - and not just that, but a book about a big idea." -- The Los Angeles Times "He's a novelist who has spent a lifetime creating his own subversive pantheon, a jumpy CBGB's of the literary soul.Several of the essays here marinate in the fish sauce that is literary gossip..feisty, freewheeling.funny"- The New York Times "The Ecstasy of Influence is, more than anything, a record of Mr. Lethem's life as a public novelist, a role for which he is obviously well suited..Mr. Lethem has such a gift, and The Ecstasy of Influence is evidence of it."- The New York Observer "Conceptual ambition, sense of purpose and a fan's evangelical devotion distinguish this collection from the typical novelist's gathering of nonfiction miscellany.....impressively rich....In addition to being a writer who blurs the distinction between genre fiction (sci-fi, detective, western) and postmodern literature (a term he questions), Lethem writes with a commitment to sharing his enthusiasm for whatever obsesses him....While the results illuminate his formative influences and artistic development, they also cast considerable light on the culture at large, which is both reflected in Lethem's work and has profoundly shaped it.....Intensifying that intimacy, he shares his complicated relationships.... high ambitions and a strong sense of purpose."- - Kirkus Reviews , starred review "Peppery nonfiction....provocative tour de force....thoughtful and rambunctious....dynamically juxtaposed and connected....to create a jazzy, patchwork memoir....hilarious....fresh, erudite, zestful, funny frolic in the great fields of creativity." --Booklist

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