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Three to see
Like Walt Whitman and like his beloved New York City, Jonathan Lethem contains multitudes.
Lethem, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius’’ award in 2005, is frequently referred to as a “genre bender’’ for the way he mixes and mashes styles in his work. He has published, by his own count, eight novels, along with short stories, nonfiction, and comics.
While Lethem grew up in Brooklyn, the setting for some of his work, his most recent novel, “Chronic City,’’ takes place in Manhattan. “Every outer-borough kid has a strong relationship to Manhattan, the gilded city across the river,’’ he said in an interview.
Yes, there is a Michael Bloomberg-like mayor presiding over the city, but that’s where any similarities end. This is a city in which rules and the media are constantly being manipulated by a power elite for their own purposes. Oh, and then there’s the giant tiger that stalks the streets, destroying buildings ostensibly at random.
“It is a maximal novel about a city. In that way it reminds me of Charles Dickens,’’ Lethem explained. The writer also has been quoted as saying that he was strongly influenced by Saul Bellow, Phillip K. Dick, and Charles Finney in this latest work.
Lethem, 45, was raised by his father, Richard, a painter whose work is reminiscent of Marc Chagall and Egon Schiele, and his mother, Judith, who died of a brain tumor when he was 14. An event he has described as a “howling’’ loss.
The family lived in a struggling, predominantly minority neighborhood. Lethem has described his youth as being pretty ’70s bohemian, with plenty of social activists and artists wending their way through the house. But it was not without struggle. Besides his mother’s death, Lethem has said that, as one of the few whites in the neighborhood, he faced daily racial taunts and harassment at the hands of bullies, an experience that left him sensitive to the powerful influence of those twin hammers of race and class.
Lethem attended the High School of Music and Art and later Bennington College, dropping out in his sophomore year after feeling out of place at the expensive private school. He then moved to California where he began his writing career. After publishing his first three books, Lethem returned in the mid-1990s to Brooklyn, the place from which his imagination, at least, never strayed far.
Lethem will read from “Chronic City’’ Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased by calling 617-566-6660.
Normmmm
George Wendt, who played barstool jockey Norm Peterson in the long-running television hit “Cheers,’’ will sign copies of “Drinking With George,’’ his ode to all things beer. The actor will receive fans starting at 1 p.m. on Friday at Borders Downtown Crossing, 10-24 School St., Boston. Book ’em
The first Boston Book Festival will be held Saturday and will feature an all-star cast of writers, scholars, critics, and commentators, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, former US poet laureate Robert Pinsky, and Alicia Silverstone (yes, that Alicia Silverstone), who has written a diet and advice book, “The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet.’’ There will also be children’s activities and live music. The celebration will be held at the Boston Public Library, Old South Church, and Trinity Church from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.bostonbookfest.org.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
