Keith Gessen readings in Greater Boston

I've written about the Newton-raised literary critic, n+1 editor, and one-time Ideas contributor Keith Gessen before.

Gessen's first novel, "All the Sad Young Literary Men" (Viking) is getting mostly positive reviews that can, it seems to me, be aggregated and boiled down to the following sentiment: Gessen's brainy, neurotic, politically engaged and historically aware yet awkward and self-absorbed characters sometimes get on the reader's nerves. However, the author obviously knows exactly what he's doing. Besides, he's smart and funny!

He is smart and funny. See for yourself: Gessen will be reading twice in the Boston area this week, tonight (Wednesday, April 23) at the Harvard Book Store at 7 pm, and Thursday at Newtonville Books in Newton.

PS: Gessen was interviewed in the Phoenix last week. Excerpt:

PHOENIX: Reading the recent n+1 pamphlet What We Should Have Known, I was struck with how the panel you had assembled talked about these very highbrow books by Adorno and Foucault with a fannish, very down-to-earth enthusiasm, as if they were indie-rock nerds talking about their favorite albums.

GESSEN: Because we're in America, I think, and because there's all this important business that America conducts, there's a feeling that the business of books is not an important business. And anyone who thinks otherwise is just Peter Pan. It continues to be weird to me that even within American literary culture there's an embarrassment about books and how important books can be. There's a kind of love of books. You know, people are like, "I love books." But there's always a kind of apology. The whole revival of the idea of genre fiction, where people are saying, "Well, we're not really writing literature, we're kind of doing a mass art." That feels to me like a form of apology.

I'm aiming to be at the reading tonight. See you there, I hope!