Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Jonathan Lethem is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. He currently teaches creative writing at Pomona College in California.
Jonathan Lethem's website
This bio was last updated on 10/30/2018. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's a tough task. So, please help us - if the information about this author is out of date or inaccurate, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and publishers: If you wish to make changes to a bio, send the complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
You're going on an extensive
reading tour for FORTRESS. What's it like talking about Brooklyn outside of New
York?
As a regional writer, which is what I am lately, I'm incredibly lucky: my
region is an archetype that the rest of the country, and indeed the world, cares
about. Brooklyn's been etched into the cultural consciousness of most readers
(and moviegoers), so I don't feel like I meet a lot of resistance in putting the
material across elsewhere. And just about everyone I meet claims to have a
distant uncle or cousin living in Brooklyn, not that they ever call or visit.
The book is packed with such rich detail: on the prison system, comic
books, the music industry. How much research was necessary on these subjects?
I did a lot of research, more than I'd ever done for any other book by far.
More than I'd ever done in school, in fact, I learned the pleasure of study for
the first time these last five year, which is to say, quite late. Of course,
much of what I was studying was my own life, the life of my city as I'd known
it, the culture which surrounded me like an ocean surrounds a fish and about
which I felt so much already, even if I understood very little. I had to go back...
Become a Member and discover books that entertain, engage & enlighten.
The Dutch House is my introduction to Ann Patchett, which, after reading it, surprises me. I had ...
The Prophets
by Robert Jones Jr.
A stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation.
Reader ReviewsAt the Edge of the Haight
by Katherine Seligman
Winner of the 2019 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.
Reader ReviewsNever read a book through merely because you have begun it
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.