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The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc. Audiobook
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(3.02) - 489 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
What’s a novelist supposed to do with contemporary culture? And what’s contemporary culture supposed to do with novelists? In The Ecstasy of Influence, Jonathan Lethem, tangling with what he calls the “white elephant” role of the writer as public intellectual, arrives at an astonishing range of answers. A constellation of previously published pieces and new essays as provocative and idiosyncratic as any he’s written, this volume sheds light on an array of topics from sex in cinema to drugs, graffiti, Bob Dylan, cyberculture, 9/11, book touring, and Marlon Brando, as well as on a shelf’s worth of his literary models and contemporaries: Norman Mailer, Paula Fox, Bret Easton Ellis, James Wood, and others. And, writing about Brooklyn, his father, and his sojourn through two decades of writing, Lethem sheds an equally strong light on himself.
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"Lethem is a good writer, no doubt about it. And very smart. And many of the topics he is interested in overlap with things I am interested in, and I enjoyed reading his thoughts on those topics. Other topics that he is interested in are things that I don't really care about -- not to mention that I can only take so many fond reminiscences of growing up in Brooklyn -- and there were essays in this book that I found dull or annoying. But I suppose this is to be expected in a giant book of essays on topics ranging from comic books to music to modern art to 9/11. This book is probably better if you don't read it cover to cover but rather dip in and out of it, and are more willing to skip essays that aren't about things you care about."
— Darrenglass (4 out of 5 stars)
Awards
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One of the 2011 Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books for Nonfiction
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A 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
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A 2011 New York Times Book Review Notable Book
The Ecstasy of Influence Listener Reviews
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" As Jonathan Lethem is one of my favorite authors, I was happy to read almost 500 pages of memory, reprinted and unpublished articles and to learn what shaped him into the writer he is today. I especially appreciated the delving into Sci-Fi (Philip K. Dick is another of my favorites and there are whole sections about this man). I also liked his discussions and mentions of his contemporaries like Donna Tart, Don DeLillo and others. Very satisfying read and I took away a lot! "
— Steve, 2/3/2014 -
" pretentious boring drivel "
— Jim, 1/25/2014 -
" This collection of essays sparkles, and perhaps makes me glad it has taken me this long to "discover" Lethem. "Izations," about the treatment of our shared hero narratives like Spider Man and Bat Man across platforms and short, recent generations, is sweet and insightful. The long pieces on James Brown and Dylan are great. Lethem has read so many damn books himself it makes me kinda mad, resentful even - like they're all his. Not sure whether I ever get to his fiction. Loved this. "
— James, 1/23/2014 -
" In volume and breadth this is an amazing essay collection. It is extremely dense and packed with ideas, and I am sure that not all people will like it, because it is so diverse and often goes out of its way to directly challenge reader expectations. Yet I found it an amazing and exciting read, one that regularly has you both nodding your head in agreement and jolting to the side because of a new or provocative idea. Great book. "
— Carljoe, 1/20/2014 -
" Some amazing stuff, a few throwaways. Worth it for the title essay and the Liberty Valance essay alone. "
— Joseph, 1/14/2014 -
" The collection of essays range for comic books to Philip dick to Borges and Calvino, from Brooklyn, to Sci-Fi. An eclectic set of essays which are both thought-provoking and funny. Letham's take on piracy and art is particularly good. "
— Tyson, 1/13/2014 -
" I did end up skimming a little bit through some essays, but some of these are great, including his 30 page report from being imbedded with the James Brown Band, and his New Yorker review of Bolano's 2666. "
— Lou, 1/6/2014 -
" Lethem mentioned how he mixed up astronauts and dinosaurs as a child. I liked that. "
— Kayla, 11/26/2013 -
" A few great bits, but throughout this I kept forgetting what I was reading; occasionally in the middle of sentences. "
— John, 11/19/2013 -
" Enjoyable, but some parts are much more interesting than others. 400+ pages was maybe more than needed to be included here. Only for big Lethem fans, otherwise I'd start elsewhere among his oeuvre. "
— Andie, 11/12/2013 -
" Disclosure: I mostly paid attention to the essays about literature, and didn't even read any of the ones about Brooklyn or visual art, but if their quality is consistent with the essays about reading and writing, then someone who enjoys reading about those subjects will find the pieces meaningful. "
— Maria, 10/31/2013 -
" Worth it for the essay "Stops" alone. "
— Nicole, 10/29/2013 -
" I like Lethem. "
— keatssycamore, 10/26/2013 -
" I don't like Jonathan Lethem. Didn't like Motherless Brooklyn. Don't like this. He's not David Foster Wallace... "
— Kim, 10/4/2013 -
" I did too much skimming to give an honest rating over three stars, but this is Lethem in hyper-enthusiast mode and thus worth the time of other (hyper-) enthusiasts. "
— Krok, 1/22/2013 -
" Some good pieces here, and a few that drag. A good read if you skip the duller essays. "
— Michael, 11/20/2012 -
" Great series of funny and/or off-beat essays. "
— Dominic, 4/4/2012 -
" Lethem's non-fiction is so inventive and colorful that reading a book about his literary, musical, and artistic interests, etc. is almost as good as reading one of his novels. "
— Scott, 3/18/2012
About Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Lethem is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including The Fortress of Solitude and the National Book Critics Circle Award winner Motherless Brooklyn. Lethem’s stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and the New York Times, among others. He lives in New York City.