The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall
111 S Michigan Ave
This event has passed.
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Courtesy Random House
- When
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Sunday Nov 8, 2009 (noon)
- Where
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- Price
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$5
- Links
Designated flag-bearer of literary Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem delivers a parallel-universe Manhattan in his latest novel, Chronic City — a bravura, realist-fantasy smash-up in which snow falls in summer and a giant tiger runs loose, wrecking buildings. Propelled by the paranoid ruminations of a pot-smoking pop-culture critic named Perkus Tooth, the exuberant, overstuffed novel seems fated to be loved and loathed by different readers. That could hardly dim the appeal of tonight's discussion, though, since Lethem is an engaging stylist by any account, and a writer with plenty to say. Just thinking back to his recent Harper's essay about cultural appropriation — masterfully constructed from purloined phrases — is enough to make us throw an elbow for a seat.
