10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting reminiscence on learning to think critically, March 19, 2005
In THE DISAPPOINTMENT ARTIST, novelist Jonathan Lethem examines some of the influences that have shaped him, as an artist and as a person. They include films, books, music, and his family and childhood environment. Lethem grew up mainly in Brooklyn, son of a painter and a bohemian mother who died of a brain tumor when the writer was in his early teens.
"Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn" is the most evocative of Lethem's childhood. In this essay, he describes the subway of his high school years. Hoyt-Schermerhorn was his station in a rough neighborhood and the essay reflects his fear in being easy prey as a young boy on his own, as well as his fascination with the vibrant city all around him. When an abandoned platform in his station is chosen as the set for the dystopian New York City movie The Warriors, Lethem's interests collide.
Three essays in this collection are about movies: "Defending the Searchers," "13, 1977, 21," and "Two or Three Things I Dunno About Cassavetes," and films are at least mentioned in all of the remaining essays. The Searchers is an old John Wayne movie, dated and awkward, yet Lethem is moved by its imagery, by John Wayne's acting power, and remains in thrall to it. He is moved to defend it, even in the face of a hostile audience, even to people he knows would understand neither the movie nor his compulsion to speak. "13, 1977, 21" is about seeing Star Wars 21 times at the age of thirteen. This isn't as odd as it might sound; a lot of boys saw Star Wars many, many times when it first came out. The essay isn't really about Star Wars; it's about obsession and how you can hide behind it. His mother's illness, his father's remoteness, the awkwardness of his preteen years --- the author could make these things disappear, temporarily, at the movies.
"The Disappointment Artist" is about writing and generosity. Based on correspondence from Lethem's aunt, Wilma Yeo, a children's book author, the essay concerns her experiences with Edgar Dahlberg, her writing instructor. Dahlberg, whose misanthropic work is largely forgotten now, was hypercritical, relentlessly discouraging, and mean. He is especially cruel to other writers, even students; Lethem examines Dahlberg's implicit self-loathing and compares it with his aunt's more positive approach.
"The Disappointment Artist" is the title essay and reading the whole collection will make its emphasis clear. When a reader (or viewer or listener) invests so much of himself in any given artist, the normal peaks and troughs of an artistic career become so meaningful that the disappointment of lesser works is nearly unbearable. This collection is in no danger of such a brush-off. It's a testament to our culture's fascination with itself, yet moving and personal, an interesting reminiscence on learning to think critically.
--- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Companionable Writing But..., March 31, 2006
The mock music reviews, the odd bits of arcane conversation, and all the other eddies of thinking that appear in The Fortress of Solitude evoked curiosity I hoped this book would fulfill. What sort of essayist would Lenthem be? He is certainly a skilled one. His prose is direct and honest while being, as you'd expect, witty and creative. As a companion piece to his novel, this collection explains a great deal. The chief trouble with this memoir, however, is that Lenthem ultimately leaves his audience behind, pursuing his literary and pop-cultural obsessions past a point readers can follow. By focusing on the books, movies, and music that forged his character, Lethem risks self-indulgence. The early death of his mother, his unconventional upbringing, and his father's artistic distance promise emotinal payoff, but this collection devolves. By the end, human concerns seem less important to Lenthem than the content of his bookshelves. He opens his closets...and reveals stuff.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So he navel gazes, he has one hell of a navel!, May 21, 2005
Some readers have expressed their dislike of Lethem's navel gazing in this collection, I didn't mind at all. His essays on Jack Kirby and the Searchers are some of the best writing I've read about comics or film in a long time. The scene where he describes his cynical junkie friend ruining a viewing of the Searchers should resonate with any member of Generation X who had their private passions invaded by the that slew of non-commital flakes we found ourselves surrounded with in the 1990s:eyebrow cocking stoners, who despite their lack of commitment, were always vigilant for passion, always ready to chide us for taking a stand on anything, whether it be a political position or art. If there's one thing I didn't like about this book was Lethem's display of self-consciousness about seeing Star Wars 21 times, something that no one from his generation would bat an eye at. If anything, it says more about the world he lives in than the writer himself.
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