Jonathan Lethem talks to the LA Times Book Jacket about his new novel Chronic City in an interview by Carolyn Kellogg.
The interview covers the character development of Perkus Tooth, the coffee-addled, pot-head dandy and “cultural curator,” whose “stoned paranoiac revelations” and friendship with the younger Chase Insteadman function as the central elements of the multi-layered novel.
Lethem also opens up about the role of pot in his own intellectual development, gives us some interesting insights into his process as a writer, and divulges the inspiration for his marathon Lethem vs. Chronic City reading series in New York City. Begun on October 16th, the author is reading the entirely of the novel aloud over seven nights in six different locations throughout the city, culminating on December 4th.
It sounds like a great time, but if you can’t make it to each and every night of the NYC marathon, your best bet is to brew some coffee, light up a jay, and sit down with a copy of Chronic City for yourself.
