Title

Lonesome rangers : homeless minds, promised lands, fugitive cultures

Description

John Leonard, "the fastest wit in the East" (The New York Times Book Review), is back with the off-beat, wide-ranging style that earned his last book, When the Kissing Had to Stop, a place among the Voice Literary Supplement's "25 Favorites of 1999." Now, with an eye to the social and political experience of writers, Leonard's Lonesome Rangers explores the literature of exile. In these pages, he considers Salman Rushdie as a rock 'n' roll Orpheus, who -- after ten years in fatwa-enforced exile -- bears a striking resemblance to his continually disappearing characters. He addresses Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, where exile manifests itself in solitary bowling, reflecting a declining sense of community. And Leonard also explores Primo Levi's exile of survival, Bruce Chatwin's self-imposed exile in travel, as well as the work of Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Philip Roth, Barbara Kingsolver, and Don DeLillo, among others. As always, Leonard's writing jumps off the page, engaging the reader in what Brigitte Frase termed his "criticism as performance art," making Lonesome Rangers an enjoyable read for anyone.

Identifier

995236

156584694X

Creator

Leonard, John

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2002

Program air date: June 30, 2002

Publisher

New Press

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Front endpapers contain notes regarding the author's background and career and information on his family, as well as these questions and statements: "How would you review your own book?" - "Why have you read all of Arthur Koestler's books?" - "1998: Not yet recovered from 30th anniversary of Bobby K. death". - "Had LBJ and Bobby not hated each other, we wouldn't have had Nixon, p. 277". -- Notes on back endpapers list names and keywords with page numbers from the text: "Eugene Debs, p. 229; Socialism, p. 240; Bowling alone, p. 248; Hyper Capitalists, p. 258: 65% never made a telephone call, 40% no electricity; Joe Eszterhas - American Rhapsody, p. 264; Bob Dylan, p. 287." -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book.

Subject

"American essays."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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