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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 (CQuinn9368@yahoo.com)
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