Jonathan Lethem on the Making of Boerum Hill, A Triple Portrait
Join BPL Presents as iconic Brooklyn novelist Jonathan Lethem discusses “The Making of Boerum Hill Considered as a Triple Portrait: Helen Buckler, Jervis Anderson & L.J. Davis.”
This slide show essay by the author of Brooklyn Crime Novel reveals the archival investigations behind his fictions of Brooklyn in the heyday of the Brownstoner movement. In the story Lethem tells, the gentrification of North Gowanus required the invention, in the 1960s and ‘70s, of the “historical” Boerum Hill – a myth constructed by writers living in the neighborhood.
Books will be available for purchase from Greenlight Bookstore, followed by a signing.
Participants
Jonathan Lethem is the author of thirteen novels, including Dissident Gardens and The Fortress of Solitude. His fifth, Motherless Brooklyn, won the National Book Critic’s Circle Award. His most recent, Brooklyn Crime Novel, was published in October. His essays and stories have been collected in seven volumes. He teaches at Pomona College. Photo credit Torkil Stavdal
BPL Presents programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Join BPL Presents as iconic Brooklyn novelist Jonathan Lethem discusses “The Making of Boerum Hill Considered as a Triple Portrait: Helen Buckler, Jervis Anderson & L.J. Davis.”
This slide show essay by the author of Brooklyn Crime Novel reveals the archival investigations behind his fictions of Brooklyn in the heyday of the Brownstoner movement. In the story Lethem tells, the gentrification of North Gowanus required the invention, in the 1960s and ‘70s, of the “historical” Boerum Hill – a myth constructed by writers living in the neighborhood.
Books will be available for purchase from Greenlight Bookstore, followed by a signing.
Participants
Jonathan Lethem is the author of thirteen novels, including Dissident Gardens and The Fortress of Solitude. His fifth, Motherless Brooklyn, won the National Book Critic’s Circle Award. His most recent, Brooklyn Crime Novel, was published in October. His essays and stories have been collected in seven volumes. He teaches at Pomona College. Photo credit Torkil Stavdal