Jonathan Lethem

writer

Jonathan Allen Lethem (born February 19, 1964) is an American writer. His first novel, *Gun*, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published *Motherless Brooklyn*, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published *The Fortress of Solitude*, which became a New York Times Best Seller. Lethem is also a prolific essayist and short story writer. After graduating from high school, Lethem entered Bennington College in Vermont in 1982 as a prospective art student. At Bennington, Lethem experienced an overwhelming collision with the realities of class. This, coupled with a growing realization that he was more interested in writing than art, led Lethem to drop out halfway through his sophomore year.He lived in California for twelve years, working as a clerk in used bookstores and writing in his own time. Lethem published his first short story in 1989 and published several more in the early 1990s.In September 2006, Lethem published "The Genius of Bob Dylan," a lengthy interview with Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone magazine; the interview contained Lethem's reflections on Dylan's artistic achievements, as well as revealing Dylan's dissatisfaction with contemporary recording techniques and his thoughts on his own status. In 2005, Lethem had announced that he was planning to revive the Marvel Comics character Omega the Unknown in a ten-issue series to be published in 2006. After hearing of the project, Omega co-creator Steve Gerber expressed personal outrage over the use of the character without his participation, though he later discussed the project with Lethem and admitted that he had "misjudged" him. The revamped Omega the Unknown series was published in ten monthly issues from October 2007 to July 2008; the issues were published in a single volume in October 2008.In early 2007, Lethem began work on *Chronic City*, which will be published on September 15, 2009.