Jonathan Lethem has always had a strong way with prose, and his novels are usually pretty well written. But, personally, I've always found it just as interesting to hear him talk about his work, so I was excited to hear about a new collection of his non-fiction.
In the interest of saving time, I'm not going to do an essay-by-essay analysis of the text. Instead, I'll just go over a couple of the highlights and touch on a couple of the weaker points.
The first few essays were the most fascinating for me. In them, he discusses his time working in various bookstores across the country. He analyzes both the day-to-day life of working as a bookstore clerk, as well as sharing some of the sub-cultures who roam the stacks.
The title essay "The Ecstasy of Influence" is also fantastic. In it, he outlines - in what can almost be described as a manifesto - the importance of influence in literature or for any piece of artwork. To prove his point, he reveals at the end that most of the essay itself had been culled from other pieces of literature. It's a fascinating read and well worth tracking down online.
There are a few essays that were a little too experimental for my taste. There is also a whole section of essays devoted to "The Mad Brooklynite" which I had a hard time connecting with, both at a literary level and because I have never been there personally.
Overall, "The Ecstasy of Influence" is a great collection, although it could have been trimmed down and cleaned up a bit.
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