Jonathan Lethem is the author of eight novels, including Chronic City. His collection of writings called The Ecstasy of Influence will be published in November by Doubleday. He lives in Los Angeles and Maine.
I. White Elephant and Termite Postures Manny Farber’s “White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art” is a characteristically thrilling rhetorical gesture from a critic I adore and who bewilders me (by disliking movies I adore). According to Farber, “The three sins…