Occasional Music
Jul10

Occasional Music

10 July 2010 Occasional Music was a one-day symposium on the work of the American writer Jonathan Lethem. The first such event to be held anywhere, it was also distinguished by Lethem’s presence; he concluded the day with a reading from Dissident Gardens and other works in progress, and a Q&A session with Joe Brooker. Lethem’s work brings together numerous areas of interest: science fiction, crime and other genres; New York, California and the experience of place; literary tradition and linguistic play; fandom, comic books and popular music. These and other themes were addressed during a richly interesting day. Immediately after the symposium, Zara Dinnen recorded an exclusive interview with Lethem in Gordon Square.  This was published as a podcast in Birkbeck's postgraduate online journal Dandelion.   Programme   Panel 1: The American Century Samuel Cohen: So Beautiful, So Stupid, So American Richard Greenwald: Find Myself a City to Live In (paper read by Bianca Leggett) Chair: Peter Boxall   Panel 2: The Outlaw of Genre James Peacock: Faraway, So Close Benjamin Widiss: Minna Man, Gushman, Ullman (paper read by Dennis Duncan) Chair: Roger Luckhurst   Panel 3: The Frivolous Now Tony Venezia: Comic Book Guys Zara Dinnen: Something Borrowed, Something New? Chair: Samuel Cohen   Panel 4: Love Minus Zero Adam Gearey: Lethem’s Science of Love Chair: James Peacock   Jonathan Lethem Reading from Dissident Gardens, They Live! and Fear of Music Followed Q&A Chair: Joe Brooker   Tweet   Image by Russell McGovern under a CC BY-NC-SA...

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