Radar LARB

William Deresiewicz on the writers who misread Obama: "These people were supposed to be good at reading character; how could they have missed the fact that Obama’s whole strategy — those very 'voices' his ability to impersonate they were so enamored of — consisted of appearing to be all things to all people? He could talk Harvard and say 'yo mama' — yes, and be a writer to writers, a black to blacks, young to the youth, and 'one of us' to the Wall Street crowd (his biggest donors), too. Leftist, centrist, urban, heartland, Christian, rationalist: he obtained multitudes."

Adam Plunkett remembers a certain teacher in "The King of the Ghosts": "He lambasted an essay’s 'methane,' at one point, and praised another for its 'sheer sphincter-shattering beauty.' Writing a short essay to render something you loved endlessly was 'trying to blow a watermelon through a straw.' Most writing was 'written half-asleep and read half-asleep,' whereas his every sentence spoken or written confirmed his alertness and his comprehensive comprehension and his care. He was immaculately alive, which made you terribly eager to show that you were all there as well."

Ben Austen sums up "The End of Borders and the Future of Books": "For many years and in many communities, a Borders was the only place a reader could find certain literary journals, books from academic presses, and new fiction and nonfiction from authors who weren’t bestsellers."

"Pre-Occupied" by Mattathias Schwartz: "Lasn is sixty-nine years old and lives with his wife on a five-acre farm outside Vancouver. He has thinning white hair and the small eyes of a bulldog. In a lilting voice, he speaks of 'a dark age coming for humanity' and of 'killing capitalism,' alternating gusts of passion with gentle laughter. He has learned not to let premonitions of apocalypse spoil his good mood."

Jonathan Lethem talks to Geoff Dyer: "Here is an important difference between us. You could do these books as sidelines or diversion, almost, I imagine, writing fiction in the morning and then doing the film or Talking Heads stuff in the afternoon. I operate at a far lower level of energy and inspiration, but a higher pitch of desperation!"