If you haven’t been paying attention, the way we read—especially those pesky, clunky, dusty books—has changed. Or we’ve changed. Or the world has changed. Whatever is going on, 26 writers tackle the question (and anxieties) surrounding what will happen to books and the people who write them in various creative ways in The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books, edited by Jeff Martin and C. Max Magee.
Magee has been documenting the world of books through reviews, essays and other writing on his popular website The Millions since 2003, so he seems as likely an expert as any to take on this potentially thankless assignment. He and Martin threw their net wide, asking many of the writers they knew and respected to supply their thoughts on the subject. Their haul is impressive, with such stars as Benjamin Kunkel penning a philosophical treatise on the book economy and David Gates and Jonathan Lethem riffing in a series of email conversations between themselves. In between are a slew of wonderful contributors of all stripes who provide fascinating perspectives and writing. Many of them will also be on hand for the March 16 book event planned for McNally Jackson Books.
The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books
“We were definitely concerned, before we actually started seeing the pieces they were writing for us, that they would be too repetitive.” Magee says. “It was actually really refreshing to step outside common arguments on the subject. You do get a lot of reductive discussion. I approached it from the editing perspective as, ‘Let’s see how we can approach this topic and give it some shelf life.’”
While Magee isn’t a Kindle or e-reader convert (“If I were in the position where I was starting from scratch, I would give it serious consideration,” he admits), he does enjoy the reading experience on the gadgets. The new technology is also what inspired the incredible artwork commissioned from artist Thomas Allen (best known for his cutouts of pulp fiction covers) and photographed for the cover. Depicting a traditional hardcover book tricked out with switches, buttons and screens, it’s another newfangled way to view that old standby that has managed to survive for centuries.
