Lit Life: A Novel - Softcover

Wenzel, Kurt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375760318 ISBN 13: 9780375760310

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002

Synopsis

Which is worth more—celebrity or credibility? Set in Manhattan and the Hamptons, Lit Life identifies and deconstructs this dilemma as it takes the reader on a hilarious tour through the world of two eccentric writers. Kyle Clayton, a “once hot, now not” young author and provocateur with a serious case of writer’s block, navigates New York nightlife in an inebriated haze until he meets his literary hero, the dyspeptic and obscure novelist Richard Whitehurst, who is smitten with the notion of Kyle’s former fame. Richard is suffering his own form of breakdown because of the looming collapse of his marriage, not to mention years of public ambivalence toward his work. As the two writers’ lives collide, they find in each other the crutch they’ve each been seeking—and, perhaps, the salvation that has eluded them both.

Kurt Wenzel’s taut, coruscating prose and intimate, precisely rendered take on the literary scene make this the most brilliantly realized novel about the publishing world since Martin Amis’s The Information.

About this title

About the Author

Lit Life is Kurt Wenzel’s first novel. In addition to writing fiction, he is a contributing editor at Privymagazine.com. He and his wife live in New York City and East Hampton, New York.

From the Back Cover

“Lit Life is almost irresponsibly intoxicating.”
—Los Angeles Times

“[Wenzel’s] stingingly funny portrait of the world of writers and publishing is much too sharp to be overlooked.”
—The New York Times

“Dishy, expertly plotted...a moving tale of the private compromises and moral quandaries of the literary life.”
—Chicago Tribune

“[A] savvy roman à clef...What lingers is the sense of doom which sneaks into Wenzel’s vision of the publishing industry.”
—The New Yorker

From the Inside Flap

th more celebrity or credibility? Set in Manhattan and the Hamptons, Lit Life identifies and deconstructs this dilemma as it takes the reader on a hilarious tour through the world of two eccentric writers. Kyle Clayton, a once hot, now not young author and provocateur with a serious case of writer s block, navigates New York nightlife in an inebriated haze until he meets his literary hero, the dyspeptic and obscure novelist Richard Whitehurst, who is smitten with the notion of Kyle s former fame. Richard is suffering his own form of breakdown because of the looming collapse of his marriage, not to mention years of public ambivalence toward his work. As the two writers lives collide, they find in each other the crutch they ve each been seeking and, perhaps, the salvation that has eluded them both.

Kurt Wenzel s taut, coruscating prose and intimate, precisely rendered take on the literary scene make this the most brillian

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Curled like a cat on the old couch, Meryl Whitehurst wallowed in the delicious languor of a snowy afternoon, the silence broken only by the occasional crackle of the fireplace. In her hands was a copy of The Journals of John Cheever, a book her husband greatly admired. Now she could see why. Within its covers was a complete picture of the contemporary writer's inner life: paranoia, elation, heartbreaking loneliness, secret desires. Also inside was the day-by-day chronicle of a marriage, Cheever's mostly loveless, sexless alliance with his wife, Mary. Meryl inspected its pages ravenously, like a detective looking for clues.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375760318
• ISBN 13: 9780375760310
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336