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A review by casparb
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
what's up with americans going after bernhard this way. the guardian agrees with me
I'm fond of Atocha already it's very neat. initially you get this megacliche of yr waspy American MAN who males around & is sexist arse but little things get under the skin of that & I don't believe it any more. it's not just the ashbery and the sebald. we've seen that archetype thrown out wholeheartedly, earnestly from everybody thru DFW to Franzen even zadie smith... it's done, but I think Lerner lifts it, just lightly, air under the blanket. good lor if the penultimate page spread isn't one of the best prose moments I've encountered in a sec. when HISTORY arrives with a sledgehammer & knocks,clocks yr novel for six... we're dealing with a different beast. anyway I like it
I'm fond of Atocha already it's very neat. initially you get this megacliche of yr waspy American MAN who males around & is sexist arse but little things get under the skin of that & I don't believe it any more. it's not just the ashbery and the sebald. we've seen that archetype thrown out wholeheartedly, earnestly from everybody thru DFW to Franzen even zadie smith... it's done, but I think Lerner lifts it, just lightly, air under the blanket. good lor if the penultimate page spread isn't one of the best prose moments I've encountered in a sec. when HISTORY arrives with a sledgehammer & knocks,clocks yr novel for six... we're dealing with a different beast. anyway I like it