Gilbert Sorrentino

Ted at the Dalkey Archive just alerted me to the fact that at age 77, Gilbert Sorrentino is dead. Dalkey has an obituary here.

Sorrentino was one of the first great discoveries I made via litblogs. I first read about him at MadInkBeard, where Derik has written extensively on him, and after realizing what an inventive, creative author he was, I decided I had to pick up some of his books. It turned out to be a wise move on my part, and my understanding--and enjoyment--of literature has been much enhanced by it.

Recently, Sorrentino was awarded a Lannan Award for lifetime achievement, and it was well deserved as he was, apparently, a tireless worker. His career stretched from the 1960s right through the present, encompassing poetry, short stories, novels, and criticism. He continually worked to reinvent literature and evolve it as an artform, and, to a greater degree than many authors, he succeeded. Later this Spring, what will likely be his final novel, A Strange Commonplace, will be released by Coffee House Press.

Comments

[ed]

This is terrible news. Thanks for picking up the slack on the literary news for us BEAers. Goddam, I'm speechless.

[Sarah]

Some great audio files here of Sorrentino talking about and reading from his work:

http://paulsaxton2.blogspot

[Sarah]

Obviously that's blogspot.com

[Sarah]

Obviously that's blogspot.com

[Hal]

The sad loss of Gilbert Sorrentino again shows just how great writing and writers are held in the United State. As of Sunday the New York Times has not run an obit. A writer from Brooklyn, I think part of NYC, the NYT felt that a comic from South America was more important. But take a look at their poppycock Book Review this week and find the best novel in the last 25 years. Thank goodness for the blogs.

[Paul]

The NY Times now has an obituary up. It's not particularly good. Which is why I wrote to them about it:

http://paulsaxton2.blogspot.com