The Fortress of Solitude (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: Jonathan Lethem
- First Published: 2003
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 1970-2003
- Setting: Brooklyn, New York
- Principal Characters: Dylan Ebdus, Mingus Rude, Abraham Ebdus, Rachel Ebdus, Everett Rude, Arthur Lomb, Robert Woolfolk, Isabel Vendle
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Novel
- Subjects: African Americans, 1970’s, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Blacks, Twentieth century, New York City, Middle classes, Friendship, California, Inner cities or inner-city life, Fathers, Drugs, 1990’s, Boys
- Locales: Brooklyn, NY
At the very least, Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude is a poignant coming-of-age tale that depicts the headlong crash of childhood innocence against the hard realities of adult experience. This sprawling, colorful novel also has ambitions greater than its lyrical account of a young boy’s growth to maturity in Brooklyn in the 1970’s. Through a story that spans several decades in the lives of a large and sympathetically drawn cast of diverse characters, Lethem explores issues of race, class, and culture that have defined much of the urban United States in the...
[The entire page is 2228 words long]
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