CHRISTIAN LORENTZEN

On the end of Oranginas and the perpetuation of auras! Spoiler alert: yes can be smarter than no!

we will miss glossy magazines when they’re all gone

THE GLOSSY AGE On a history of Conde Nast

Special offer within. christianlorentzen.substack.com/p/the-glossy...

A Juicy Chronicle of the Fat Decades at Condé Nast

Wrote a book review. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/b...

WHO IS THE GOAT OF AMERICAN FICTION? With apologies to the two other members of my NBA/literature group chat, to the players selected last week in the NBA draft, to Stephen A. Smith, and to my dearly departed high school English teachers

Wrote about the GOAT debate. christianlorentzen.substack.com/p/who-is-the...

Once more for the weekend crowd.

Thank you for informing us that we have finally achieved a classic-noir-level murder rate. I expect the genre now to enter a new golden age.

“I have some new poems, a rash, and a lover. I’ll send them (the poems that is) to you in a couple of days.”

Letters from Jack Spicer. buff.ly/3XRcS00

ELEGY FOR A NUCLEAR PROGRAM WITHOUT A BOMB & a baptism of fire in New York City

I reviewed 'Megalopolis'. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

Every book review should also have this---the author coming in and saying 'This reviewer knows nothing of my work' after every pan or paean.

I wrote about the Microsoft Word default font you didn't know you were using

‘I AM NOT A PARTICULARLY SMART OR IMAGINATIVE MAN, BUT . . . ’ Letters from David Foster Wallace go up for sale

Wrote on some letters from David Foster Wallace to Sven Birkerts that are up for sale. christianlorentzen.substack.com/p/i-am-not-a...

BRIAN WILSON & THE QUESTION OF GENIUS At the conjuncture of rockism & poptimism

Surf's up. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

Christian Lorentzen with a drive by shooting on the stakes of New York City's mayoral race.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Christian Lorentzen · Mayor of New York Crossroads, watershed, turning or tipping point, whatever cliché falls just this side of revolution: that’s the way...

‘Fear-mongering is particularly disgusting when crime has been declining for three decades and much of Manhattan is now indistinguishable from Disneyland.’

Christian Lorentzen on Andrew Cuomo’s bid to be New York Mayor, online early: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Christian Lorentzen · Mayor of New York Crossroads, watershed, turning or tipping point, whatever cliché falls just this side of revolution: that’s the way...

"Fear-mongering about crime and filthy crackheads is particularly disgusting when crime has been declining for three decades and much of Manhattan is now indistinguishable from Disneyland." @xlo.bsky.social

LONDON READING See you in Walthamstow tomorrow night

Reading tomorrow in London. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

FREELANCE EMOTIONAL DETECTIVES & PRISONERS OF HISTORY On Leo Robson’s ‘The Boys’, other boys, and some girls (or men and women)

Wrote on Robson. christianlorentzen.substack.com/p/freelance-...

I reviewed the new Wes Anderson picture. christianlorentzen.substack.com/p/arrested-r...

PLAYING CHICKEN When Terry Southern adapted John Barth

When Terry Southern adapted John Barth. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

I've inserted a correction. & congrats on your novel!

"Now we have such lists in their ultimate form: a list written by nobody for readers who don’t care consisting mostly of books that do not and will never exist, plus Ian McEwan’s Atonement."

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS ACHIEVE THEIR ULTIMATE FORM By the algorithm for the algorithm

Went off about book recs again. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

Protectors by Amie Barrodale She cut three slashes into a piece of chorizo, started wedging Valiums into it, and worried in a vague way that something unusual would be required of her. She thought she remembered David saying…

“She cut three slashes into a piece of chorizo, started wedging Valiums into it, and ­worried in a vague way that something unusual would be required of her.”

This week, we’ve unlocked “Protectors” by Amie Barrodale from the archive.

Spycraft, adultry-craft, office politics-craft, inner American-craft, flat-to-farm-craft

THE FACE OF DEFECTION Gene Tierney and the first Cold War spy thriller, ‘The Iron Curtain’

Wrote on Gene Tierney and the first Cold War spy thriller. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

ASPHALT SUMMERS On ‘Pavements’, ‘The Hard Quartet’, ‘Reality Bites’, et al.

Notes on 'Pavements'. open.substack.com/pub/christia...

A SNOWBALL IN HELL On 'Norman Mailer vs. Fun City'

Wrote on 'Norman Mailer vs. Fun City'. open.substack.com/pub/christia...