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Dmitri Rybakov
Professor John Fielding
English 96
April 25, 2010
Critical Summary of “The Disappointment Artist”
In this collection of essays, Jonathan Lethem between defending “The Searchers,” seeing
“Star Wars” twenty-one times, and honoring Jack Kirby as the “King” of comics, describes his
childhood ups and downs and his ever changing relationship with his parents. His family’s move
from Kansas to New York set in motion a set of events that would create a writer, Jonathan
Lethem is today, from a needy child. He writes “I tried to obliterate my teenage years in movie
theaters because my teenage years embarrassed and saddened me. Between double features of
French films, between putting one book down and picking up the next, I’d glance at my
wristwatch to see if I was in my twenties yet.” Jonathan might have felt like a helpless child, he
was an independent adult from a young age.
The change of scenery from Kansas City to New York City proved life changing for
Jonathan and his parents. While living in Kansas there was nobody between him and his parents,
they lived in a sanctuary, big house surrounded by a garden, in his mind this was a perfect place
for his family to connect. A house, once considered a solitary confinement for his family
suddenly transformed once they moved to Brooklyn, New York. The new house was a commune
with a studio on the top floor. Jonathan had to compete for his parents’ attention between
siblings, neighbors, artists, friends, and housemates. He describes his family as very liberal, a
“naked household.” In one of the essays, he writes that he identified with the tastes of his
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parents, rather than the tastes of his generation, even though, at times, he seemed distant from
them. He connected with his parents on a deeper emotional level; ultimately he wanted to grow
up to escape his “childish neediness” and gain his father’s respect.
His father, Richard Lethem, “the bearded painter” as Jonathan refers to him in one essay,
was a serious painter of his generation with a master’s degree from Columbia. Jonathan talks
about his father and his work throughout “The Disappointment Artist”; he was definitely proud
of his father and what he did. Richard Lethem was the provider of the family, and he was not
relying solely on his painting to support his family. Richard taught himself carpentry when he
was renovating their house, the skill he later used to renovate many other homes in the
neighborhood. It seemed that he held many jobs at one time: painting in his studio, teaching
