An evening with (another) Keith

It seems I'm drawn to writers with whom I share a name. A couple of years ago, I found myself in the Hugo House, listening to Keith Knight. This evening, I was in the stuffy basement of Elliott Bay listening to Keith Gessen -- a founding editor of the journal n+1, to which I refer at times -- read from his debut novel All the Sad Young Literary Men. I agree, that is a great title.

The portions he read centered around a sad young literary man finding his way in New York. It was funny but at the same time remained serious, similar to his journal. A woman in the crowd referred to an article that mentioned his "seriousness that could misconstrued as irony" style; he replied that, the small jokes aside, it was meant to be taken earnestly, that many people unfortunately resort to irony when our current situation is serious. And speaking of serious: during the Q&A session he mentioned Theodor Adorno, a sociologist and cultural critic, of whom I have read a little for a history of consumer course. Gessen came across as bunny rabbit in comparison but I can see why he holds Adorno in high esteem.

Needless to say I bought his book and am falling behind on my reading goals...