A contemporary of, and influence on Pynchon, Barth is one of the great American writer's in the school of meta-fiction and/or postmodern fiction. This novel (considered to be his best)however, does not display most of the trappings of that genre; instead it reads exactly like an 18th century baudy romp in the tradition of Fielding's "Tom Jones". Of course, in the execution of this homage/parody, Barth goes way beyond baudy and straight into levels of perversion and radical politics that would make even most contemporary audiences cringe.

Mr. Unsworth won the Booker Prize for this one. At the time I discovered it I had been reading a book on lost and forgotten utopian movements in American history and the subject of the novel dovetailed nicely. However, I didn't expect it to be so beautifully written and emotionally stirring. It has a compelling narrative, but, for me, it was a meditation on the free society, race, the psychology of authoritarianism, and the sacred hunger for capital.

A fascinating exploration of the effect conspiracy theory has had on American culture and discourse. Mr. Knight does an excellent job of clarifying the diverse phenomena and definitions which have become attached to the phrase "conspiracy theory", in the process building an impressive theory of conspiracy as the meta-narrative currently acting in our culture to help us process the overwhelming and contradictory information we are all exposed to daily. Includes some great lit-crit stuff about Delillo and Pynchon and an amazing chapter on popular Feminism as conspiracy theory.

Most of the best that Pop Culture has to offer these days (X-Files, Simpsons, Hip-Hop, Buffy, David Fincher, Spike Jonze, etc.) exhibits a distinct interest in the same ideas, techniques and self-aware anxieties that were part of the high literary challenge of the great masters of the middle of the 20th century (Pynchon, Gaddis, Barth, Coover, etc.). The interesting, maybe ironic, thing now is how that post-modern sensibility has now returned to its original medium in the works of DFW, Eggers, Danielewski and now Carson, but with the distinctly user-friendly attitude we expect from Pop. In fact, Carson's new novel may be the most successful in bringing this heady tradition to the average reader. By examining the American century through the eyes of the characters from a bad 60's TV show, he has created a rich and layered text that is by turns hilarious, poignant and sharply critical without marginalizing itself with overwrought prose. I'm hoping this one will be big with the kids in '03.