Lipsyte, Sam 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in New York, NY; son of Robert (a writer) and Marjorie (a novelist) Lipsyte; married Ceridwen Morris. Education: Brown University, 1990.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Donadio and Olson, 127 W. 27th St., Ste. 704, New York, NY 10001.

CAREER:

Writer and editor. Feed, coeditor-in-chief and writer, 1995-2001; Columbia University, New York, NY, teacher in MFA Program. Former front man for the noise rock band, Dungbeetle.

WRITINGS:

Venus Drive (short stories), Open City Books (New York, NY), 2000.

The Subject Steve (novel), Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2001.

The Meat Dreamer (play), produced in Los Angeles, CA, 2003.

Home Land, Flamingo (London, England), 2004, Picador (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sam Lipsyte was coeditor-in-chief of the now dissolved online site Feed. Although he is no longer writing for Feed, he has continued his writing with books such as Venus Drive and The Subject Steve. It is clear in both works that Lipsyte likes to play with language. The rhythm of the prose sends him into a hypnotic state which produces a rush of material that is "fresh, funky and almost completely meaningless," according to Bruno Maddox with the New York Times Book Review.

In Lipsyte's collection of short stories, Venus Drive, "he deftly weaves themes of drug abuse … [with] the misery of office life, and the decay of urban youth," wrote a critic for Salon.com. The reviewer noted that the author writes of this minutia of life "with a powerful emotional current that carries though each of the stories." A writer for Kirkus Reviews conveyed that Lipsyte "shows off the prose equivalent of three chords on a one-string guitar." The reviewer added that "he has no qualms about hanging the reader up on a sentence whose sense has gone south." Many critics were in awe of Lipsyte's use of language, but at the same time were amused and disturbed by the antics of the unscrupulous characters that pervade each story. A reviewer on the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Web site explained the backdrop of these stories as a "beaten-down, shabby atmosphere." The reviewer added that "innocence mixes uneasily with cruelty and indifference." Finally, the reviewer noted: "Lipsyte definitely nails down a certain mental atmosphere in his stories."

Lipsyte's first novel, The Subject Steve, unravels a tale of a man who is supposedly dying of a disease concocted by his doctors (one is actually a dentist) to bring them fame and notoriety. The plan backfires when they are discovered to be frauds; however, this does not keep "Steve" from searching for the cure to this now-trendy disease. His pursuit of a cure ultimately leads to his untimely death. As in Lipsyte's previous work, he uses his stylized language to engross the reader. Bruno Maddox in the New York Times observed that The Subject Steve "distinguishes itself … on the verbal level." Maddox added that it is "intended as an attack on language itself." Bruno believed that "the message falls victim to the medium: the impenetrable barrier Lipsyte has chosen to erect between the reader and the action of the novel." A reviewer for Entertainment Weekly stated that "the book jacket promises a novel, but what Lipsyte delivers is more a fusillade of language … that doesn't let up until the last line." In an interview with the author, Ron Hogan, on the Beatrice Web site, surmised: "some readers might see in the novel a bleakness that hints at the world in which the disaster became possible." In that same interview Lipsyte himself stated that "the thing that destroys Steve isn't the illness, but the hunt for the so-called cure." The reviewer for Seminary Co-Op Bookstore concluded that Lipsyte is "a versatile, very funny, and engaging writer unafraid to delve into ambiguity."

Lipsyte once told CA: "I've been fairly pleased with the level of criticism my books have engendered. But the truth is I've tried to separate my writing life from my publishing life. They really don't mesh well. Publishing is a market-driven enterprise, and more and more, especially in America, the idea of putting out books just because they're good is in danger of extinction in mainstream publishing. It used to be the bad stuff paid for the good stuff."

Lipsyte's next novel, Home Land, was first published in Great Britain in 2004 with a U.S. publication coming the following year. The novel focuses on a series of let- ters written by Lewis Miner to a high school alumni newsletter. A 1989 graduate of the school, Lewis undergoes a catharsis as he lambastes his ex-schoolmates, Principal Fontana, and the school itself. In the process, he reveals secrets—although they are never published—that reduce the once "popular" kids in school who could do no wrong to mere humans with more than their fair share of foibles. Ultimately, Lewis encounters his old classmates at a fifteen-year reunion and makes an eye-opening speech. Benjamin Alsup, writing in Esquire, commented that "Home Land is the kind of book that gets passed around, underlined, dog-eared." Several reviewers noted that the author was successful in casting a clear-eyed view on high school life. For example, Joanne Wilkinson wrote in Booklist that the author produces a "very funny rant that manages to skewer pretentiousness and champion the average male." In a review in Entertainment Weekly Nicholas Fonseca noted that "by its unexpectedly wistful end, Lipsyte will have you feeling … lousy and moved."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Best Life, January-February, 2005, Jonathan Bing, review of Home Land, p. 35.

Booklist, August, 2001, Kristine Huntley, review of The Subject Steve, p. 2087; December 15, 2004, Joanne Wilkinson, review of Home Land, p. 708.

Entertainment Weekly, September 21, 2001, review of The Subject Steve, p. 78; December 24, 2004, Nicholas Fonseca, review of Home Land, p. 75.

Esquire, March, 2005, Benjamin Alsup, review of Home Land, p. 60.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2000, review of Venus Drive, p. 593; August 1, 2001, review of The Subject Steve, p. 1054; November 15, 2004, review of Home Land, p. 107.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Kevin Greczek, review of Home Land, p. 98.

New York Times Book Review, May 28, 2000, Christine Muhlke, "Human Resumés," p. 19; October 18, 2001, Bruno Maddox, "A Curious Case," p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2000, review of Venus Drive, p. 76; August 13, 2001, review of The Subject Steve, p. 284; November 22, 2004, review of Home Land, p. 37; January 24, 2005, Maria Simson, "Home Land Security: Sam Lipsyte," interview with author, p. 217.

ONLINE

Beatrice,http://www.beatrice.com/ (July 1, 2001), Ron Hogan, interview with Sam Lipsyte.

Gawker,http://gawker.com/ (March 11, 2005), "This ‘Home Land’ Is Your Land: The Sam Lipsyte Interview."

Open City Books,http://www.opencity.org/ (April 16, 2002), description of Venus Drive.

Salon.com,http://www.salon.com/ (April 11, 2007), Katharine Mieszkowski, interview with author; review of Venus Drive.

Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Web site,http://www.semcoop.com/ (April 16, 2002), reviews of Venus Drive and The Subject Steve.