American Stutter: 2019-2021

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As Jonathan Lethem put, Steve Erickson's journal of the last 18 months of the Trump Presidency "sears the page." Erickson, one of our finest novelists, has long been an astute political observer, and American Stutter, part political declaration, part humorous account of more personal matters, offers a particularly moving reminder of the democratic ideals that we are currently struggling to preserve. Written with wit, eloquence, and a controlled fury as event unfold, Erickson has left us with an essential record of our recent history, a book to be read with our collective breath held.* Steve Erickson is the author of ten novels and two books about American culture. For 12 years he was founding editor of the national literary journal Black Clock. Currently he is the film/television critic for Los Angeles magazine and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement award.  “Erickson is a dedicated prosecutor, hilariously slashing judge and, as a stand-in for the common good, the victim, who may be guilty too.” — Greil Marcus “It sears the page—this is the book the moment deserves. Erickson’s raw refusal to kid himself is manifest in every line. I read it with my breath held as if I didn’t know the end.” — Jonathan Lethem Steve Erickson is the author of ten novels—Days Between Stations, Rubicon Beach, Tours of the Black Clock, Arc d’X, Amnesiascope, The Sea Came in at Midnight, Our Ecstatic Days, Zeroville, These Dreams of You and Shadowbahn—and two books about American politics and popular culture. Numerous editions have been published in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Greek, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Over the years he has written for numerous publications including Esquire, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian and the New York Times Magazine, and for twelve years he was founding editor of the national literary journal Black Clock. Currently he is the film/television critic for Los Angeles magazine and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award. In July 2021 the University Press of Mississippi published Conversations With Steve Erickson as part of a series that has included Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, William Burroughs, Gabriel García Márquez and Toni Morrison. American Stutter is more than a memoir. It’s a meditation on the final period of Donald Trump’s presidency, the nature of democracy, and the possibility that democracy may not survive.

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