The Ink in the Grooves: Conversations on Literature and Rock ‘n’ Roll

Novelists, musicians, and other cultural movers and shakers muse on the intersection of literature and rock music in this rich collection of essays. In “Ubu Lives!: Remembering Punk and Its Stories,” Rick Moody makes a case that Pere Ubu was “perhaps one of most formidable rock and roll bands ever.” In “The Genius and Modern Times of Bob Dylan,” Jonathan Lethem recounts interviewing Dylan: “It’s awfully easy, taking the role of Dylan’s interviewer, to feel oneself playing surrogate for an audience that has never quit holding its hero to an impossible standard: the more he offers, the more we want.” The standout is “Whack Fol the Daddy-O,” Roddy Doyle’s bristling and moving sociopolitical account of his shifting relationship with Irish music and of writing his novel The Commitments. Not each essay is as strong (Michael Chabon’s “Let It Rock” is a bit too inward-looking to connect with any larger notion of a symbiosis between literature and music), but taken together, the pieces offer an impressive level of insight. Music lovers with a literary bent will find this worth tuning in to. (Oct.)