Surplus Matter

Details of Tom McCarthy’s forthcoming appearances in London and Paris.

If only for a fleeting moment, Remainder, a dark and spare novel about personal authenticity and murderous re-enactment, seemed to offer a creative alternative to the cul-de-sac of overwrought and twee novels emanating from Brooklyn (and creative writing classes everywhere). Sadly, the bloated and banal seem to have made a decided comeback (if they ever went away), but even so, the unashamedly intellectual Remainder stands out, perfectly capturing the fears and anxieties of the decade.

Remainder features among Village Voice and the (Canadian) National Post’s books of the decade.

Jonathan Lethem and Tom McCarthy at the London Review Bookshop on 7 January.

«Everything must leave some kind of mark», ein Zitat aus «Remainder», steht denn auch als philosophisches Diktum über McCarthys Homepage, die eine ans Renaissancehafte grenzende Fülle von Tätigkeiten versammelt. Neben seiner Arbeit als Romanautor und – seit dem gewaltigen Erfolg von «81/2 Millionen» in England, den USA und Frankreich – als Vortragsreisender leitet Tom McCarthy das semifiktive Avantgarde-Netzwerk «International Necronautical Society». In dieser Funktion hat er unter anderem einen imaginären anarchistischen Anschlag auf das Greenwicher Observatorium als frühmodernes Medienereignis re-inszeniert: wie all seine Arbeiten zugleich absolut detailversessen und völlig phantastisch, mit «historischen» Zeitungsberichten und einem geisterhaften Stummfilm, der das brennende Observatorium zeigt.

There’s a massive piece on Tom’s work in the Swiss Neue Zuriche Zeitung.

Tom McCarthy lists the books that have influenced him in Frieze Magazine.

The International Necronautical Society will hold a general meeting in London on Monday 14 December to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of the INS’s founding manifesto.

Art critic Anthony Downey and novelist Tom McCarthy discuss repetition in art, philosophy and literature. Tomorrow (26 November) at the Zabludowicz Collection in London.

Details of Tom McCarthy’s appearance at Volume Magazine’s talk on storytelling at London’s Architectural Association on 20 November.

Tom McCarthy will be talking at the Goethe-Institut in New York on 5 December as part of a series entitled “What is the Good of Work?”

On Tuesday 10 November, Tom McCarthy will be taking part in a debate “exploring the relevance of contemporary photography for the investigation and interpretation of the city as a complex cultural phenomenon” at the Architecture Foundation in London.