"The Coolest Writer in America"

Or so says Benjamin Alsup in the new issue of Esquire about Colson Whitehead. The book he's writing about is Sag Harbor, Whitehead's new book, an excerpt from which The New Yorker tried to pass off as a short story last year. (My comments about that excerpt are here; I thought it was excellent and stood alone nicely, unlike other novel excerpts TNY runs.) The reason I'm even bringing this up is that I love Alsup's opening paragraph:

"Everybody digs Colson Whitehead. Since we're talking literary fiction here, let it be understood that when I say everybody, I mean hardly anyone. I mean aging editors at The New Yorker and reviewers at The New York Times."

Sad, but true.