Title: A Genre for Generation X
Review: This is an intense and urgent new kind of literature, not entirely self-reflexive but not ignorant of the self either. In John D'Agata's _Halls_ we witness the collision of the world and writer, the heart and the mind, poetry and nonfiction. It's been said that these essays reflect on the work already done by Anne Carson, I think instead though that they are actually breaking new ground, for instead of imagining antiquity like Carson, D'Agata is imagining a world that already exists but which we seldome visit. Like all of those roadside attractions whose billboards amuse us but which we never bother visiting on our way to our real destinations, D'Agata's destinations always seem to be the dallying few of us have the patience for. Thank goodness for this too. Down the paths D'Agata's takes in this first book is a world of new literature waiting to be mined.
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