Halls of fame

the long version

"As our eyes, but not our interpreter, John D'Agata journeys the endless corridors of America's myriad halls of fame and faithfully reports on what he finds there. In a voice all his own, he brilliantly maps his terrain in lists, collage, and ludic narratives. From Martha Graham to the Flat Earth Society, from the brightest lights in Vegas to the artist Henry Darger, who died in obscurity, D'Agata's obsessions are as American as they are contemporary.". "So, too, are the predicaments he encounters, be they cultural, sexual, intellectual, or spiritual: What truths can be found in our vast manufactured landscape? What claims to fame will outlast their creators? In what wonders shall we place our faith?". "Halls of Fame is a book that hovers on the brink: between prose and poetry, between deep seriousness and high comedy, between the subject and the self. Throughout, John D'Agata remains steadfastly elusive - though he's what we're thinking, can't stop thinking of."--BOOK JACKET.