Robert Alter's New Book Word from: Jake

Robert Alter!! I remember sitting around in Cafe Vivaldi on Jones street, reading The Art of Biblical Narrative for the first time. I was melting, sweating, smoking, simply not believing that a book of literary criticism could be consuming me as intensely as any novel. That was an amazing read. Alter is one of the main influences in the field of literary readings of the Tanach. But then Neccessary Angels was about the Jewish modernity via Benjamin, Kafka and Sholem - also, absolutely grand. He teaches Hebrew and Comparative Lit at Berkeley. Not a hippie. Not a high-strung academic either - his stuff is highly accessable. I just saw the Times review of his newest upcoming book, Imagined Cities. Probably going to skip this one: heard more than ever wanted about the cities shaping imagination of the writers, and writers shaping readers' perception of these cities, blah blah. I'm sure it's fabulous though - if any of you get to it, please let me know how you liked it.