Pulphead Explained

Pulphead is an essay collection by the American writer and editor John Jeremiah Sullivan. Pulphead has been named a 2011 New York Times Notable Book,^[1] a Time Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2011,^[2] and one of Amazon's Best of the Month for November 2011.^[3]

Sullivan's essay "Mr. Lytle: An Essay," which recounts his time spent living with a then geriatric Andrew Nelson Lytle, won a 2011 National Magazine Award^[4] and a 2011 Pushcart Prize.^[5]

Original Publishing Home of Pulphead Essays

The Paris Review

• "Mister Lytle", published in Pulphead as "Mr. Lytle: An Essay"
• "Unnamed Caves", on American cave art

GQ

• "The Last Wailer", on Bunny Wailer
• "Back in the Day", on Michael Jackson, published in Pulphead as "Michael"
• "The Final Comeback of Axl Rose", on Axl Rose
• "Upon This Rock", on a visit to a Christian rock festival
• "American Grotesque", on the Tea Party movement
• "Violence of the Lambs", on the coming war between animals and humans
• "Peyton's Place", on Sullivan's house being used as a filming location for the show One Tree Hill

Harper's Magazine

• "Unknown Bards", on the history of blues music.

Critical reception

According to Book Marks, the book received "rave" reviews based on twenty-two critic reviews with twenty being "rave" and two being "positive".^[6] On The Omnivore, a British aggregator of press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 4.5 out of 5.^[7]

External links

• Review by James Wood in The New Yorker
• New York Times Review

Notes and References

1. News: 100 Notable Books of 2011. The New York Times . 21 November 2011.
2. The Top 10 of Everything 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120107194347/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101344_2101108_2101092,00.html. live. January 7, 2012. Time . 7 December 2011.
3. Web site: Best Books of the Month: November 2011. Amazon .
4. Web site: The Paris Review Wins National Magazine Award.
5. Web site: John Jeremiah Sullivan Wins Prize, Does Paris Review Proud.
6. Web site: Pulphead: Essays. 17 February 2024 . Book Marks.
7. Web site: Pulphead: Dispatches from the Other Side of America. 12 July 2024. The Omnivore. https://web.archive.org/web/20121231020926/http://www.theomnivore.co.uk:80/Book/8558-Pulphead_Dispatches_from_the_Other_Side_of_America/default.aspx. 31 Dec 2012.