I never knew - I'm not sure I'm pleased to know - that a gull fed an Alka Seltzer sandwich will explode. That, along with a lot of information about what is done to a lifeguard who loses his man, comes in From Rockaway. The Letter of Marque has an account of 18th-century opium dosages. Tracks is informative about the cultural anthropology of the American Indian. Klara incorporates material for a historical essay about post-war Vienna. Facts give verisimilitude, but tend to diminish status. Detail can get the fraudulent a long way, as is proved by true stories of con men and their patter; and that may be one reason why novels of expertise, where subject-matter determines genres, are suspect.

LRB 5 January 1989 | PDF Download