It is not often a book does this, but, then, as I have come to discover, Tama Janowitz is a pretty amazing writer. My final work of hers, in my Brat Pack project, "A Cannibal In Manhattan," is a satiric mixture of Voltaire's "Candide," Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," and Tama, herself.
Yes, I am convinced that heiress or grafter, Maria Fishburn, is a self-parody of, if not exactly Tama, then how she feels the media perceives her. Party girl, social climbing, using everyone in her path, including the title character, I had to hand it to Tama for creating this character.
It is also a brilliant commentary on how displaced non-New Yorkers feel, when they are here. I am not talking about Jersey, or the Midwest, though the city intimidates them. I am talking about someone from a fictitious, isolated island, where cannibalism rules, and then this poor thing is set down in Manhattan, which exposes all his naivete and vulnerability.
And the galaxy of hilarious characters encountered--a dwarf, a gangster, hotel clerks; a museum curator, wedding guests at Tavern On The Green--the full spectrum of a Manhattan that, this novel now being 30 years old, does not quite exist anymore, yet would still offer enough challenges for this titled visitor.
I just love Tama. I may go back to her other books later, when I am finished this project. But one thing you are about to hear now, and will be used in the article I eventually write.
The Literary Brat Book may have been nothing more than an extended White Straight Boys Club. But it was the girls (Tama and Donna Tartt) who ran the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That sounds kind of fun, being dropped off in downtown manhattan, sink or swim.
ReplyDeleteFun for a much younger me, that is.
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ReplyDeleteYes, I might have enjoyed it too...at a younger age!