The funny thing about this, girls, was, about a year ago, I myself was working on a project about "The Literary Brat Pack." I had devoured the works of Bret Easton Ellis, re-read Donna Tartt, acquainted myself with Jill Eisenstadt, and, outside the Bennigton Group, was unexpectedly blown away by Tama Janowitz' "Slaves Of New York."
The Odeon, C'ent Anni, the whole scene--I wanted to explore what made them successful, and why some, like Jill were not so much as the others. And where they are now.
Somehow, Life got in the way, and the project was put aside. I had not decided whether or not to track them down.
So, I was surprised to discover, just last week, that an author named Lili Anolik, allegedly at "Vanity Fair," wrote an article in 2019 called "The Secret Oral History Of Bennington: The 1980's Most Decadent College," for ESQUIRE Magazine.
First, who the hell is Lili Alonik????????? And she's working at "VANITY FAIR?" Let me tell you, the days of Graydon Carter are gone, so the greatness of that mag has evaporated. Lili is no more than a dilatant hack.
All of those aforementioned are covered in the piece, save Tama, who was not part of the "Bennington Group." However I did not know that Jonathan Lethem (whose only books I have read are "Motherless Brooklyn, "The Fortress Of Solitude," which I loved, and "Chronic City") had also been in the group. This was news to me.
It was also news to me, from the piece, that Anolik had tracked these authors down. But it was apparent to me by the title, that, for reasons unknown to me, she is gunning for Donna Tartt. While Ellis and Lethem were all too eager to recount their sexual escapades; Lethem in a determined attempt to certify his heterosexuality, Tartt was understandably reticent. And why shouldn't she be? If she does not want to put aspects of her past on display, that is her business. There are aspects of mine, hon, I would not want told.
Not content with this, Anolik has gone one step further, with a podcast called "Once Upon A Time...In Bennington College," which I believe Tartt declined to associate with, and whose lawyers are gunning for Anolik. But I still want to know--why is Anolik gunning for Tartt?
"The Secret History" is an iconic book. I have read it at least four times, and will read it again before year's end. Good as "The Goldfinch" was, it would never have won the Pulitzer Prize, had Tartt not written "The Secret History." I can only fathom that jealousy lies within Anolik, over Tartt, which is funny, because nothing has stopped lesser, more obscure writers, from writing their own version of "The Secret History;" a list of them all would comprise "Secret History' Clones."
I cannot be sure if Anolik went to Bennington or not, but it sure reads like she wanted to, or wished to have been a part of this group, or some sort of equivalent to it. Forget it, Lil, you haven't the class, or, even more, the erudition, to be Donna Tartt; you are lucky to have a job.
The more private the author is, the more they are gone after; yours truly, included. I guess the pursuers have some idea that we are living some dream lives that they can only envy. If they only knew the truth.
I would hardly equate my writing with Donna's. But both of us are simply going about, doing our own thing, so Lili and others, do something on your own, rather than getting on other peoples' bandwagons.
That's all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now it can be said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
