In terms of showy San Francisco-based author biographies, J. T. Leroy's always had Danielle Steel beat. She may have a zillion parking spaces in Pacific Heights and some colorful marital history, but Leroy's alleged life story, complete with trailer-trash teen mother and lurid sex-n-drugs anecdotes, is both mediapathic and the purported foundation for his fiction. It is not, however, any sort of foundation for author appearances. Leroy's fishy public appearances are a postmodernist's wet dream, and "Who is J.T. Leroy, really?" has turned into a parlor game among some folks.
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SFist Lisa, contributing
Last fall, New York magazine advanced the theory that Leroy's an ongoing performance-art piece by ex-rockers Laura Albert and Geoffrey Knoop; today, the New York Times posits that Knoop's half-sister Savannah Knoop is standing in for J.T. during the author's public appearances. They've also helpfully provided links to pictures of Knoop so the reader can compare her face to that of Leroy's during a public appearance in May 2005.
Our favorite part of the article: "Reached by telephone, Ms. Knoop said, 'I don't need this in my life right now,' before hanging up." We love that response, and are thinking about using it the next time we're fielding an unwanted phone call.
The parallels to San Francisco author Armstead Maupin's The Night Visitor are kind of ... well, if they showed up in a novel, a critic might call it too formulaic. However, we're a little put out that the reporters digging into the identity question are 3000 miles away from San Francisco. Local coverage of the "Who is J. T. Leroy?" question has been pretty toothless by comparison: a December 17, 2005, article in the San Francisco Chronicle notes that the Bay Guardian passed on the New York piece, and basically spends the piece defending the idea that a literary hoax is no big deal.
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I'll admit it makes for a titillating expose -- but does anyone else not really care if J.T. LeRoy is a hoax?
I mean, according to the school of literary criticism I ascribe to, the work stands on its own. Author intention -- let alone author identity -- are unimportant.
I am wondering, though, if exposed as a hoax if J.T.'s column in 7x7 Magazine (basically the only intriguing part of the magazine) will continue.
Well, the problem with 'JT' is that s/he used the circumstances of their upbringing to garner help and support for hir career. S/he even pulled the AIDs card, which is pretty classless. Susie Bright feels rather used, for instance. Also, it's one thing to be fictional and write fiction, it's entirely another to write as a journalist under a Grey Lady byline, not to mention tainting the ethics of other journalists through misrepresentation.
What's interesting is that I haven't seen much mention of this article in the Guardian (UK), which also throws a big tub of cold water on the 'JT exists' myth, and even suggests that the crew is on the verge of admitting the hoax (or at least can no longer control the spin).
I'm also worried that this could negatively affect the production of the next season of Deadwood, which I think would be the ultimate tragedy.
Right on, Jackson -- that'll learn people not to help up-and-coming writers anyways. Selfishism is the new black.
I hope your worries about deadwood are unfounded -- I'd think the planned 1 ep. wouldn't make a huge difference to the sched (writers are a dime a dozen! ask anyone!) . . . although this is HBO . . now I'm worried too.
Yes, pulling the AIDS card is a classless tactic, hands down. But by lending support to someone who has played the hand that JT Leroy has played is also a fine way to feel good about oneself at the end of the day, especially given Leroy's success in a literary circle shared by so many. (See the closing quote by Leroy's agent, one Mr. Silverberg, in todays NYT article.) Everyone wants to be the man behind the man. Or woman.
If Leroy doesn't exist in the form s/he has been believed to exist in, then said supporters have much less to pat themselves on the back about, no?
This, I think, is one of the real reasons why people are so up-in-arms over Leroy. Ethics, schmethics.
Quick point about The Night Listener: it was based on a true story of a mythical kid afflicted with some horrible disease who took in Armistead and other celebrities. There was an article in the New Yorker about it a few years ago.
So JT is a real hoax that seems like a fictional hoax that was based on a real hoax?
I feel bad for all the people who were actually (ab)used by JT Leroy in the name of literary social climbing. At least Paul Ford didn't hurt anyone with his hoax.
In other news, when Leroy first exploded onto the scene, I was in my late 20s and struggling with my slow-going first novel, and here was this fucking kid who had hotter lit than I'd ever have, and a horrific backstory that solidified my nondistinct middle-class upbringing as a total non-selling point. Several years later, I'm still working on said first novel, but at least JT Leroy isn't real anymore. For some reason I feel that that buys me a couple more months to finish my draft.
a horrific backstory that solidified my nondistinct middle-class upbringing as a total non-selling point
This is what irks me, personally, about the whole hoax: the J. T. persona seems carefully crafted to be a marketer's wet dream, which not only belittles the merits of whatever "art" the "writer" may have produced -- since it's evident the creator(s) didn't trust in its merits enough to let it stand on its own -- it also perpetuates the idea that art isn't worthy unless it comes packaged with an artist possessed of an eye-popping biography.
Plus the whole persona seems designed to appeal to the worst snob instincts in the literary crowd. "Oooh, his background is so trashy. I knew the rest of the country was like that. Aren't I a great person for rubbing elbows with this poor unfortunate -- thank this person and their writing are as close as I ever have to get to that sort of pathos."
I think it's the opposite. I think all the literary types WANT to be associated with what their middle class sensibilities define as youthful transgendered trailer trash. The inventor of JT LeRoy is exactly them, except without the connections and education. She knew just how to appeal to their burning desire to be in contact with and a part of something *authentic* and *genuine*, which most neurotic writers who write "edgy" fiction always deeply suspect they aren't. So she invented JT LeRoy, a composite of hokum derived from books and movies about transgendered, drug addicted, disenfranchised youth -- the worst kind of 3rd generation rip-off. And they hailed it as high art, only to learn the joke was on them, at which point they're in the intractable position of not being able to readdress their assessment of the work. You can't really blame them, considering what JT LeRoy's inventor presented "him" as. Any kind of criticism would have been taken as mean-spirited. The whole scam is pretty funny when you think about it.
Maybe it's funny to you. Maybe it's not so funny to people who have actually lived a life like the one "JT Leroy" made up.
Maybe. But it's also funny to someone who did. This woman got fame and fortune on the backs of those with little to no voice in the world. It's the worst kind of exploitation, yet some people who supported her creation are still trying to justify it because it's too embarrassing to accept that they were drawn into a garden variety scam.
JT Leroy = Vanilla Ice, only in the hipster literary world.
More like Milli Vanilli!
About the JT Leroy scam - BFD. I was one of the few not taken in by all the hype (THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS and SARAH rank as two of the most miserable reading experiences I've ever had), and the fact that people were swarming all over this 'author' like flies on sh*t just proves that most everyone LOVES a good 'triumph over adversity' story, especially if there's lots of abuse... and mainly sexual.
I'm surprised Leroy didn't end up as a selection on Oprah's Book Club - "he" seems tailor made for Oprah and her ilk.
I agree that people are suckers for "triumph over adversity stories." Look at the success of the mawkish hit show Extreme makeover home addition. I always kind of saw "Jt Leroy" as a blatant name dropper/social climber. I think it's funny that all these too cool for school magazines and celebrities who were creaming their jeans over the street cred they got by slumming it with this supposed trailer trash prodigy got duped. The revelation of Jt leroy exposes what a vapid narcicistic circle jerk that whole world is.
I agree that people are suckers for "triumph over adversity stories." Look at the success of the mawkish hit show Extreme makeover home addition. I always kind of saw "Jt Leroy" as a blatant name dropper/social climber. I think it's funny that all these too cool for school magazines and celebrities who were creaming their jeans over the street cred they got by slumming it with this supposed trailer trash prodigy got duped. The revelation of Jt leroy exposes what a vapid narcicistic circle jerk that whole world is.