The Neal Pollack anthology of American literature / by Neal Pollack ; with an introduction by Neal Pollock.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pollack, Neal, 1970-

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Satire.

Journalism.

Journalism--Humor.

Genre:

Satire.

Humor.

Penn Provenance:

Pollack, Neal (autograph) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 3)

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copies 1-3)

Physical Description:

xix, 153 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Brooklyn, NY : McSweeney's Books, 2000.

Summary:

After World War II, American literature faced extinction. With the sorrowful decline of John O'Hara, the typewriter shortage of 1946, and the advent of television, it was apparent that American writing, so dominant in the first half of the century, was about to fade into a cruel oblivion. But then Neal Pollack manifested himself in our national conciousness as the pre-eminent American writer, a position he has not relinquished except for a brief period in 1972, when the title belonged to Erica Jong. Incredibly, this is the first comprehensive collection of his work ever published, largely because the government is afraid of his ideas. Contained within are excerpts from his most popular novels, such as Leon: A Man of the Streets, and his most significant nonfiction works, including his landmark essay on U.S. foreign policy, "The Decision to Invade New Zealand and How It Wasn't Made." This book is pointed and funny, moving and eloquent, but more importantly, it is a comprhensive chronicle of the world in which we live, have lived, and are yet to live. It is a must-read for every American with access to a computer, and also those who go to public libraries.

Contents:

The Albania of My Existence 1

I am Friends with a Working-Class Black Woman 3

It is Easy to Take a Lover in Cuba 9

Portrait of an Andalusian Horse Trainer 15

The Burden of Internet Celebrity 19

Interlude: "The Oprah Winfrey Show" March 15, 1996 23

My Week at Sea 29

Letter From Paris 35

I Have Slept with 500 Women 39

Introduction to the New Slavery 41

Stand by John 45

A Doctor Cannot Save Your Life 49

An Interview with My Sister, Who Is a Lesbian 53

To Search for the Celtic Tiger 57

Interlude: The Pollack-Wilson Letters 63

Teenagers: The Enemy Within 77

Interlude: The Paris Review Interview, June 27, 1976 95

The Subcomandante Rides at Dawn 103

One Writer's Routine 117

Why Am I So Handsome? 121

Witness for the Revolution 131

Secrets of the Mystery Jew 139

Coda: A Review of My Contemporaries 149.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copies 1-3 has dustjacket retained.

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy 3 signed by the author.

ISBN:

0970335504

OCLC:

45999119