Readings, Rated
Neal Pollack
Date: Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Quimby’s
This entry is not meant to encourage anyone to go see Neal Pollack read from (ugh, it pains me to type it) Alternadad. In fact, your time would be far better spent reading Martha Bayne’s excellent dissection of the memoir with the horrible name (which was so right on it stayed with me for a year). Rather, it is to alert everyone to the bizarre internet life of Pollack’s son, Elijah. The basis for the memoir is Pollack’s four year-old, about whom he blogs in excruciating detail. In retaliation, Gawker has published slash fiction starring a college-age Elijah and the other famous children of the New York literary elite. There’s even a commenter who goes by the name Elijah Pollack, using his little picture as their avatar. What a mindfuck! (Note: this post is also not an endorsement of Gawker, which has certainly seen better days, but I’m a woman of habit.)
Just as 2007 was notable for being the first year in which celebrities flashed their labia to the paparazzi, so it was exceptional for being the first year in which slash fiction involving toddlers hit the wider consciousness. How can the media hope to top itself in 2008?