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The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature: The Collected Writings of Neal Pollack (Paperback)

~ (Author) "ve been going to bed lately on a pile of jagged stones covered only by a thin cotton blanket half-eaten by moths..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Neal Pollack, Mystery Jew (more...)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Price:	$13.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It should come as no surprise that The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature is the inaugural title from McSweeney's Books, the publishing arm of Dave Eggers's literary quarterly McSweeney's. There appears to be two Neal Pollacks at work in the literary world. There's the legendary award-winning writer who has covered such global crises as the Spanish Civil War and 1999's "Battle in Seattle"; who has been married multiple times and romantically linked to Lara Flynn Boyle and Zadie Smith; and who counts Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Utah Jazz's Karl Malone among his closest friends. Then there's the real Neal Pollack, the young writer responsible for this comical tribute to the hard-drinking, fistfighting, wounded White Male egos behind the banged-up typewriters of first-person journalism. The high jinks begin in the table of contents, with such bloated chapter headings as "The Burden of Internet Celebrity" and "Why Am I So Handsome?"--hinting at what's to come. There's a detailed chronology included ("1959: Goes to Hollywood. Blacklisted.") and a nifty Zelig-like collection of photographs capturing Pollack (shirtless, more often than not, in his khaki photojournalist vest and aviator shades) yachting with J.F.K.; posing with a mud-caked platoon in Vietnam; and tuxedoed, escorting Mia Farrow to Truman Capote's Black and White Ball. Highlights include a transcript of Pollack's surprise appearance during a 1996 taping of Oprah's "other favorite author," Toni Morrison, where he offers this nugget to readers: "Oprah expanded my readership like no television program ever; not even my brief stint on Laugh-In gave me such wide exposure to Ma and Pa United States." Despite the one-joke tone of this slim volume, Pollack's clever wit prevails throughout, leaving a highly entertaining satire in its wake. --Brad Thomas Parsons --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Not terrible at all. -- Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial (March 5, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060004533
ISBN-13: 978-0060004538
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #563,028 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
ve been going to bed lately on a pile of jagged stones covered only by a thin cotton blanket half-eaten by moths. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Neal Pollack, Mystery Jew, New Economy, United States, Celtic Tiger, Horse of Blood, Lake Minnesota, Wally Trumbull, Toni Morrison, Jack Shafer, John Johnsen, Mexico City, Old Cora, Subcomandante Marcos, East Village, Man of the Streets, New Trier, San Cristobal, Times Square, Santa Pendejo, Vanity Fair, Cora Johnson, Lower East Side, Marcus Chen

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Citations (learn more)

1 book cites this book:

Never Mind the Pollacks: A Rock and Roll Novel by Neal Pollack in Front Matter

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	87% buy the item featured on this page: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature: The Collected Writings of Neal Pollack 4.0 out of 5 stars (40) $13.95
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Customer Reviews

40 Reviews

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (40 customer reviews)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lacerates self-important, pompous journalism., October 8, 2000

By	Frank Lynch "frank_lynch" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature (Hardcover)

Will the "thought piece" that pollutes our magazines and newspapers ever be the same after this book?

Probably.

Unfortunately.

But that's not due to Pollack's efforts: he has adopted a persona and style here which is outrageous and hilarious, and lampoons so many of the tedious articles we've read in the tony magazines. He has puffed up his free-lance narrator in marvelous fashion, with the most hilariously adulatory jacket I've ever read, and a self-conscious prose that is worth sharing with all your friends. One very small example will suffice: on a dock, eating his breakfast banana, the free-lance journalist writes, "my knees trembled with the knowledge that this could be my last food until lunch."

No, Pollack will not change the world with this sublime volume. Not yet. Would that he could!

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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but the same old McSweeney's, December 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature (Hardcover)

Since neither the McSweeney crowd nor their fans have shown the slightest interest in providing anything resembling an informative description of Pollack's book (I guess that would be missing the point), I thought I would at least try, without giving away too much. What we have here is a slim volume of twenty or so parodies of journalistic hubris, most of them shameless confessional profiles ("I marveled at what a different person I'd turned out to be than my grandfather, he the world's largest manufacturer of tube socks and low-grade nuclear weapons, me a free-lance magazine writer, published writer, founder of an experimental kindergarten in the Bronx, and male fashion model.") told by the ubiquitous Gonzo hack, Neal Pollack. There's Pollack in Paris ("Unfortunately, as usual, the waiter didn't speak English, but I communicated to him by rubbing my stomach and clawing insanely at my bloodshot eyes."), in Cuba ("I have been in Cuba for eight days now, and have had sex with 65 different women . . . [One] became my slave for a day after I gave her my copy of The New Yorker's summer fiction issue."), and on "Oprah" with Toni Morrison ("Well, we must form a mutual admiration society. I almost quit writing after I read "Beloved," and I still love "The Pinkest Eye"). But he's at his best on the subject of his own talent: "As for my flaws, my writing is often so damn good that I have a hard time following my own act. Nevertheless, I usually succeed." Nothing original here; Pope did this sort of thing back in the 1740's in "Martinus Scriblerus," as did Irving in "Salmagundi" (perhaps "McSweeney's" earliest NY predecessor) in the early 1800's. At least Pollack knows that this sort of satire works best when it's brief. That said, the best things about the book are the title and the cover. As for the Pollack/Eggers rumor: I think Pollack's new in-laws in Nashville (a very unMcSweeney place) would be suprised to learn that their new son-in-law is really Dave Eggers.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good start, Annoying after a while, May 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature (Hardcover)

Pollack has an different style using a near solipsistic approach to everything. At first it is funny. His aping of classic texts gives the same feeling as getting an obscure joke on 'The Simpsons' - you feel happy about being so smart and everyone else is soooo bourgeois.... But after reading through five or ten of the shorts, it gets tiresome. Every piece seems to be the same story in a different setting. I would rather read some actual literature than this joke book.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A one joke non-literary work . . .
Like a poorly written sitcom, Pollack has one joke: his exceptional being, together with hyperbole which supports his one joke. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Penny Duff

1.0 out of 5 stars Hutzpah... Pah!!
Pollack proves that the only thing necessary to be an artist in this society is the audacity to call oneself such. Read more

Published on September 25, 2007 by Ms. Ralph Onion

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Comedy, Not a Good Book
If you read enough books, especially enough books of a certain sort, and enough literary criticisum, again of a certain sort, you end up with a trove of amusing observations. Read more

Published on June 6, 2005 by Devoted Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Puh-lease!
This is not post-grad humor, whatever that is (I'll tell you what it is, it's an oxymoron). This is not lacerating satire, nor a vicious attack on self-indulgent journalism, nor... Read more

Published on February 23, 2005 by Mark E. McDonald

2.0 out of 5 stars Starts funny, ends embarassing...
Neal can be funny. I laughed out loud the first couple of tracks. His humor relies mostly on name dropping and rattling off absurd fads we've indulged. Read more

Published on July 27, 2004 by B. Trainor

5.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and brilliant
I loved this book.
This is really post-graduate level humor.

The myth of the Great White Author is fertile ground. He's the king of snarky, needle-sharp pokes. Read more

Published on October 27, 2003 by Stuart Winer

2.0 out of 5 stars Less Than Impressed
This is not a good work. I gave it a shot because I love Dave Egger and most of the other McSweeney's stuff, but Pollack fails miserably. Read more

Published on May 8, 2003 by Jerome S. Beers

5.0 out of 5 stars Profundity, Profundity, I have found thee, dear Profundity
I can't read no more! His words are too beautiful. His literary vision consorts with the gods! I can only imagine the entire population of the greater Cosmologic area find... Read more

Published on April 8, 2003 by John E. Irwin

4.0 out of 5 stars Hysterically ridiculous egocentrism
I loved this book. I laughed out loud. I snickered at every other word. Neal Pollack's pretention is sarcastic, funny, and agnonizingly critical of first person journalism. Read more

Published on January 10, 2003 by Lara

1.0 out of 5 stars What the ????????
This is what passes for humorous writing these days? Pollack has some cleverness--but not much else. He's a poseur, and his pose isn't even original. Read more

Published on October 23, 2002

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