RARA-AVIS: RE: Tama Janowitz

From: Dick Lochte ( dlochte@adelphia.net)
Date: 07 Dec 2003


  Miker asked if anyone had heard of the novel PEYTON AMBERG or its author Tama Janowitz.

Janowitz, when she debuted in the '80s with "Slaves of New York," was considered one of the leaders of a new literary brat pack that also included Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis. Today they seem to have suffered the fate of the movie brat packers. They're still working, but without the full promotional wattage. The guys seems to have maintained a slightly higher profile but it's source is notoriety (Ellis' "American Psycho," for example) rather than literary excellence. I haven't read or heard much about PEYTON AMBERG but, regardless of its cover, it's doubtful that there would be any intended noir or pulp connection. Judging by Janowitz's previous works, it's probably a melodramatic novel filled with hip contemporary references, about a woman coping with guys who treat her badly or her own uncontrollable emotions
-- that sort of stuff. The name "Peyton" is probably a nod
(conscious, self-conscious or otherwise) to "Peyton Loftis," the downwardly spiraling protagonist of William Styron's brilliant
"Lie Down in Darkness."

Dick Lochte

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