Heidi Julavits: There's So Much More To Me Than Sanctimonious Scolding
Heidi Julavitz is many things to many people: she's a prolific novelist, a teacher, a founding editor of the Believer, and, with Ben Marcus, one half of our fourth least favorite literary power couple (thisclose to being third, but Waldman really cancels out anything non-annoying about Chabon). She's also the author of the infamous Anti Snark Manifesto that heralded the Believer's first issue, a footnote-rich diatribe that took mean book reviewers to task and called for a new era of experimentation, unfettered by sniping critics. And in an interview with The Morning News, she reveals that she's worried that the "Manifesto" will be the only thing she's remembered for:
HJ: It's been the lead for two straight books. RB: Really.HJ: I just don't know how many more books I have to write before that's not cited. I don't know. [laughs]RB: Well, it was an interesting salvo fired across the bow of contemporary literary journalism. It did roil the waters. Do you still get mail on it?HJ: Not so much. No, no. Mostly it just make me realize I have to write something at least so I can be identified with something else.
Honestly, we feel sort of bad for Julavitz at this point. But at least she can have the satisfaction of knowing that her essay completely eradicated snarkiness and vindictive, mean, witty, ill-mannered book reviewing from the face of the earth forever! EXCEPT NOT. Mwahahahahaha.
