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or, Cronyism in the Lit-world
A U.L.A. Special Report
When the 2002 National Endowment for the Arts $20,000 grants to
writers were announced earlier this summer, the names on the
list included Jonathan Franzen: highly-publicized best-selling
author of THE CORRECTIONS. Jonathan Franzen! The U.L.A. received
inquiries about the matter, because of our reputation at having
protested a $35,000 Guggenheim award in 2000 to ultra-rich
author Rick Moody. Why, and how, did Jonathan Franzen receive an
award of money from the government, when he is among the dozen
or so authors in the country who least need it? We decided to
look into the matter.
ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS
A cursory investigation into NEA grants, and into similar awards
like the Guggenheims, reveals the appearance again and again of
the same names. A person sitting on an NEA panel handing out
money one year will often receive it the next. University
professor Josip Novakovich sat on a grants panel in 2000, then
received money in 2002. (Prose grants are given every other
year.) The 2002 grant was his second NEA award. (He'd previously
received one in 1991.) Out of the many thousands of writers in
America, should one of them receive TWO NEA awards? Is Professor
Novakovich that outstanding a writer, or in that in need of
help? We think not. (In 1999 Novakovich received a $35,000
Guggenheim award.)
Novakovich isn't an exceptional case. Educator and bookstore
owner Lisa Howorth sat on both the 2000 and 2002 awards panels.
In a nation of 280 million people, many of them literate, why do
the same individuals serve as judges again and again?
More noticeable than awards professionals like Howorth and
Novakovich, is the frequency of names connected with the core
NYC literary elite. Sitting on the 2000 panel with Howorth and
Novakovich were better known literary celebrities Mary Gaitskill
(good friend of Rick Moody) and David Foster Wallace. Also on a
2000 NEA panel was Foster Wallace friend John O'Brien, publisher
of the Dalkey Archive Press in Illinois. In 2001, a year after
O'Brien served as a judge, Dalkey received a $50,000 NEA grant.
One of the most frequently-appearing names, when public art
monies are involved, remains Hiram F. "Rick" Moody III, despite
the controversy over his 2000 Guggenheim grant. As Moody himself
said in a May 2002 interview, "I judged about a zillion awards
this year. . . ."
We at the Underground Literary Alliance voiced our concerns late
last year, when we learned that Rick Moody had been chosen as a
judge for the 2002 awards. Should someone who had already
demonstrated his lack of conscience--his noticeable greed--been
chosen for that role? After the effort we expended in
highlighting his example of corruption, it was a slap in the
face. Of the thousands of writers, editors, and even bookstore
owners, in this vast civilization, Rick Moody should've been the
LAST person chosen for such a responsibility. His selection was
the signal of a system incapable of reforming itself. "Would
Rick Moody reward his friends?" we wondered. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT
HE DID.
THE RICH GET RICHER--AT YOUR EXPENSE
Despite his scant talents, and the modest interest in his work
from the book-buying public, Rick Moody has received continual
hype from the mainstream media. In a 4/14/97 TIME article by
R.Z. Sheppard, Moody was included as one of "Fiction's New Fab
Four," along with David Foster Wallace, Donald Antrim, and
Jonathan Franzen:
"All are graduates of elite Eastern colleges. Moody and Antrim
were friends at Brown. Wallace concentrated on philosophy and
English literature at Amherst, while Franzen majored in German
at Swarthmore. The latter two became close after Wallace wrote a
Franzen fan letter about the time Franzen met Moody, . . .
Antrim and Franzen visit regularly. . . ."
Four buddies, from the sound of it, who've been linked together
by the mainstream media again and again. "The New White Guys,"
they've been called. All are privileged and successful, and all
suck at the public trough. The "Fab Four" were included in the
NEW YORKER's 1999 list of "Twenty Best Writers Under Forty."
Also on that list was Matthew Klam, another of their literary
circle. Like the Four, Klam is from an affluent background, and
writes for high-paying NYC magazines like the NEW YORKER. Like
the Four, Klam is a darling of the establishment media. Not by
any stretch of the imagination could one of them be called a
struggling writer--yet they receive taxpayer (and tax-sheltered)
money.
We ask our regular question: Why does scarce grant money go to
those writers who least need it? RICK MOODY GIVES TAXPAYER MONEY
TO . . . JON FRANZEN! Among writers receiving NEA grants in 2002
are Donald Antrim, Matthew Klam, and Jonathan Franzen. Antrim is
one of Moody's best friends (his name regularly appears in the
Acknowledgements sections of Moody's books). As for Franzen, at
the time Moody sat on the panel, Franzen's book THE CORRECTIONS
(which should be called THE CONNECTIONS, or maybe THE
COLLECTIONS) had already been proclaimed "novel of the year" by
the media. The firestorm of hype for it had begun--it was
obvious that Jonathan Franzen was going to make a ton of money.
How could a grant be so inappropriate; the corruption of the
system so blatant? A privileged coterie of writers stay on top
in part by helping themselves; buddies all. Rick Moody is so
well-off, money has no meaning to him. He's never had to worry
about paying his bills. $20,000 could be 20 cents for all he
knows. It doesn't register with him. The NEA's wasn't the only
money Rick Moody handed out this year. Moody was also one of
three judges of the inaugural PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowships for
writers. One of the other judges was Joel Conarroe, President of
PEN American Center. Conarroe is also President of J.S.
Guggenheim Foundation, which in 2000 gave Rick Moody $35,000.
Conarroe had been Moody's most ardent defender when the U.L.A.
made a fuss. Conarroe saw nothing wrong with a writer so wealthy
he lived on an exclusive island reserved for the richest
families in America receiving such funds. How appropriate then,
that both miscreants sat on the 2002 PEN panel together. Of
three $35,000 Fellowships they awarded, one went to Matthew Klam.
A WORD FROM JONATHAN FRANZEN
Franzen's reply to our inquiry:
"As to your question--leaving aside your slightly
Inquisitional tone--I applied for an NEA (for like the 7th
time) before THE CORRECTIONS took off. The money
was kind of an embarrassment, in the event. I used all
of it to buy work from a couple of underappreciated
visual artists I know, since visual artists can't get NEAs
anymore. Don't know if this passes muster with the
ULA; but that's what I did."
In other words, Franzen bought two expensive paintings for
himself. Not quite someone who needs the funds in order to
write! Do taxpayers know their hard-earned dollars were spent
for Jon Franzen to decorate his walls? His casual
rationalization reveals tremendous arrogance. "--that's what I
did." So there! Clueless. Entirely clueless. These parasites on
the working public are touted as our leading novelists, yet
their actions show they lack the integrity, the knowledge of
their own country, and the empathy with people, that a great
writer must have.
---King Wenclas