Neal Pollack jumps in the middle of the Underground Literary Alliance/Believer magazine feud reported yesterday in Page Six: "When it comes to the world-bending dispute between The Believer Magazine and The Underground Literary Alliance, I fall somewhere in the middle...I believe that literature should be a peaceful art practiced by innocent people, thereby making it immune from criticism and media "snarkiness," particularly if the books were written by friends of mine, or friends of friends... I'm a bit conflicted, especially since The Believer has asked me to guest-edit its next issue. I already have a lot of great pieces lined up. Laurie Anderson is going to interview Phillip Glass about Frank Gehry. I'm going to write 10,500 words on the work on Wadislaw Pryzbilla, a Polish poet who died in 1375 but was recently reanimated only to have his work ignored by everyone but me. There will also be an article, written by a young intern who was recently released from prison in Serbia, about how to make a paper boat out of tinfoil. Then there's a very long appreciation of Elvis Costello by Jonathan Lethem, an even longer appreciation of Jonathan Lethem by Elvis Costello, and a poem by a black guy. It should be classic."
To the Finland Station [Neal Pollack]