A short life of the author
Tama Janowitz (born 12 April 1957) is an American writer who became, alongside Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis, one of the “literary Brat Pack” of 1980s New York — a group of young novelists who achieved celebrity status during the decade’s literary boom and whose public personas sometimes eclipsed their literary work. Janowitz’s short story collection Slaves of New York (1986) captured the downtown Manhattan art world with comic precision and made her a media sensation.
Life
Janowitz was born in San Francisco and grew up in various locations as her family moved frequently. Her mother was a poet; her father, a psychiatrist, was largely absent. She attended Barnard College, received an M.F.A. from the Columbia University writing programme, and studied at the Yale School of Drama. She moved to New York in the early 1980s and immersed herself in the downtown art scene — the East Village galleries, the clubs, the loft parties — that would become the setting of her most famous work.
She was befriended by Andy Warhol, who promoted her enthusiastically (she appeared on the cover of Interview magazine), and she became one of the most photographed and recognisable writers in America — a celebrity author in an era when literary culture and celebrity culture briefly overlapped. She appeared in advertisements for Amaretto di Saronno and Rose’s lime juice, was profiled in People and Vogue, and was a regular on late-night television.
Slaves of New York (1986)
Janowitz’s breakthrough — a collection of interconnected short stories set in the East Village and SoHo art worlds — captures the precarious social ecology of downtown Manhattan in the mid-1980s: the struggling artists dependent on their dealer-boyfriends, the gallery openings, the loft apartments, the anxiety of status in a world where commercial success is both coveted and despised.
The stories’ protagonist, Eleanor, is a jewellery designer whose relationship with her painter boyfriend, Stash, keeps her housed in his loft — the “slavery” of the title. The stories are sharp, funny, and observant about the power dynamics of a world where living space is the ultimate currency and artistic talent is secondary to social positioning.
The collection was a critical and commercial success and was adapted into a 1989 film directed by James Ivory, though the film was not well received.
Other Works
A Cannibal in Manhattan (1987) — her first novel after Slaves — is a picaresque satire about a South Pacific islander who arrives in New York and observes its savagery with the detachment of an anthropologist. The novel was poorly received by critics, who found it heavy-handed.
The Male Cross-Dresser Support Group (1992) and By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee (1996) continued her satirical exploration of American absurdity. A Certain Age (1999) is a social comedy about a woman navigating the upper-class Manhattan dating scene. Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction (2016) is a frank, often painful memoir about her experiences with celebrity, financial hardship, and caring for her aging mother.
Critical Standing
Janowitz’s reputation was damaged by the very celebrity that made her famous. Critics who had praised Slaves of New York turned dismissive as her public persona became more prominent than her literary output. The common narrative — that she was a talented writer who was consumed by fame — is partly accurate but also unfair: Slaves of New York is a genuinely good book, and Scream is a brave and underrated memoir.
Collecting Janowitz
Slaves of New York (1986, Crown) in first edition brings $20–$60. A Cannibal in Manhattan (1987) brings $10–$30. Signed copies are readily available.