Op-Ed
Of Max and Men
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Don't Miss Out
October 18, 2006 - 9:42pmEarlier this week, fellow columnist Carrie Bodner discussed the increasingly popular literary genre of “Chick Lit” in her column, “Something Borrowed, Nothing New.” In it, she mentioned titles like Good in Bed and Bridget Jones’ Diary, which chronicle the lives of boy-crazy women who suffer from shop-a-holism. These cookie-cutter novels have become the Sex and the Cities of literature in recent years, and the moniker “Chick Lit,” as Bodner rightfully opined, “is unsettling in itself, as it suggests that there is a style of fiction and writing that is representative of an entire gender.”
If women are being represented in popular literature (and on HBO) as Bergdorf Blondes, then I dare to ask: what about men?
It’s time we turn the magnifying glass over to the other gender. They are reading and watching material that’s equally shallow. However, their guilty-pleasures have never been as clearly labeled as ours in the past. Lucky for us women, all of that is changing. Just like HBO launched Entourage, often considered to be the male counterpart of Sex and the City, so too have young male writers created an answer to Chick Lit — one that dons an equally cutesy label: Fratire.
The genre, whose moniker was coined by New York Times reporter Warren St. John, includes titles like Real Ultimate Power, a satirical ode to the masculine prowess of ninjas; The Modern Drunkard, a celebration of getting hammered; and The Game, a manual for manipulating and bedding women. They all “combine a fraternity house-style celebration of masculinity with a mocking attitude toward social convention, traditional male roles, and aspirations of power and authority,” St. John wrote on April 16 in the Style section of the Times.
One of the pioneers of this new literary variety is Tucker Max, a blogger who actually came to speak at Cornell last year in Kauffmann Auditorium. Max has become famous for showcasing some crudely-detailed personal stories on his blog, www.TuckerMax.com. If you’re curious about the content of his website, just read Max’s self-description at the top: “I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging [expletive].”
A book called I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, consisting of Max’s most celebrated web postings, was published in January 2006. It includes entries titled “Sushi Pants,” “The Blowjob Follies” and “Tucker Tries Buttsex, Hilarity Does Not Ensue.” Believe it or not, this compilation managed to score a place on the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks earlier in the year. Max’s second book, for which he recently signed a contract with Simon and Schuster, is on the way.
You might not suspect that a self-proclaimed “Class A Jerk” like Tucker Max could acquire an Ivy-League following, but you’d be wrong. On November 19, 2005, the Sigma Phi society sponsored Max’s visit to Cornell, and “the turnout was insane,” according to one organizer of the event. The venue was busting at the seams with die-hard Tucker Max fans (mostly males, but some females as well) and many students had to be turned away due to lack of space.
During a question-answer session after Max’s speech, one audience member raised his hand and asked: “How do I become you?”
The truth is: becoming Tucker Max wouldn’t be all that hard. He started out just like us, attending the University Chicago for his undergrad degree and moving on to Duke Law School. After getting fired from a prestigious law firm for “behaving inappropriately” (surprise surprise), he gave up a conventional lifestyle and gained fame by writing on the Internet, as have other authors within the new “fratire” genre.
Maddox, author of “The Best Page in the Universe” website, gathered a large internet following and compiled his work into print — a book called The Alphabet of Manliness — which also became a New York Times bestseller. Aaron Karo, whose name you might recognize from his former circulating e-mail chain, compiled his electronic anecdotes (about being an undergrad at U. Penn and a post-grad in Manhattan) into two books: Ruminations on College Life and Ruminations on Twenty-Something Life. Andrew Breibert (author of Drudge Report and Breibert.com) and Neil Strauss (author of The Game) are but a few more of the many up-and-coming names in this young, male writer’s circle.
According to one avid reader of Fratire-type literature, these writers’ appeal stems from their apathy toward social convention and courage to publicize exactly what’s on their mind, no matter how inappropriate or crude. This might explain why Max enjoyed such a large turnout at Cornell — a place where people don’t tend to let go of their inhibitions, but perhaps wish they did. “Most Cornell kids are on the very life path that Tucker Max rejected in order to become a writer,” said the fan. “Not only do a lot of us respect that, we envy it.”
Do men really aspire to be assholes who do little more than get smashed and have meaningless sex? You could argue “yes,” and then get hopelessly depressed about the future of our generation. But I wouldn’t jump to such conclusions quite so fast.
Just like we girls pray that men don’t equate us with half of the bimbos we love to read about in Chick Lit, men deserve to be granted the same benefit. Contrary to many people’s beliefs, I’d like to think that we are not what we read or watch on TV. For some reason, Tucker Max is funny. The nannies of The Nanny Diaries are amusing. Just because we like them and follow them, does not mean we are bound to turn into them some day.
So go ahead and indulge in your guilty pleasures, boys and girls. In the words of Tucker Max: “If they can’t take a joke, f--- ’em.”
Missy Kurzweil is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She can be contacted at mek37@cornell.edu. Don’t Miss Out appears Thursdays.
Tucker Max? With all due
Tucker Max? With all due respect Missy, he's lost considerable popularity since meeting with Sigma Phi, as he was exposed as a fraud on a national talk radio show (Opie & Anthony) last June. During the show, he badly fumbled at retelling two of his stories, raising the suspicions of the co-hosts. When Max was pressed for evidence that would corroborate his tales, he couldn't produce the video tape he professed to have made during one story, and didn't have a police report to corroborate a supposed car collision in the other story. Since that time, others have pointed out glaring inconsistencies in his other stories.
This is not to say that fratire will die. While it won't likely climb to chick lit levels, there is a market out there for politically incorrect humor. It is a voice of rebellion, much of it in jest, as many of us males don't wish to be domesticated.
Fratire
I have to point out that the market for Fratire (a term that really hasn't caught on in publishing at all) is pretty small, indeed. Consider this: about 70% of trade book-buyers are women. This might help explain why books like THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (by Lauren Weisberger, a Cornellian) and THE GIRLS' GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING (by Melissa Bank, who holds an MFA from Cornell) were both huge sellers, while a book of "Fratire" has never hit a major list.
But, men seem to have no problem buying magazines. "Lad Mags" like Maxim, Stuff and their older counterparts, the fitness mag Mens' Health, Esquire and, of course, GQ seem to be where the trade market of male readers turns. It seems that magazine publishers have better success at attracting male readers while major publishers are still pumping out chick lit of all kinds: Christian chick lit, YA chick lit, even "ethnic" chick lit are examples.
I think Missy has a good and necessary conclusion, though: Ultimately, these types of books are just entertainment. If this were 1950, these novels wouldn't have such niche categorization; they'd be called "pulp." You'd find them on a single shelf in a bookstore, while the rest of the store would contain "literature."
of max and men
Great article! Thanks for not jumping to conclusions or writing from a threatened viewpoint. Men like to fantasize while reading just like women do, and most realize that the majority of these books were written for fun. (Though the men do get their digs at women in, that's for sure!) However, men have their frustrations with women just as women do with men, and I'm interested in hearing their side. Even if they do it in a humorous way, it still can be a learning experience.
Maddox is one of my absolute faves; I discovered his site at a time when I really needed a laugh, and it has provided me with much laughter! It's completely harsh and over-the-top. I illustrated his book because I want to help him break out into other areas of writing, since a lot of people in Hollywood are still clueless about the Internet. I want to see a TV show or movie written by him.
Thanks again for the article, and for not being a separatist moron!