Author rides on `Brat Pack' image

BOSTON When Tama Janowitz appeared here in the lobby of theRitz-Carlton Hotel, she fit her image as the trendy, young New Yorkauthor who stars in liqueur commercials and fashion layouts when sheisn't writing novels about Manhattan's nightlife.

In Boston to promote her third book, A Cannibal in Manhattan(Crown Publishers, $17.95), the 30-year-old Janowitz wore a tinyblack miniskirt, a bright orange sweater and black, elfin boots. Herlong black hair was teased high above her head, with strands hangingin front of her face. Bright red lipstick, slightly smeared, set offher pale face.

The theatrics ended when she began to talk about her writing andher growing celebrity as one of the new crop of young authors,including Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis.

"They're calling us the Literary Brat Pack," said Janowitz, whogrew up all over the country but now lives in New York City. "For thefirst time, we're reaching a new, huge audience of kids who grew upwith MTV. The books are interesting. We're dealing with issues thatare of concern to them."

But as popular as they are with New York's social set, theLiterary Brat Pack has been criticized for lacking substance andpolished writing. Janowitz and Ellis were skewered in a recent NewYorker article, which portrayed them as gimmicky and commercial.

Janowitz achieved fame when her short-story collection, Slavesof New York, was published last year. She socialized with AndyWarhol, appeared on "Late Night With David Letterman," shot severalAmaretto ads and became the darling of hip New York clubs.

During the interview, Janowitz talked about her celebrity statuswith a certain detachment. She often sounded like a literary versionof pop singer Madonna, a mixture of artistic sensibility andcommercial savvy.

"I hear that people say, `She only got there because of him(Warhol), or because she's pretty,' " Janowitz said. "But I didn'tset out to become a celebrity as much as I did to just write. Yeah,I like to dress up in crazy dresses. I like to do ads. They'll bookme on TV because I can talk on TV. I'll do what I can to sell mybook."

Janowitz was only 23 when her first novel, American Dad, waspublished. She said "years of struggle" preceded the rapid fame shenow enjoys.

She was born in San Francisco, the daughter of an Army officer.She attended many different schools. One high school teacher toldher that she couldn't write.

Janowitz said she missed so much time in school that she wasamazed when Barnard College accepted her as a freshman in 1973. Shechose creative writing as a major because she feared that she mightflunk out in other majors.

She took a job as an assistant art director with a Bostonadvertising agency after graduation, but was laid off "because ofcutbacks in Underwood Deviled Ham, they told me."

The real reason, Janowitz said, may have been her inability todo pasteups and layouts.

She got a master's degree in writing from Hollins College inVirginia, then underwent "months of torture" trying to get her firstnovel published. One publishing house, she said, promised to publishAmerican Dad after extensive revisions. Once they were completed,Janowitz said, an editor phoned her and said the deal had fallenthrough.

"Then I decided I couldn't go through this torture and went outand got an agent," Janowitz said. She got a $10,000 advance for thenovel, but it died in the bookstores. So Janowitz went to the YaleSchool of Drama to learn about writing plays.

She couldn't get anything published for the next five years.

Then Janowitz switched to writing short stories, some of whichwere published in the New Yorker.

"It was like a drug," she said, recalling her acceptance in theNew Yorker in January, 1985. That led to the publication of hershort story collection. "My head was spinning," she said.