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Sarah "signed" by JT LeRoy

Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy is a literary persona created by American writer Laura Albert. His author's bio states that LeRoy was born in 1980, first published at the age of sixteen, lives in San Francisco, and that he had also written articles and stories for Spin, Nerve, NY Press, The Stranger, and several anthologies under the name Terminator. After the first novel Sarah was published, Laura Albert started hiring her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop to make public appearances as JT LeRoy. In a January 2006 article in The New York Times, LeRoy's agent, manager, movie producer, as well as several journalists, declared that the person acting as LeRoy in public was Savannah Knoop. Soon after, it was revealed that Laura Albert had written all of JT LeRoy's works, and had done all of the correspondence of "JT LeRoy," in email and on the phone in the voice of a damaged boy from West Virginia for over ten years.

Published works

Albert originally published as Terminator and later JT LeRoy.

By turns magical and realistic, the novel Sarah is narrated by a nameless boy whose mother Sarah is a lot lizard: a prostitute who works the truck stops in West Virginia. She can be abusive and abandoning, yet he longs for her love and tries to follow in her world, working for a pimp who specializes in "boy-girls."
Ten short stories that form a novel about the childhood of Jeremiah, torn from his foster parents at age four when his emotionally disturbed mother reclaims him and then runs away with him. She alternately clings to Jeremiah and abandons him, subjecting him to patterns of abuse and exploitation she has suffered throughout her life.
  • Harold's End (2005)
The novella follows a young heroin addict who is befriended by Larry, an older man, from whom he receives an unusual pet. Illustrations are by Australian artist Cherry Hood. Published by Last Gasp.
A young boy lives with his mother and her boyfriend in a small trailer. When a new baby comes along, he must take care of it the best he can, drawing inspiration from a book about the labors of Hercules. This volume also features watercolor illustrations from Australian artist Cherry Hood.
Laura Albert in her study

Contributions to other written works

Work credited to LeRoy was published in literary journals such as Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Memorious, and Oxford American magazine's Seventh Annual Music Issue. LeRoy was listed as a contributing editor to BlackBook magazine, i-D and 7x7 magazines, and is credited with writing reviews all of which include the character Justin Wayne Dennis, articles and interviews for The New York Times, The Times of London, Spin, Film Comment, Filmmaker, Flaunt, Shout NY, Index Magazine, Interview, and Vogue, among others.

LeRoy's work has also appeared in such anthologies as The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003, MTV's Lit Riffs, XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits, Nadav Kander's Beauty's Nothing, and The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes. LeRoy is also listed as guest editor for Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2005.

Additionally, LeRoy was credited with liner notes and biographies for musicians Billy Corgan, Liz Phair, Conor Oberst, Ash, Bryan Adams, Marilyn Manson, Nancy Sinatra and Courtney Love and profiled award-winner Juergen Teller.

Film

Gus Van Sant bought the film rights to Sarah and commissioned J.T. to write a screenplay about a school shooting that provided the seed for the 2003 film Elephant (for which J.T. received an associate-producer credit).

LeRoy was credited as associate producer for the 2004 film adaptation of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, directed by and starring Asia Argento. It was released in spring 2006.

In 2005 LeRoy was credited as a contributing scriptwriter for House of Boys (2009), a Luxembourgian-German drama film that depicts a love story set in Amsterdam in 1984, starring Layke Anderson, Stephen Fry and Udo Kier, and produced by Delux Productions.

Supporters

Literary supporters

In 1994, Albert as LeRoy got in touch with novelist Dennis Cooper by faxing a request through Cooper's agent, Ira Silverberg. LeRoy struck up a telephone friendship with Cooper, who introduced him to the writer Bruce Benderson, through whom he contacted novelist Joel Rose, writer Laurie Stone, editor Karen Rinaldi, and agent Henry Dunow. He also got in touch with poet Sharon Olds, Mary Karr and Mary Gaitskill, among others.

Celebrity supporters

In early 2001, Garbage singer Shirley Manson mentioned reading Sarah in her band's online journal. Manson then received LeRoy's manuscript for The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and they became friends. At the time, Manson was writing and recording the band's third album, beautifulgarbage, and wrote a song about LeRoy called "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)". Manson later referenced LeRoy and his friend Speedie in the title song from the band's fourth effort, Bleed Like Me.

Circumstances of JT LeRoy's creation

As a teen, Laura Albert called suicide hotlines for help. She felt more comfortable speaking with strangers as a boy because of the sexual abuse and degradation she'd suffered that seemed, in her world, relatively common as a female. She found counselors to be sympathetic when she called as a male. Calling a suicide hotline in the 1990s, she reached Dr. Terrence Owens, a psychologist with the McAuley Adolescent Psychiatric Program at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco. Dr. Terrence Owens did not know her as Laura Albert at the time, but as Terminator. She explored this role in their conversations. Dr. Terrence Owens is credited with encouraging Terminator, who later became known as JT LeRoy, to write during their phone therapy sessions. The writings that LeRoy shared with Dr. Owens eventually made their way into the collection of short stories in 1998.

Laura Albert explained the circumstances of JT's existence in a Fall 2006 Paris Review interview with Nathaniel Rich. She attested that she could not have written from raw emotion without the right to be presented to the world via JT LeRoy, whom she calls her "phantom limb." "I had survived sexual and physical abuse and found a way to turn it into art," she later wrote in The Forward. "Having struggled with issues of gender fluidity when there was no language for it, I created a character both on and off the page who modeled this as yet to be named state of being."

Albert described LeRoy as an "avatar", and said that she was able to write things as LeRoy that she could not have said as Laura Albert, comparing it to "the way an oyster creates a pearl: out of irritation and suffering. It was an attempt to try to heal something." She later commented, "I had survived sexual and physical abuse and found a way to turn it into art Having struggled with issues of gender fluidity when there was no language for it, I created a character both on and off the page who modeled this as yet to be named state of being." Writing for The New York Times in 2016, Albert noted, "I meet a lot of young people and they're shocked that it was an issue to even have an avatar. Because they've grown up where you have multiple fully formed avatars."

Exposure

Throughout the 1990s, LeRoy rarely appeared in public. Then in 2001, a person claiming to be LeRoy began appearing in public, usually decked out in wig and sunglasses.

A friend, Steve O’Connor, said that he knew Laura Albert had written the books. Star photographer Mary Ellen Mark claimed that when she photographed Savannah Knoop for a Vainty Fair shoot she was certain that Savannah Knoop was a woman and recalled the costumed JT LeRoy persona as "a masquerade that a lot of fancy people fell for...A put-on that didn't harm anybody."

Stephen Beachy published an article in 2005 to imply that Laura Albert wrote the stories, and later the New York Times confirmed that JT LeRoy was the invention of Speedie/Emily, whose real name is Laura Albert. Vanity Fair also publicly announced that Laura Albert wrote all of J.T.’s books, articles, and stories, corresponded as J.T. by e-mail, and spoke as him on the phone. Savannah Knoop stopped making public appearances as JT Leroy.

On January 6, 2006 JT LeRoy posted a blog entry titled "the hoax edition" which cited an article in The Guardian that "identity is irrelevant." Also included were T-shirt prints which made light of the hoax, reading "I am the real JT LeRoy" and including an artistic image of the author's blonde wig and sunglasses. Also on the blog entry were promotional references to the film The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, DVD cover art and opening dates, and a Sundance Film Festival viewing.

As reported by Vanity Fair in 2006, J. T. LeRoy was the invention of Speedie/Emily, whose real name is Laura Albert. Now 40, she wrote all of J.T.’s books, articles, and stories, corresponded as J.T. by e-mail, and spoke as him on the phone, putting on a southern accent she thought was in accordance with J.T.’s supposed West Virginian origins. The high, feminine pitch was sometimes explained away as a result of J.T.’s not having fully matured physically due to the abuse he suffered. Her co-conspirators were Astor, whose real name is Geoffrey Knoop, 39, and his half-sister Savannah Knoop, a 25-year-old aspiring clothes designer who, once J.T.’s career took off, was drafted to play the writer in public—the wigs-and-sunglasses figure." The November 29, 2007 Rolling Stone (#1040) featured an article about JT LeRoy by Guy Lawson in which it was stated that the guitarist Billy Corgan had been privy to what Albert was doing since 2002 and that this felt to him "... like being inside the Magic Kingdom".

However many early supporters were hurt and angered upon learning "JT LeRoy's" identity. Upon learning the truth about the writer that he had been working with for many years, the literary agent of JT LeRoy told the New York Times, "To present yourself as a person who is dying of AIDS in a culture which has lost so many writers and voices of great meaning, to take advantage of that sympathy and empathy, is the most unfortunate part of all of this," Mr. Silverberg said. "A lot of people believed they were supporting not only a good and innovative and adventurous voice, but that we were supporting a person."

As well, after "JT LeRoy's" identity was exposed, early supporters spoke out with feelings of anger and betrayal. Many celebrities, writers, and notable personalities had read JT LeRoy's work publicly because he was supposedly too shy, sick, or agoraphobic to read it publicly. Eventually, Savannah Knoop contributed with reading at these book stores, art galleries, or other public events, as well. In the San Francisco Chronicle, "It's not cute. It's not irrelevant. It's a cruel con, straight up, and the whole writers' community suffered for it," wrote Susie Bright, the San Francisco author and feminist "sex-positive" crusader, on her blog. "I'm sure there are examples of hoaxes that don't leave such a trail of used people." "

The co-opting of identities that were not Laura Albert's remains controversial. In particular, the use of HIV positive. Although Laura Albert continues to deny using it, many of those who worked with her early on have spoken about it. Savannah Knoop states in her interview in the Village Voice, "I think that HIV was dropped right around the time I started impersonating him. HIV wasn't part of the story that I was playing, but there were little details. I would wear long sleeves, and there were scars. HIV was part of the trajectory, and then it was just dropped."

The media's attention shifted from a fascination with the persona of JT LeRoy and the writing, to a castigation of Laura Albert. Laura Albert did not publish writing as JT LeRoy again.

In 2008, Savannah Knoop published Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy, a memoir about the six years she spent as LeRoy.

Film option and lawsuit

Antidote International Films, Inc., and its president Jeffrey Levy-Hinte announced plans for a film adaptation of Sarah to be directed by Steven Shainberg. According to The New York Times, when Shainberg "learned who had truly written 'Sarah' an inspiration came to him to make a 'meta-film', a triple-layered movie that would blend the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project he took to calling 'Sarah Plus'." The New York Times also reported that this new project "required the rights to Laura Albert's story, rights that she in no uncertain terms refused to grant."

In June 2007 Antidote sued Laura Albert for fraud, claiming that a contract signed by Albert in JT LeRoy's name to make a feature film of Sarah was null and void. A jury found against Albert, holding that the use of the pseudonym to sign the film rights contract was fraudulent.

In popular culture

Filmmaker Michael Arias claimed JT LeRoy for his inspiration in translating Taiyo Matsumoto's manga Sunny. At a 2013 symposium with filmmaker J. J. Abrams in New York, actress and writer Lena Dunham said that JT LeRoy "co-opted my imagination for a full year of my life. It was pretty remarkable. And then you also go, 'This person isn't who they claim to be, but they still wrote this book that captured all of our imaginations, so then why does the identity of the author even matter when you're reading fiction and engaging with it in a really personal way?'" That same year, Laura Albert told Interview magazine, “You know, JT LeRoy does not exist. But he lives. That’s what a famous film historian once said about Bugs Bunny." Another interviewer insisted, "Albert had ingeniously hacked the literary establishment." In March 2014 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Academy of Friends Oscar Party in San Francisco invited JT LeRoy – played by gender-fluid fashion model Rain Dove Dubilewski – to walk the runway as part of its HIV/AIDS fundraiser. Documentaries about JT LeRoy include Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, The Cult of JT LeRoy (2015) directed by Marjorie Sturm, and The Ballad of JT LeRoy (2014) directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson. Writing about having curated a recent photographic exhibition that included Mary Ellen Mark's 2001 portrait of JT LeRoy for Vanity Fair, Chuck Mobley of San Francisco Camerawork insisted, "There were a lot of moral judgments being made (by educated people who should know better) that were exhausting and simplistic. The grievances aired seemed petty and obscured a far more fascinating and intellectually stimulating story." Many others have felt differently,"When Albert’s fraud was finally exposed (after she wrecked the credibility of several publications, book companies, a film studio—plus many gullible readers) the reaction was justifiably angry and strong."

Armistead Maupin's The Night Listener features the case of Anthony Godby Johnson, which is similar to that of LeRoy.

References

Footnotes

  1. https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Deceitful-Above-All-Things/dp/1582342113/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481074656&sr=1-4&keywords=jt+leroy
  2. http://www.vulture.com/2008/06/laura_albert_vs_savannah_knoop.html
  3. "Laura Albert" (PDF). Jtleroy.com. June 20, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  4. LeRoy, JT. Sarah. Bloomsbury USA (June 9, 2000) ISBN 1-58234-146-X.
  5. LeRoy, JT. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Bloomsbury USA Hardcover (June 9, 2001) ISBN 1-58234-142-7 Paperback (June 1, 2002) ISBN 1-58234-211-3.
  6. LeRoy, JT. Harold's End. Last Gasp (January 30, 2005) ISBN 0-86719-614-9. Originally in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern Issue 7. Italian translation La fine di Harold by Martina Testa. Fazio Editore 2003. ISBN 88-8112-387-8.
  7. LeRoy, JT. Labour. Last Gasp USA (March 31, 2007) ISBN 978-0-86719-654-2.
  8. LeRoy, JT (ed). Da Capo Best Music Writing 2005: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country & More. Da Capo Press (October 30, 2005) ISBN 0-306-81446-3
  9. ^ "The Boy Who Cried Author". Vanity Fair. January 2, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  10. "Strange little birds". Garbage.
  11. "Figure in JT LeRoy Case Says Partner Is Culprit". The New York Times. February 7, 2006.
  12. http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Soul-baring-fiction-author-J-T-LeRoy-plays-with-2556606.php |title=Soul-baring fiction author J.T. LeRoy plays with gender - and identity. Does it really matter who he is?
  13. http://forward.com/culture/351569/how-to-kill-a-butterfly-like-elena-ferrante-or-jt-leroy/?attribution=home-hero-item-text-4 |title=How To Kill a Butterfly Like Elena Ferrante or JT Leroy - Culture –
  14. "Laura Albert at The Moth "My Avatar & Me"". Retrieved January 30, 2013 – via YouTube. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. "Still Beating". Sfbg.com. Retrieved June 26, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. "How To Kill a Butterfly Like Elena Ferrante or JT Leroy - Culture –". Forward.com. October 10, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  17. "Author JT LeRoy Story Documentary Laura Albert". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  18. http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/IDENTITY-CRISIS-How-former-sex-writer-Laura-2501521.php
  19. http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/index4.html
  20. http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2006/04/jtleroy200604
  21. "JT LeRoy test".
  22. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/books/09book.html
  23. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Academy-of-Art-agrees-to-60-million-settlement-10804028.php#item-44548
  24. http://www.villagevoice.com/arts/interview-with-a-confidence-woman-savannah-knoop-on-being-jt-leroy-7133230
  25. This is the woman who played the man who became a transsexual and fooled the world for six years, The Guardian, November 2, 2008
  26. Feuer, Alan. "In Writer's Trial, a Conflict Over Roles of Art and Money". The New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  27. Feuer, Alan (August 1, 1007). ""Judge Orders Author to Pay Film Company $350,000 in Legal Fees"". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  28. Writer Testifies About Source of Nom de Plume By Alan Feuer, The New York Times, Published: June 20, 2007.
  29. Westfeldt, Amy (June 23, 2007). "Jury: novel bought by company fraudulent". USA Today. Associated Press.
  30. "The 'Sunny' side of Taiyo Matsumoto". The Japan Times.
  31. CuInAnotherLifeBro (November 29, 2013). "JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst w/ Lena Dunham discuss S. #whoisStraka (2/4)" – via YouTube.
  32. "Laura Albert". interviewmagazine.com.
  33. "5 Questions for Laura Albert". LASTLOOK.
  34. "Long-lost Ukrainian uncle has left you $5 million". www.sfgate.com.
  35. "Laura Albert with Mary Ellen Mark's portrait of JT LeRoy at SF Camerawork". ashadedviewonfashion.com.
  36. White, Armond (September 9, 2016). "JT LeRoy, A Drag Act in the Worst Sense | Out Magazine". Out.com. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  37. "Who is JT LeRoy? The True Identity of a Great Literary Hustler". Nymag.com. Retrieved November 20, 2016.

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