J.T. LeRoy

1. By Thomas Joannides J.T. LeRoy

2. Motivations of the Hoax Laura Albert maintained and manipulated her assailants by staying in the shadows of the world; a way of connecting with others, without the harsh overtone of disgust and not being the centre of the literary world. Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, a fictional literary hoax, has been the attention of the media for thirteen years. The raw, intense material touched millions with its authenticity. Albert stated that, even though J. T. LeRoy was a figment of her imagination, she felt that she was like a secretary, dictating his words. This literary hoax reached dangerous and serious limits as Albert, who sent the short story ‘Balloons’ to a gay fiction writer, was circumed to understand the advances of paedophilia. The thirteen-year-old LeRoy responded a sexual relationship with the much older author, whom Albert described that he was ‘turned on sexually by the perversity and the abuse in the stories’.

3. Jeremiah in Literature Sarah (Laura Albert) is a story told by a 12-year-old boy called Cherry Vanilla, whose real name is Jeremiah. He lives with his mother Sarah, a prostitute at a truck stop, in a motel room rented by one of her clients, and their relationship is strained. ‘Sarah’ is forced to prostitute her herself on the streets by dressing up as a young girl to help ‘her 'mother shoplift.

4. Exposure The exposure of the heartbreaking, phenomenal story of the 13-year-old transgender Jeremiah ‘Terminator’ Leroy of being a literary fraud enforced a strong anger towards avid fans and audiences of the novel and short stories. Whilst at Disneyland Paris with her husband and son, Albert stated that she was also along with the 13-year-old boy. However, the Times discovered a shattering phenomenal information that the plane was booked for three instead of four people. When this information was uncovered, Albert proclaimed that she herself was LeRoy, having had a sex reassignment surgery three years earlier. In a 2006 New York Times article, the establishment gave significant information to suggested that Albert’s half-sister (Savannah Knoop) was the public image of J.T.Leroy. Geoffrey Knoop (Savannah’s husband) stated that Albert was the author and played the part of J.T. Leroy. In a 2006 Paris Review Interview (Nathaniel Rich) Albert explained the circumstances.

5. The Autobiographical Pact The autobiographical pact is the expectation of truth in regards to the relationship between the audience (reader) and the author him/herself. This is established through the aesthetic and value of the genre. The pact is established as the author identity is reliable; there is a contract of identity and conveys images of truth. Is established through first-person tone, emotive language and author’s name on the cover. This expectation of truth is valued by audiences, that people love the heartbreak, emotions and raw intense material that is conveyed in autobiographies, whereas the fact that it may be fiction disappoints people and sickens the audience as the author would not understand this type of situation in regards to the characters.

6. Ethnic Literature The role that potentially problematic in literature regarding literary frauds is the fact, in this case, anything considered different to heterosexuality is problematic because it is hegemonic of the society today. As it states in Maria Takolander and David McCooey’s Fakes, Literary Identity and Public Culture: The cosmopolitan and morally serious character of this demographic perhaps contributes to explain why ethnicity and victimhood have been deeply implicit in recent literary frauds. For example, the loving Jeremiah (wanting his mothers approval, which we as an audience can relate to) contributes to the fact that Jeremiah is victimised because he belongs to the subgroup of transgenders, which is different to the hegemonic heterosexuality. Literary fakes also reveal how identities operate in the public sphere as authenticity and ethnicity are intertwined with how the character is constructed and displayed.

7. Role of the Author in Public Culture Literary fakes, we argue, are only understandable in relation to identity and public culture. It is within these cultures that the author can help people in today’s society, as their role can expand to relinquish a story of hope and life, which the audience perceives as real. Of course, the story of Jeremiah LeRoy progressed in society and its culture where LeRoy as perceived as a symbol of hope, love and openness. This symbol has inspired thousands of people to help those who are part of a minority, in the case of the book, transgenders. However, it is more than that, it is a story of openness and the struggle of the protagonist for his mother to love him.