I'm calling it. Marie Calloway is the literary Lana Del Rey. Her writing first received a mass of internet haters when her story," Adrien Brody" which earned her a profile by the New York Observer titled “Meet Marie Calloway: The New Model for Literary Seductress is Part Feminist, Part ‘Famewhore’ and All Pseudonymous.” She later wrote about another decidedly famous male writer and strange intimate relationship that ensued between them for VICE.
In a (NSFW) piece called "Criticism" she tackles things feminists have said about her that range from “Marie Calloway makes me embarrassed to be a female writer in my twenties” to “Maybe we shouldn’t give them what they want all the time. Give them our beautiful legs open and lonesome. Let’s give them furious, witty, enraged words and see if it tickles their fancy.”
I don’t think Marie is giving anyone want they want. Her pieces are uncomfortable, they are raw and she comes across as a three-dimensional woman who is both broken and self-aware. One of the things you’ll constantly hear about Calloway is that people “read her piece in one sitting,” despite their length. Sometimes they will say this before attacking her. But obviously, we devour the pieces because they are new and exciting. She reminds us that as women we don’t have to be likeable, and that we should never apologize for writing about uncharted emotional terrain or sex.
Over instant message, Calloway told me the attacks feel specific to her being a woman. She said, “There's no way to avoid being called an attention whore or fame whore [as a woman].” Also, she is 22. Which I, for one, find exciting.
