Chuck Klosterman Stands Tall

“One thing I’m always worried about, is that people who don’t know me, who’ve only read my work, will think I’m short,” Chuck Klosterman confessed last night at his reading, organized by independent bookstore WORD, at Greenpoint barroom Coco66. “I mean, I’m 6’2″!” To celebrate the paperback release of his Eating the Dinosaur, Klosterman chatted with fellow pop-culture commentator and friend Rob Sheffield (Love is a Mix Tape). From personal authenticity to Hirschberg’s M.I.A. profile in the New York Times and the return of quality television, Klosterman spoke with a poise that contrasted with Cocoa Puffs claims of uncoolness. “I do think what Lynn Hirschberg did was unethical. If she did in fact lead M.I.A. to eat those truffle fries—and then included them in the story seemingly innocuously—she knew it would create this dichotomy between what this person is saying and how this person supposedly lives. Was that really an example of Lynn Hirschberg understanding M.I.A.?” On the topic of one-dimensional personas, he added, “I would say there are more performative people in New York than anywhere else—by, like, a factor of nine.”