If you haven’t run across The Daily Dish you will not have seen any of Andrew Sullivan‘s “poseur alerts.” A poseur, of course, is “a person who acts in an affected manner in order to impress others,” and Sullivan’s alerts are all the funnier for allowing their subjects to hang themselves by the noose of their own affectations. He has alerted readers to numerous poseurs, from Cornel West to Bono. Sullivan is a conservative at heart (although he recently “resigned” from the conservative movement as currently constituted), and his poseur choices have generally reflected his philosophical bent. On the other hand, he did give his Poseur of the Year 2009 award to National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg. A round of applause, please.

Anyway, I ran across a literary poseur yesterday (technically, a 12-person gaggle of them), whom I nominated for an alert via an email to Sullivan. I doubt he’ll accept my recommendation because he’s more interested in politics than literature. So I’m issuing my first literary poseur alert for your amusement. Enjoy!