Neal Pollack interviewed on Bookslut:

"I think the word 'pretentious' applies to a lot of literature. It's pretending it's something it's not. You know, slam poetry pretends that it's poetry. Most literature pretends that it's culturally relevant, when in fact, if it's not the most irrelevant of popular art forms, it's certainly up there. Considering the people who care about it, and the amount of headspace they give it, it has surprisingly little relevance to the rest of the world."

(Yes, I'm essentially linking to myself. Sue me. It's a good interview.)