It is the rarest of gifts to have lived long enough to survey both a life and a century in its greatest breadth; even rarer still to be both an active participant and shaper of the currents, to have walked alongside the titans of the age and brought them, somehow, to fuller life. This is the shorthand for understanding Gay Talese...
This is incredible. I'm always curious about how much cleanup goes into an exchange like this one but, having coincidentally just spent a few days bingeing Talese's interviews from the past five years or so, I'm inclined to think he just talks this way. Neat paragraphs, stories within stories and all of them tying up. But I particularly loved the question about having nine decades inside him. All those faces and names. The Styrons and Pacinos walking on and off the stage of his memory. This is transcendent, guys, congrats (and kudos)!
Good God, (swoons)... This is the most remarkable interview I’ve read all year. The old-school magazine nerd in me longs for it to be bound and glossy, with full-bleed portraits and a whiff of ink that says, man, this was when writing still had swagger. Seriously iconic.
I reread “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” every few months, pleasure undiminished. Gay Talese is a one-of-kind repository of writing history, and the most atypical ever University of Alabama alum. Thanks for the peek.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful article of a national treasure.
My lord, what a treasure, what an achievement, what a good thing TMR has done! Bravo!!!! And thank you.
This is incredible. I'm always curious about how much cleanup goes into an exchange like this one but, having coincidentally just spent a few days bingeing Talese's interviews from the past five years or so, I'm inclined to think he just talks this way. Neat paragraphs, stories within stories and all of them tying up. But I particularly loved the question about having nine decades inside him. All those faces and names. The Styrons and Pacinos walking on and off the stage of his memory. This is transcendent, guys, congrats (and kudos)!
Loved this.
Wonderful work guys.
Outstanding!
Great interview. Glad to know he’s still alive.
Good God, (swoons)... This is the most remarkable interview I’ve read all year. The old-school magazine nerd in me longs for it to be bound and glossy, with full-bleed portraits and a whiff of ink that says, man, this was when writing still had swagger. Seriously iconic.
Alisa, thanks a million. Good news is it will be bound and very inky.
Oh, count me in on that!
Wonderful insight of a giant who doesn't see himself as one.
I reread “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” every few months, pleasure undiminished. Gay Talese is a one-of-kind repository of writing history, and the most atypical ever University of Alabama alum. Thanks for the peek.
I just did the same thing. It's masterful work. Era-defining.
Feels like his finest work (even if he doesn't think so.)
Amazing interview.
Merely magnificent--the interview, the man, the insights, the candor. And the pix.
A giant is (still) walking among us.
Ottimo!!
What an enjoyable read. Thanks for doing this!
Super piece.
Oh, wow, amazing. My career was beginning as that literary era was ending. I am lonely as a writer for what I never had.
This is a huge coup - wonderful interview!