- ISBN13: 9780802776754
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
As a young reporter for the New York Times, in 1961 Gay Talese published his first book, New York-A Serendipiter’s Journey, a series of vignettes and essays that began, “New York is a city of things unnoticed. It is a city with cats sleeping under parked cars, two stone armadillos crawling up St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and thousands of ants creeping on top of the Empire State Building.” Attention to detail and observation of the unnoticed is the hallmark of Gay Tal… More >>
The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits and Encounters
Tags: ants, armadillos, empire state building, Encounters, gay talese, hallmark, new york times, Portraits, Reader, remainder mark, st patrick, Talese, vignettes, young reporter
#1 by R. Buck on April 17, 2010 - 7:58 pm
Profound writing in easy-to-grasp narrative is what Gay Talese does so well, capturing the common man. This is a thorough treatment of his work, and I would recommend it to anyone who 1) desires to know how the ethnological process should be carried out or 2) just wants to read reallly good writing.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by P. J. Owen on April 17, 2010 - 10:43 pm
Gay Talese epitomizes literary journalism, or, as Tom Wolfe coined it, “The New Journalism”. He writes articles as if they were short stories; they are character-driven and artfully written with the smoothest prose you’ll likely ever read. His most famous stories, like `Frank Sinatra Has a Cold’ and `The Silent Season of a Hero’, are about famous people. But he preferred to write about common people, often with unique jobs, such as the obituary writer in `Mr. Bad News’. He can make anyone fascinating to read about.
This anthology is a good starting point for initiates to Telese’s work, though I would have liked some excerpts from his more famous longer works, such as `Honor Thy Father’ or `Thy Neighbor’s Wife’. Still this collection is so good, it’s liable to make you want to run out and buy these other works to enjoy them in their entirety.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by princessleiannie on April 18, 2010 - 12:02 am
Very nice to read. I like the short story format because I can pick it up and read a story here and there. Very well written.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Susan on April 18, 2010 - 1:50 am
This book was recommended reading for the Magazine Writing course I recently completed. It’s by far the best set of written-for-magazine articles I’ve seen. In a world saturated by smarmy, self-important Rolling Stone articles, it’s refreshing (stunningly so) to read what used to grace the pages of prestigious magazines. To read Talese’s account of Frank Sinatra is a treat, most definitely. His use of detail and respect for his subject is astounding. Talese’s own account of his life as as a shy tailor’s son is meticulously written as well. This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to see how compelling prose should be written.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Aco on April 18, 2010 - 2:24 am
For a sweetly essential read this is a must. Profiling people like Muhammed Ali, Floyd Patterson, Joe DiMaggio, Peter O’Toole, Sinatra and his own grandfather, Talese unites the journalistic style he even writes about, with an attractive fiction-like narrative. I looked forward to reading this each time, and was captivated by the non-sequitor poetics of Mr. Talese. Highly recommended for being simple, active and care-full about it’s subjects.
Rating: 5 / 5