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Now, Alexander Osang's Fast Hell is practically a pile of anecdotes.
I am really just riffling the deck with A. Scott Berg's MAX PERKINS, Editor of Genius now.
Caught the film Genius starring Colin Firth over Christmas and had to dive deeper into the flick;
all the more so because Perkins edited Thomas Wolfe, a cipher of a man and a ba***rd ill disciplined writer.
A favourite sonuvabitch of mine since schoolboy days. Wolfe ranks alongside James Joyce but a step
or two behind Stephen Hero.
I found Genius by accident and loved it so rang Amazon then charged it to Santa. Next Christmas is the North Pole payback I guess but Perkins is definitely worth it.I love that book. It is a neat look into the careers of several writers I grew up reading, plus Perkins himself is an interesting man. The movie is good, too, but the book is a gem.
Spitalfields was Irish immigrant enclave, low rung but eminently real with resonance. Books and wits carried me out and Cheever was early find. Later, he reappeared at Cambridge when shown a film of him interviewed by David Susskind, I believe, and the subject of literature as opposed simple pulp fiction came to fore. The professor endlessly drove Cheever's perspective home for the term. I am going to order this and The Swimmer to trace back those East End days.View attachment 585319
N.B. Three out of four of my grandparents would be the "immigrants" or "foreigners" that float by as servants, day laborers or merchants in the shadows of Cheever's world. Yet I still somehow manage to find his writing relevant and engaging.
The preps serve Derby qualification with points awarded wire placing at finish. Too soon to tell for the big day but thisAlways wanted to attend the Kentucky Derby; if only for the hats. What are the KD preps? Who looks good for the big event? In May, yes? A friend of mine went last year and had a great time.