1960s Literati

From the jacket notes of Norman Mailer's St. George and the Godfather:

NORMAN MAILER--

has always been close to the pulse beat of America and a distinctly American phenomenon in his own right. He appears in newspapers and magazines more than any other writer, gets into reverberating discussions wherever he goes, even runs for Mayor of New York City, and has the nerve to confront, head on, the subject of Women's Liberation. And it's all in a day's living. He has his finger on the American artery as no other writer has.

Now, Norman Mailer presents himself once more as a witness of our times--inside the conventions, 1972, he eyes the candidates with skyrocket brilliance, smells their aura, feels around their crowds, and sniffs the general ambiance. Through potent description, philosophic genius, humor and compassion, great reporting becomes an art as Norman Mailer, with exquisite cunning and precision, exposes the forces that energize and characterize the American political arena.


Can you believe we purchased this book for a mere two dollars?!


At the age of eighteen, we were particularly taken by the works of Ken Kesey. Our father, knowing of our interest, set up a meeting for us with a man named Dr. Dean Brooks, whose wife--a charming woman whose name we have forgotten--was a patient of our father in his dentist store. Dr. Brooks played Dr. John Spivey in the movie "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest". At the time, Dr. Brooks was the superintendent of the Oregon hospital at which the movie was shot. He had spent considerable time with both Kesey and Norman Mailer, among others, and he told us a number of stories about each.

A quick Kesey anecdote: he was originally slated to write the screenplay for Cuckoo's nest. His opening, however, featured Nurse Ratched (as viewed through the eyes of Chief Bromden) as a robot wearing a vulcerian helmet. The producers felt this would not work and hired others to adapt the novel. While we enjoyed the movie, we wish the producers would have given Kesey's script the old college try.

And one more: On a red-eye, return flight from a Disnelyand vacation, Kesey scared the passengers and flight attendants by glowing when the lights were turned off; he had broken open a glow stick and smothered himself with its contents during the day.

Back to Mailer: Dr. Brooks said that Mailer was quite a gentleman. We were baffled. A distinctly American phenomenon, perhaps, but a gentleman? Didn't he stab his wife "with a dirty, three-inch penknife"? A gentleman, insisted Dr. Brooks. He told us that Mailer had devoted an entire room of his Manhattan apartment to the construction of a Lego city.

So ends the 1960s literati gossip column. We hope you have enjoyed.






norman mailer






ken kesey






dr. brooks






penknife