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mallorys_cameraOne interesting nugget culled from all those Frank Sinatra bios I’ve been reading…
From time to time, Sinatra would try to turn kingmaker.
One such time was in 1968 when Sinatra threw his support behind Hubert Humphrey’s unsuccessful Presidential candidacy. (Nixon eventually won.)
The Vietnam War was raging. The electorate was polarized.
The 1968 election turned out to have the same amount of significance as everything else that has ever transpired—which is to say, rhetoric notwithstanding, remarkably little. Left-leaning intellectual geezers may still make the sign of the cross at the mention of Nixon’s name, but it’s a fair bet that 19 out of 20 Americans if they recognize Nixon’s name at all, won’t understand why he’s reviled. Watergate, right? they’ll say. That was bad, right?
The rhetoric evoked during the 1968 election was almost word-for-word identical to the rhetoric evoked today! To wit: This is the most important election you will ever participate in as an American citizen! This is the election that will change the course of history!
Did it?
Not really.
I mean, everything that happens changes “the course of history,” no? The butterfly flaps its wings; the minuscule, displaced air currents build into a tornado 100 miles away. History is just a record of events. It could have happened another way, but it didn’t. Exceptionalism isn’t part of the process. Life goes on.
###
In the evening I watched a bad documentary called The Truman Tapes, which was all about the rise & fall of the writer Truman Capote.
I have noticed that cultural influence seems to have far more historical resonance than actual events.
Thus, if you took those same 20 Americans described above, I daresay more than 10 of them would recognize Truman Capote’s name. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, they’d say. Funny voice, right?
If you want to make your mark on history, it’s better to cultivate influence than power.
###
As the writer of In Cold Blood, which practically invented the nonfiction novel as a literary form, I’d say Capote’s position in the literary pantheon is unassailable. The nonfiction novel and the memoir are the two most popular contemporary literary formats.
But Capote is also of great interest because he’s the 20th-century equivalent of Rimbaud. An Orpheus archetype, in other words.
Here is the once-famous photograph that appeared on the back cover of Other Voices, Other Rooms, Capote’s first novel.
It is said that had this photo not been on the back cover of the book, the book would have sold fewer than 100 copies. Certainly, it would not have turned into the literary sensation that it became.
###
Capote, of course, is not remembered as a languid beauty reclining on a velvet chaise lounge.
No, he’s remembered for his bloodless dismemberment at the hands of Lee Radziwill, Babe Paley, and a host of other 20th century maenads. When he looked like this:
All beautiful boys turn into ugly old men with badly trimmed ear hair eventually. It’s something to keep in mind when you’re staring at a beautiful boy. Or a beautiful girl.
###
In other news, yesterday, I wrenched my back somehow. One of those left-sided lumbar wrenches.
All day long, I hobbled like a crab.
I forced myself to go tromping because… wholesome exercise! beautiful woods! get outside, you lazy slob!
But I didn’t set any speed records.
The current Remunerative Project is pretty dull. I’m mad at myself for not being able to complete it more quickly. Like: Girlfriend, just binge-write!
But you can only do what you can do, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
And somehow, learn to be gentle with yourself about it.
From time to time, Sinatra would try to turn kingmaker.
One such time was in 1968 when Sinatra threw his support behind Hubert Humphrey’s unsuccessful Presidential candidacy. (Nixon eventually won.)
The Vietnam War was raging. The electorate was polarized.
The 1968 election turned out to have the same amount of significance as everything else that has ever transpired—which is to say, rhetoric notwithstanding, remarkably little. Left-leaning intellectual geezers may still make the sign of the cross at the mention of Nixon’s name, but it’s a fair bet that 19 out of 20 Americans if they recognize Nixon’s name at all, won’t understand why he’s reviled. Watergate, right? they’ll say. That was bad, right?
The rhetoric evoked during the 1968 election was almost word-for-word identical to the rhetoric evoked today! To wit: This is the most important election you will ever participate in as an American citizen! This is the election that will change the course of history!
Did it?
Not really.
I mean, everything that happens changes “the course of history,” no? The butterfly flaps its wings; the minuscule, displaced air currents build into a tornado 100 miles away. History is just a record of events. It could have happened another way, but it didn’t. Exceptionalism isn’t part of the process. Life goes on.
###
In the evening I watched a bad documentary called The Truman Tapes, which was all about the rise & fall of the writer Truman Capote.
I have noticed that cultural influence seems to have far more historical resonance than actual events.
Thus, if you took those same 20 Americans described above, I daresay more than 10 of them would recognize Truman Capote’s name. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, they’d say. Funny voice, right?
If you want to make your mark on history, it’s better to cultivate influence than power.
###
As the writer of In Cold Blood, which practically invented the nonfiction novel as a literary form, I’d say Capote’s position in the literary pantheon is unassailable. The nonfiction novel and the memoir are the two most popular contemporary literary formats.
But Capote is also of great interest because he’s the 20th-century equivalent of Rimbaud. An Orpheus archetype, in other words.
Here is the once-famous photograph that appeared on the back cover of Other Voices, Other Rooms, Capote’s first novel.
It is said that had this photo not been on the back cover of the book, the book would have sold fewer than 100 copies. Certainly, it would not have turned into the literary sensation that it became.
###
Capote, of course, is not remembered as a languid beauty reclining on a velvet chaise lounge.
No, he’s remembered for his bloodless dismemberment at the hands of Lee Radziwill, Babe Paley, and a host of other 20th century maenads. When he looked like this:
All beautiful boys turn into ugly old men with badly trimmed ear hair eventually. It’s something to keep in mind when you’re staring at a beautiful boy. Or a beautiful girl.
###
In other news, yesterday, I wrenched my back somehow. One of those left-sided lumbar wrenches.
All day long, I hobbled like a crab.
I forced myself to go tromping because… wholesome exercise! beautiful woods! get outside, you lazy slob!
But I didn’t set any speed records.
The current Remunerative Project is pretty dull. I’m mad at myself for not being able to complete it more quickly. Like: Girlfriend, just binge-write!
But you can only do what you can do, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
And somehow, learn to be gentle with yourself about it.
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
Date: 2024-01-14 01:31 am (UTC)Re: I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
Date: 2024-01-14 06:01 pm (UTC)