Fame and Obscurity: A Book About New York, a Bridge, and Celebrities on the Edge . . .

by Gay Talese

"Fascinating . . . Poignant." The Wall Street Journal

In this extraordinary work of insight and interviews, bestselling author Gay Talese shares with us the lives of those we don't know and those we might wish we Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Manhattan mobsters, Bowery bums, and many others -- fascinating men and women who define our country's spirit and lead us to an understanding of ourselves as a nation.

Genres: Journalism, Nonfiction, Essays, Classics, History, New York, Cultural

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism or "new nonfiction reportage", also known as New Journalism. His most famous articles are about Joe DiMaggio, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

Reviews

[Manik Sukoco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Born to an immigrant Italian couple in the island town of Ocean City (he said his mother, a boutique owner, was an inspiration to his reporting in the way she could listen to people, gain their trust and most private confidences), Talese was always a set of contradictions. He was "a year-round resident of a summer resort; an Italian kid in an Irish town; a New Jersey kid at the University of Alabama, smart with bad marks; a chronicler of the rules who couldn't play by them," according to Henry Allen of the Washington Post.

After graduating the University of Alabama in the bottom half of his journalism class, Talese got a job as a copy boy for the New York Times, from which he slowly moved up the ranks to sports reporter and correspondent. It was at the Times that Talese crafted his cool, smooth prose. It is this style, with its extended interior monologues, that set him apart from the other flashier New Journalists who were experimenting with writing.

Already at the Times, Talese had garnered a reputation for writing "unreportable" stories, and for his exhaustive research. According to Talese, his inspirations were the short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and John O'Hara.

Talese moved from the Times to Esquire in 1963, basically after becoming disillusioned with the editorial process and lack of creative freedom at the former publication. He signed a contract with Esquire for $15,000 to write six articles, which appear in Fame and Obscurity. "Once I started at Esquire," said Talese, "I knew that was where I belonged." His first article for the magazine, which now appears in Fame and Obscurity, was, ironically enough, about the New York Times. He profiled "Mr. Bad News," otherwise known as Alden Whitman, the newspaper's obituary writer.

The other subjects of the articles that comprise Fame and Obscurity are those we don't know but wished we did: Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Floyd Patterson, Manhattan mobsters, Bowery bums, pushcart makers, the chauffeur with a chauffeur, and the head barber at the United Nations. With the more famous names, Talese made his articles stand out by showing the reader how ordinary these celebrities were: he described Joe DiMaggio at loose ends, and Frank Sinatra during a lull in his career. The legendary DiMaggio article begins with a quotation from Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and includes the exchange between Marilyn Monroe and DiMaggio: "'It was so wonderful, Joe. You never heard such cheering.' 'Yes I have,' he said."

Talese returned again and again to his subjects: he wrote 38 articles on boxing heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson alone. Talese insisted that it was this persistence that allowed him to know his subjects well enough to be able to write long interior monologues. He was able to gather information over time, to observe change, enough that he could describe their thoughts and feelings with confidence. By the time Talese penned his celebrated article "The Loser" for Esquire (now in Fame), he had lived with Patterson at his training camp and had jogged beside him. "I had become almost an interior figure in his life," Talese recalled. "I was his second skin." It is this reporting, perhaps, that is the greatest lesson we can take from Talese as journalists. It is relentless, exhaustive "saturation" or "immersion" journalism. The results speak for themselves.

To this end, Talese racked up $5,000 of Esquire's money "hanging out" with Sinatra's inner circle, trying to arrange an interview with Ol' Blue Eyes. Despite his tenacity, he never got to speak to Sinatra. His eventual piece, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" is more remarkable and memorable precisely because of the lack of this one important voice. Talese admitted that it actually became an odd virtue of the piece. Another valuable lesson: setbacks will happen, so be innovative.

[Laís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esse livro é estudado no jornalismo por um motivo: o cara era bom. Escreve muito bem. Consegue dar uma imagem a pessoa sem nem ter falado com ela.

[Rodrigo Ferrari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não gostava de ler não-ficção. Para mim, os livros representavam uma fuga da realidade ou uma visão diferente de como a vida poderia ser. Porém, em Fama & Anonimato do Gay Talese, entendi melhor por quê eu ando interessado pelo gênero da não-ficção. A vida real pode ser interessante e também representa pontos de vistas curiosos e estranhos que pensei achar apenas nas obras ficcionais.

Gay Talese escreve muito bem sobre pessoas e trata New York como uma personagem e um alguém que possui forma, mente e personalidade. Me impressionei com a verdade que o autor quis passar, humanizando ainda mais pessoas do dia a dia que costumamos ignorar (como cobrador de ônibus ou policiais). Gay vai além e aproveita cada detalhe delas e esse é o maior ponto alto da escrita dele.

Me surpreendo também como ele tratou os anônimos da mesma forma que os famosos e isso é lindo de ver. É dar a importância para todos os humanos por eles serem quem são e nada mais. É muito mais que jornalismo e literatura.

Leiam Gay Talese e se apaixonem ainda mais pelo mundo que vivemos. Vale a pena viver aqui, no final das contas.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na faculdade de Jornalismo tive a grande sorte de ter tido aula com Marcos Faerman, autor de um dos melhores textos já publicados na imprensa brasileira. Confesso que foram as aulas mais anárquicas da Cásper Líbero, mas sempre marcadas por grandes indicações de livros. "Aos Olhos da Multidão" (título em português) foi um deles. Na época era um livro raro, somente encontrado em sebos ou distribuído obscuramente em fotocópias. Felizmente a publicação foi reeditada no Brasil com outro nome, "Fama e Anonimato", título bem mais próximo do original. "Frank Sinatra está resfriado", uma reportagem onde se fala com todo o mundo exceto o astro, é imperdível. A crônica sobre os gatos da Big Apple e o texto sobre o autor dos obituários do NY Times também são deliciosos de ler. Saudades da época (que não vivi) em que os jornais prestavam um verdadeiro serviço à literatura.

[Harris Reiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a kid and couldn't stop reading it. Growing up in Bklyn, I was able to put myself in all the places mentioned. The NYC stories put me in places with my dad. I met Talese a few times on the streets of NY. Told him how my journalism teacher clipped my copy of "The Kingdom & The Power." He sent me an autographed copy. Damn nice of him.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelent book. An original view about the big city, talking about the anonymous, the unknown, the ones that live right under the surface. A Masterpiece!

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talese was exceptionally talented. His body of work deserves more attention than it now receives. The section of this collection about the building of bridges generally and the Verrazano Narrows in particular will stick with me. The engineering, materials and labor that goes into these structures is remarkable and well hidden to most of us today. Peter O'Toole on why creative Irish need to leave and his ideas about the inferiority of film to live theater are fascinating. DiMaggio, Joe Louis and Frank Costello; these chapters were all small masterpieces. The chapter about George Plimpton and the Paris Review may be the best description of ex-pat Paris I've ever read. And the quote from Gertrude Stein about how in Hemmingway's wake all the young men in Paris were 26 years old: "It was the right age apparently for that time and place." Which lends a humorous sub-text to the description of Plimpton and his cohort as "The Tall Young Men." Read this with an open mind.

[Jim Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fame and Obscurity is made up a three parts; the first 2 are comprised of Talese's first two books, New York: A Serendipiter's Journey and The Bridge, and the 3rd part is a collection of articles he wrote for Esquire magazine which are also collected in The Gay Talese Reader (with the exception of The Ethics of Frank Costello, which is published exclusively in this volume, as far as I know). This is a great book for getting acquainted with early Talese and also becoming familiar with some of the best work he ever did, which is featured in part 3. New York: A Serendipiter's Journey is out of print on it's own and can be expensive if trying to find a used copy, so this collection makes it easy to check off of the list. I found New York: A Serendipiter's Journey to be especially fascinating, considering it was his first published book and his unique voice is already on display. It's a snapshot of New York City and everything that makes it special to Talese: the people, the characters, the odd job etc and it's particularly amusing to see how much the city has changed since this publication in the 60's. I'd love for him to do a modern take on this.

[Anne Bollmann (Annelise Lestrange) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best journalism book EVER. Gay Talese is a genius and makes his 535 pages looks like they're only 100.

My faovrite part was Frank Sinatra's profile. I couldn't imagine that he was like that... I mean, it's not because he could that he should had... Anyway.

The weird new york profissions were funny to know. I laughed a lot in this part.
As I thought the brigde stories were the deepest part. Somwehow, that workers stories just touched me a lot.

I highly recommend it! :D

[Chris Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty dang good stuff. The first half of the book is about real people. The second half of the book is about celebrities--people who are non real. The last chapter in the book about the obituary writer is so good.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

this guy could make the phone book interesting. to prove it, he has written a fascinating essay about the phone book.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED the first part, liked the second part, lost me at the third.

first part was basically musings on NYC as it was in the 50s and i just loved reading about that. the second part was about the bridge builders and it was also super interesting. the third was small segments on celebrities of the day (frank sinatra, etc). the frank sinatra part was interesting but some of these people were forgotten by time and i honestly didn't know who they were. i abandoned it with like 30 pages to go but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the whole thing.

[Carole Duff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I have no desire to read Gay Talese's most recent book, this collection of essay is a classic. His prose swept me back to the Sixties, my teen years, and the city of New York, two hours from the rural Connecticut town where I grew up. People, the time, the place, the bridge. And craft - details and threads planted along the way then pulled together at the end of each essay - is masterful!

[Edward Champion · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read one Gay Talese volume, this is the one to pick up right here. It contains not only his famous pieces on Joe Louis and Frank Sinatra, but also NEW YORK: A SERENDIPITER'S JOURNEY and THE BRIDGE (although I prefer reading the stand-alone book). A classic journalism volume that everyone should read.

[Sayak · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the fame part of this book (covering Sinatra, DiMaggio, Floyd Patterson, Peter O’Toole et al) is amazing in itself, it was the obscurity section that painted a montage of the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, that stood apart to me. Beautiful read, especially if you are into early 50s and 60s New York history.

[Saffron Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how the the big city story is being told in the book. Love how the Bridge is being built over the years and it is sad for the lost of the bridgeman workers. They are the heroes of all. I enjoy the book very much.

[Ana Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morder uma fruta fresca e ler esse livro dão a mesma sensacao: de que só existe o agora. Mesmo que agora seja todo o tempo da árvore crescer até dar a primeira maçã ou o tempo de uma pessoa em contato com pessoas no mundo escrever um bom texto.

[Fabio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adoro o Gay Talese.

[Anshul Bansal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful Potraits

[Tianxiao · Rating 4 out of 5]

文字对于真实世界的记录是无法被替代的，当你仍具备想象能力的时候，文字所记录的人和事，在大脑中就有无数种可能性。

[Nenê · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reportagem sobre a mafia é o melhor livro de mafia que existe

[ana banana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Juro que eu paguei 40 reais por esse EBOOK pra ficar lendo sobre pontes 😭 mas né fazer oq

[Rafael Aquino · Rating 5 out of 5]

🗽🇮🇹

[Ludmila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente

[Mariana Cecillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. New York: A serendipiter’s journey

5 perfiles de una Nueva York que ya no existe pero que paradojicamente parece no cambiar. Suenan a ficción oficios como el vendedor de boletos de metro o la imponente altura de las Torres Gemelas. Pero NY sigue siendo, 70 años más tarde, una ciudad de anónimos, de vecindades sin vecinos, de vicios y bullicio, de metros cuadrado a precios imposibles y de un estatus social que cotiza en aire y sol. Lejos mi parte preferida❤️

2. The bridge

Tiene como protagonista el puente Verrazano-Narrows (Staten Island-Brooklyn) que parece inconcebible pensar que alguna vez no estuvo ahí. Demasiado metálicas para mi gusto, plasman ese rechazo tan humano al cambio como un enojo que camufla el miedo de la pérdida.

3. Celebrities on the edge

Se aboca a mi género periodístico preferido: los perfiles. Es probablemente lo que le da al libro su titulo, el punto en el que el brillo de la fama es engullido por la oscuridad. Son protagonistas la soberbia insoportable de Frank Sinatra, la incansable juventud y el romanticismo de los fundadores de The Paris Review❤️. Son retratos de una época de salones literarios, del snobismo emergente de Vogue, de la mafia inmigrante y de fiestas exclusivas de un mundillo cultural yankee magnético.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection was as great as I hoped it would be. I had only read "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" before this, and while his portrait essays are great, I *really* loved The Bridge section, about the building of the Verrazano bridge. It had what I love about Studs Terkel combined with Talese's new journalism style. I've had a fascination with bridge building for ages (that I haven't exactly dug super deep into), and Talese's writing about it hit all the stuff I was interested in. I can't recommend that section enough- however, it might be better to get an actual copy of The Bridge. The actual book has a bunch of photos and bridge diagrams- I just ordered a copy because being able to see what he's describing in the piece would really add to it.

[Michael Lipsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gay on celebrities is not that interesting, but the chapters on the ironworkers are fascinating. Especially when he hangs with the Indians, daring, drinking, going back to the res every weekend even though it is a six hour drive, just to spend a few hours with their families. And the tragic accidents that are part of their lives. And the boomers who go all over the country to put up high steel. Definitely a good read.

[Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

O livro é ótimo, muito bem escrito. Uma aula de jornalismo.

A edição brasileira, no entanto, poderia ter trabalhado melhor a tradução. Às vezes o texto não flui porque está escrito numa forma americana demais — por exemplo, repete palavras à exaustão e usa uma pontuação estranha ao português.

Ainda assim, leitura recomendadíssima. A primeira parte, sobre os anônimos de Nova York, guarda semelhança com a obra-prima dos quadrinhos Nova York: A vida na grande cidade, de Will Eisner.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite professor in college made us read this book of short fictional tales if you will. He was in his younger brasher days a writer for Rolling Stone and interviewed Jimmy friggin' Hendrix. And he told me that 'I had the stuff kid.' He, and this book, changed my life forever.

[Luciana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livro maravilhoso, pode servir de inspiração para estudantes e profissionais calejados, excelente para pessoas que gostam de escrever.

Aguça a criatividade, permite uma visão do passado e incentiva a análise do presente.