Moot Testimonies

by John F. Goodman

A memoir in the form of a journal, Moot Testimonies brings together some fictional portraits of friends, ex-lovers, co-workers and family. The words they speak are not their own, however. They are my invention, my fiction, as I presume to speak on their behalf. Their testimonies are moot because they are problematic. In that sense, it's a presumed memoir. I have formed it as a journal, organized by theme rather than chronology. I’ve also inserted a letter or two, excerpts from famous writers and a disjointed chronology to keep you on your toes. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely intentional.

116 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 14, 2020

About the author

After graduate school at the Universities of Chicago and Wisconsin, I taught English in New York at NYU and City College during the Vietnam years. I also wrote a music column for the New Leader, a notable small leftish monthly, and then wrote on jazz, classical and rock for Playboy for nine years.

Mingus was a source of fascination for me, both because of his music and his outspoken opinions on everything. Playboy commissioned my review of Mingus’s “comeback” concert in February 1972, and from there we got to know and trust each other so as to begin the interviews that would finally lead to this book.