BARTLEBY & ME

More revelations from the celebrated writer’s life.

In 1953, Talese, then 21, began working as a copy boy at the New York Times, earning $38 per week, a job that launched his successful career as a journalist for the Times and other outlets. As the author recounts in his latest memoir, he was interested from the start in writing about characters he likens to Herman Melville’s taciturn Bartleby, people who work largely unnoticed: those “on the sidelines of stadiums, individuals who are part of the game but rarely written about.” His first published piece—unsigned—was an interview with the electrician in charge of the illuminated sign that flashed news in Times Square. His first byline was for an article about the rolling chairs that transported visitors on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. With the encouragement of editors at the Times, where he spent seven years as a reporter in the news department, and, later, at Esquire, where he contributed features, Talese was most satisfied writing about the “lives of non-newsworthy people,” such as Times chief obituary writer Alden Whitman and retired silent-screen star Nita Naldi. But Talese also reprises at length an episode he included in High Notes (2017), detailing his frustrating, convoluted efforts to interview Frank Sinatra for a profile in Esquire. The interview never happened, but the article did: “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” appeared in April 1966. More in line with Talese’s interests was his research for Thy Neighbor’s Wife, which immersed him in the world of massage parlors and nudist colonies; The Voyeur’s Motel, about a motel owner who spied on his guests; and the life of Nicholas Bartha, a physician who burned down his Upper East Side brownstone rather than sell it to remunerate his ex-wife in a divorce settlement. Fans of Talese may already be familiar with many recollections; new readers will discover an astute observer.

Candid testimony from a new-journalism icon.