What Do Authors Scott Spencer, John Irving and Gay Talese have in Common? Sexual Crapulence!
Oh, no. Not again. Another aging author uses writing a book as an excuse to enter the world of the sex-trade and pornography. Gay Talese did at age 49 in 1981 when he wrote the nonfiction book Honor Thy Neighbor’s Wife, and proceeded to spend nine, count ‘em, years researching massage parlors, strip clubs, and sex shows, sometimes with his clothes on. I remember reading the book and wondering what his wife was thinking at the time.
John Irving did it at age 56 in 1998 when he had to research Amsterdam’s Red Light District, with its tattoo parlors, window parlors, brothels and sex shops, all of course in support of the main character in Widow for a Year, Ruth Cole, who is doing research on prostitutes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. She finds herself hiding in a closet and witnessing the murder of a prostitute by the prostitute’s client.
And now at age 63, we have Scott Spencer’s just published novel Willing in which a cuckolded writer, Avery Jankowsky, receives an all-expenses-paid, $135,000, around-the-world sex tour, compliments of his uncle. Avery will turn this tour into an on-spec sex-tour expose for Spin.
Love that research.
But officer, I was researching kiddy porn on the Internet for my book! But officer, please don’t wrestle me to the ground in front of this house and twenty million TV viewers, I was only doing research.
Is it male menopause? Is it just a good excuse to do what you’ve been itching to do for decades or maybe doing sub rosa, but can now do in the open with impunity? Is it that you’ve run out of creative steam, know sex sells, and want an excuse to inhabit the netherworld of sex-trade while you have the excuse—killing three birds with one stone?
Or do you spell it l.i.t.e.r.a.t.u.r.e?
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Don’t forget to click over to my GetPublished site if you are struggling to get your book placed with a literary agent or editor.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Wicked Witch:
I might have read it for the sex.
But not another hero who “has not reckoned with the complex personalities of the men he is traveling with nor with the long-buried conflicts within himself that come bubbling to the surface.”
Oh YAWN!
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Under the pseudonym, “Jerry Jimston,” Andy O’Hara publishes “The Jimston Journal, A Publication for the Arts,” a free on-line literary journal for writers and photographers from around the world.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:22 am
~laughing~
I’m inclined to spell it w.a.n.k.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Bernita is a non-fiction writer, poet, and author of romantic suspense and magic realism. She lives in Ontario, Canada. Her blog,”An Innocent A-Blog—Journal of a Barely Post-Luddite Miranda,” has been up since 2005 and is excellent.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:53 am
at when gay talese got nekid for his book, he was taking off some well-tailored clothes.
i don’t think that they’re going through male menopause — all of the writers are well-known and financially well-off, and could go the eliot spitzer route on the down low if they chose. i imagine that talese and irving started their work, they didn’t intend to sink as long for as long as they did, but they got sucked into the prurience of it all.
and the “research” angle on kiddie porn was pete townshend’s excuse.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Regarding Pete, I believe that it probably was. His upbringing was chaotic and he’s mentioned before that he’d been molested as a child (an issue which surfaced in “Tommy”.) And he’s never had a rep as a pedophile up until his arrest.
As for the subject matter, I’m more concerned about writers who write novels about writers (and I’m looking at YOU, S. King, although I loved “Ballad of the Flexible Bullet”). That seems the height of laziness and infantile self-absorption.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Bill is a mystery writer and book reviewer. He has been blogging since 2004.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Wow, thanks for this!
I guess I really do have something to look forward to.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Press 53 is a small independent publisher of literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. They have offices in Winston-Salem and Hamptonville, North Carolina, and publish full-length books by both new and established writers.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Well, maybe its spelled, male menapause, maybe plain old prurience, or maybe its something a more than a few of us in our society have forgotten about. Its spelled f.r.e.e. s.p.e.e.c.h. And as long as some subjects are off limits and can’t or “shouldn’t” be written about, you have what amounts to a form of self-censorship. Even if you adopt Lynne’s rather sex phobic interpretation of such research, that these authors are just scratching an itch, its certainly more healthy than a culture where writers are not free to write about such things and be accused of bad motives.
Its not like the market is flooded with stories of the sex trade, as there are say about serial murderers, or narratives about Holocaust survivors, which in their own right might require some grime and prurient research. As always violence is okay but sex, never.
I for one agree with the previous commenter, what is most boring and offensive is novelist’s doing research for a novel about someone doing research, or navel gazing novels about writers.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Loved your review and others review of you.
Didn’t they notice the common thread here: their age and their last book?
Barbara
March 28th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I do not recall reading any of the books, but I knew Gay Talese and probably read his book.
I think these books are helpful to psychologists, psychiatrists, district attorneys and police who have to deal with these underground groups.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Excellent point. I didn’t even think of that. (Jack is an attorney.)
March 28th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Very interesting indeed.
Kurt
March 28th, 2008 at 10:15 am
MEMOIRS BY HIGH-CLASS HOOKERS MAY BE CARTOONISH, BUT NO LESS SO THAN ACCOUNTS THAT CAST PROSTITUTES AS VICTIMS OF RAPACIOUS MALE SEXUALITY. THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF PROSTITUTE, JUST AS THERE ARE MANY REASONS FOR MEN TO VISIT THEM. A GROWN-UP DEBATE ABOUT SEXUALITY MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THIS
March 28th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Over 235,000 hits so far on YouTube!
Client #9
That is unkind to poor little Elliott.
Cur
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Maybe former Governor Spitzer should have said he was merely “researching.”
March 28th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
It’s not just men. My next (third) novel, which is near completion, is about a woman who has a religious
experience that causes her to go berserk sexually. I’m 59 years old, a little late for a mid-life crisis.
I’ve found that the process of writing the book has been an exploration of the intersection of mysticism and sex that has shown me that connection more clearly.
In every book, for me, there are some givens, parts that feel ready-made and waiting to be put on the page. In this book, the sexy parts were the ones that were easiest to write. And fun.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Peggy writes novels and nonfiction books. Her themes are mysticism and sexuality (and the intersection of the two), and creative courage and self-expression. Her most recent novel Sister India, is a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Despite his [Gay Talese] unfortunate name, nine years?
It only takes seven for a physician’s license!
March 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
When I was researching my novel on the cover up of abuse at a private boys’ school, I relied on psychologists and their websites like the comprehensive site hosted by Dr. Jim Hopper, PhD.
I never would have considered going to a kiddie porn site; the thought sickens and terrifies me. Trust me when I tell you, I would not do well in Club Fed.
Of course, real life is the best resource available. There are just some things you wish you had not had to experience to get your background info.
March 31st, 2008 at 4:18 am
Hi Lynne,
Maybe it’s male menopause, maybe it’s an effort to revive a flagging libido. But the acid test of these books is whether they titilate and one can get a prurient thrill from reading them or is their purpose more serious. Talese’s book was rather pathbreaking for its time an we still don’t have an answer to what his wife was thinking. I am positing these books against Nancy Friday and others who also claim to be doing ‘research’.
We also have of course, much more explicit material. To each their own. But some good may still come of it. I would add of interest to sociologists too, in addition to psychologists, psychiatrists and police. But if we can raise awareness about the nexus between organized crime and pornography and exploitation which leads to paedophalia and prostitution, we may be able take some positive action.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Sridhar Balan is a senior consultant with book publisher Ratna Sagar Private Ltd. He had previously been a director with Oxford University Press, India. He is involved in professional training in publishing and also writes a column on publishing in leading newspapers.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:04 am
Brother Rene was secretly listening to NPR one day a couple of weeks ago and heard an interview with Scott Spencer.
As I recall, Scott said he gained all of his knowledge (about the subject) by interviewing clients and vendors on his many research trips and not by personal experience. I thought he said he took his kids or wife along on a couple of the trips.
Can’t quite recall the exact details because the subject was irrelevant to the eager but cloistered frater. You can probably still listen to the interview at NPR.org.
Bro
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: If you say so.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Wicked Witch, It’s mighty nice of you to provide the bios, etc., on your commenters. It adds a lot to the page in addition to pleasing those so favored.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Witchy Woman:
You are on to a very provocative theme . . . and I wish you had explored it much further. Yes, what are these guys up to, and the publishers that fund them? On a personal note, as a male, well-published writer who will turn 54 this summer, am I in position to instruct my agent to get me a book contract to explore some kind of randy sex project? What if I want to hit the tarmac in Saigon in April 1975 and there is nothing sexy about that? To console me, give me Peggy’s number.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Only 4 women commented.
Are we just more timid, uptight, afraid of exploitation or worse if we do too much ‘hands on’ research?
Interesting reading as always.