This Goodly Land

Gay Talese (February 7, 1932–present)

Other Names Used

• Gaetano Talese: birth name

Alabama Connections

• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education

Selected Works

• Talese, Gay. New York: A Serendipiter's Journey. New York: Harper, 1961.
• Talese, Gay. The Bridge. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Rpt. New York: Walker & Company, 2003.
• Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power. New York: World Pub. Co., 1969. Rpt. as The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times: The Institution that Influences the World. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007.
• Talese, Gay. Honor Thy Father. New York: World Pub., 1971. Rpt. New York: Ivy Books, 1992. Rpt. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009.
• Talese, Gay. Thy Neighbor's Wife. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980. Rpt. New York: Ivy Books, 1993. Rpt. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009.
• Talese, Gay. Unto the Sons. New York: Knopf, 1992. Rpt. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.
• Talese, Gay. A Gay Talese Reader: Portraits & Encounters. New York: Walker & Co., 2003.
• Talese, Gay. A Writer's Life. New York: Knopf, 2006.

Biographical Information

Gay Talese was born and grew up in Ocean City, N.J., where his parents owned and ran a clothing store and the family lived in an apartment over the store. Talese began writing in high school, contributing sports stories to the Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger. When he had difficulty getting into college, a customer recommended that he apply to the University of Alabama. He enrolled at UA in 1949, majoring in journalism. Talese wrote sports stories for the student newspaper, The Crimson-White, and had a regular column “Sports Gay-zing.” He graduated with a BA in 1953 and went to New York City to look for a newspaper job. Talese worked for a year as a copyboy at The New York Times. He then spent two years in the US Army, serving in the Office of Public Information. Talese returned to the Times in 1956 as a sports reporter. After two years, his assignment was changed from sports to news.

In 1960, in addition to his work at the Times, Talese began writing freelance articles for Esquire magazine. New York: A Serendipiter’s Journey, a collection of his newspaper and magazine articles, was published in 1961. In 1964 and 1965, he published The Bridge and The Overreachers, respectively. Talese left the Times in 1965 but continued to write for Esquire for another year. He also began doing research for a book about the Times. The Kingdom and the Power, published in 1969, became a bestseller. His next three books were also bestsellers. Talese continued to write for magazines and published a collection of these articles in 2003. His memoir, A Writer’s Life, was published in 2006. Talese has been married since 1959 to editor Nan A. Talese. The couple divides their time between New York City and Ocean City, N.J.

Interests and Themes

The nonfiction of Gay Talese exemplifies the New Journalism style of writing with its emphases on scene, character, and detail and on writing from a personal perspective. Talese describes his experiences in Alabama in A Writer’s Life.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Articles

• Eason, David L. "New Journalism, Metaphor and Culture". Journal of Popular Culture 15.4. (1982): 142-149.
• Holt, Karen. "Talese Gets the Story". Publishers Weekly 3 Apr. 2006: 26-28.
• Kovach, Ronald. "Gay Talese: All the World's a Stage". Writer Jan. 2005: 24-28.
• Kovach, Ronald. "Gay Talese: Part 1: A Writer & a Gentleman". Writer Feb. 2005: 20-23.
• Lounsberry, Barbara. "Bridging the Silence: Gay Talese's Uncomfortable Journey". LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory 14.1. (2003): 37-62.
• Lounsberry, Barbara. "Gay Talese and the Fine Art of Hanging Out". Creative Nonfiction 16. (2001): 121-134.

Reference Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

• Talese, Gay, and Robert S. Boynton. "Gay Talese"; The New New Journalism: Conversations with America's Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft. Ed. Robert S. Boynton. New York: Vintage Books, . 361-378.

Reference Web Sites

• Gay Talese. 2007. Random House, Inc. http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/talese/.
• "Gay Talese: Father of the New Journalism". CUNY Radio: Podcasts. 2007. The City University of New York. http://www1.cuny.edu/forums/podcasts/?p=183.
• Birnbaum, Robert. "Birnbaum v. Gay Talese". The Morning News. 2006. The Morning News Corp. http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/birnbaum_v/gay_talese.php.
• Cathcart, Rebecca. "Lecture: Gay Talese". Bullpen. 2007. NYU Journalism. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/bullpen/gay_talese/lecture/.
• Chadwick, Alex, and Madeleine Brand. "Gay Talese: 'Sinatra Has a Cold'". Day to Day. 2003. National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1424661.
• Conan, Neal. "Gay Talese on A Writer's Life". Talk of the Nation. 2006. National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5382927.
• Gordon, Dick. "Gay Talese". The Connection. 2003. WBUR Boston and National Public Radio. http://www.theconnection.org/2003/11/21/gay-talese/.
• Swaim, Don. "Audio Interview with Gay Talese". Wired for Books. 2009. Ohio University. http://wiredforbooks.org/gaytalese/.

Photo courtesy of Random House.

Last updated on Oct 10, 2009.