Friday, April 30, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
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The Monsignor
Comment: Dear Literary Dick (as in Private Detective),
You will recall from "This side of Paradise" that the main
character has this very close friendship or mentorship with a priest -- Monsignor Darcy I believe is his name in the book. This fictional account was very largely based on Fitzgerald's real-life friendship/mentorship (lasting I think from high school through college) with a Catholic priest -- whose name I don't recall offhand. There's no evidence that this was a romantic liaison, but people have suggested that it was a somewhat ambiguous situation. I suppose it must be classified as an insinuation, but it's all in good fun. I think the most telling aspect of it is that both Fitzgerald and the Monsignor burned their correspondence later in life. It is also ineresting to note that is the name of the protagonist in "Tender is the Night": Dr. Richard Diver, who goes by Dick Diver -- a name which can be viewed as a more decorous way to say "c*ck s*cker."
I'd like to emphasize that I'm just passing along theories and conjectures that you'll find in the many and various biographies and articles written about Fitzgerald, so bear that in mind.
-Anonymous
Response: The priest referred to in Anonymous's email was named Cyril Sigourney Fay. Of Fay, Arthur Mizener writes,
“Father Fay, a converted Episcopalian who had taken Fitzgerald up when he had been a student at Newman, came to the campus from time to time during the year and took him out to dinner with a few other carefully selected undergraduates. […] Father Fay was a man of taste and cultivation who, having never known anything but the life of the well-to-do, had that unconscious ease and security in it which Fitzgerald always envied and never could achieve. In addition to these qualities he was something of an eighteen-nineties aesthete, a dandy, always heavily perfumed, and a lover of epigrams. To a schoolboy of both social and literary ambitions this combination of characteristics must have been nearly irresistible.” (Mizener Arthur. The Far Side of Paradise. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company: 1949. This edition 1951. page 42)
Apparently Fay cooked up some plan (which was never realized) for he and Fitzgerald to go to Russia together. Mizener writes,
“The scheme was surrounded by a great deal of mystification, but on some authority – there are hints in Fay’s letters that it was the very highest – Fay was going to Russia, ostensibly as the head of a Red Cross mission but actually to see what he could do for the Roman Church in Russia during the disturbance of the Kerensky revolution. His plan was to take Fitzgerald along, in the guise of a Red Cross lieutenant, as his confidential assistant.” (Ibid., 65)
While all of this information seems to be setting up Fay as having a scandalous relationship with Fitzgerald (who dedicated This Side of Paradise to him), it is my duty to inform you that it is opinion of The Literary Dick that there was nothing fishy going on.
What Anonymous writes as being “the most telling aspect” of the relationship (that they both burned their letters) isn't entirely correct. Fay’s letters to Fitzgerald do survive, and Mizener quotes some of them, including one which reads,
“I think when we write one another […] we ought always to think of the possibility of the other person some day publishing that letter.” (Ibid., 44)
And in The Making of This Side of Paradise, James L.W. West III writes,
“Fitzgerald incorporated other passages from Fay’s letters into Monsignor Darcy’s letters to Amory. Fitzgerald explained the process to Shane Leslie:
‘It seems a pity that something even more exhaustive can’t be written about Dr. Fay. He always told me to save his letters and some day we’d publish them anonymously in some form. I found, however, that he’d written me less than he thought so the three letters that occur in the book are largely pieced together and even considerably added to from memories of remarks he’d made to me plus even a few things I thought he might have said.’ ” (West III, James L.W.., The Making of This Side of Paradise. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press: 1983. Pages 56-57)
What Anonymous might have gotten mixed up about is that Fitzgerald’s letters to Fay were burned, by Fay’s mother, after his death. (This is according to: Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Broccoli and Margret M. Duggan, with the assistance of Susan Walker.) I don’t know why this happened.
Anyway, there’s a lot of information out there on Fay and Fitzgerald’s relationship. If you want to learn more, I recommend Joan M. Allen’s Candles and Carnival Lights: The Catholic Sensibility of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
_______________________________________________________________
The Monsignor
Comment: Dear Literary Dick (as in Private Detective),
You will recall from "This side of Paradise" that the main
character has this very close friendship or mentorship with a priest -- Monsignor Darcy I believe is his name in the book. This fictional account was very largely based on Fitzgerald's real-life friendship/mentorship (lasting I think from high school through college) with a Catholic priest -- whose name I don't recall offhand. There's no evidence that this was a romantic liaison, but people have suggested that it was a somewhat ambiguous situation. I suppose it must be classified as an insinuation, but it's all in good fun. I think the most telling aspect of it is that both Fitzgerald and the Monsignor burned their correspondence later in life. It is also ineresting to note that is the name of the protagonist in "Tender is the Night": Dr. Richard Diver, who goes by Dick Diver -- a name which can be viewed as a more decorous way to say "c*ck s*cker."
I'd like to emphasize that I'm just passing along theories and conjectures that you'll find in the many and various biographies and articles written about Fitzgerald, so bear that in mind.
-Anonymous
Response: The priest referred to in Anonymous's email was named Cyril Sigourney Fay. Of Fay, Arthur Mizener writes,
“Father Fay, a converted Episcopalian who had taken Fitzgerald up when he had been a student at Newman, came to the campus from time to time during the year and took him out to dinner with a few other carefully selected undergraduates. […] Father Fay was a man of taste and cultivation who, having never known anything but the life of the well-to-do, had that unconscious ease and security in it which Fitzgerald always envied and never could achieve. In addition to these qualities he was something of an eighteen-nineties aesthete, a dandy, always heavily perfumed, and a lover of epigrams. To a schoolboy of both social and literary ambitions this combination of characteristics must have been nearly irresistible.” (Mizener Arthur. The Far Side of Paradise. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company: 1949. This edition 1951. page 42)
Apparently Fay cooked up some plan (which was never realized) for he and Fitzgerald to go to Russia together. Mizener writes,
“The scheme was surrounded by a great deal of mystification, but on some authority – there are hints in Fay’s letters that it was the very highest – Fay was going to Russia, ostensibly as the head of a Red Cross mission but actually to see what he could do for the Roman Church in Russia during the disturbance of the Kerensky revolution. His plan was to take Fitzgerald along, in the guise of a Red Cross lieutenant, as his confidential assistant.” (Ibid., 65)
While all of this information seems to be setting up Fay as having a scandalous relationship with Fitzgerald (who dedicated This Side of Paradise to him), it is my duty to inform you that it is opinion of The Literary Dick that there was nothing fishy going on.
What Anonymous writes as being “the most telling aspect” of the relationship (that they both burned their letters) isn't entirely correct. Fay’s letters to Fitzgerald do survive, and Mizener quotes some of them, including one which reads,
“I think when we write one another […] we ought always to think of the possibility of the other person some day publishing that letter.” (Ibid., 44)
And in The Making of This Side of Paradise, James L.W. West III writes,
“Fitzgerald incorporated other passages from Fay’s letters into Monsignor Darcy’s letters to Amory. Fitzgerald explained the process to Shane Leslie:
‘It seems a pity that something even more exhaustive can’t be written about Dr. Fay. He always told me to save his letters and some day we’d publish them anonymously in some form. I found, however, that he’d written me less than he thought so the three letters that occur in the book are largely pieced together and even considerably added to from memories of remarks he’d made to me plus even a few things I thought he might have said.’ ” (West III, James L.W.., The Making of This Side of Paradise. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press: 1983. Pages 56-57)
What Anonymous might have gotten mixed up about is that Fitzgerald’s letters to Fay were burned, by Fay’s mother, after his death. (This is according to: Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Broccoli and Margret M. Duggan, with the assistance of Susan Walker.) I don’t know why this happened.
Anyway, there’s a lot of information out there on Fay and Fitzgerald’s relationship. If you want to learn more, I recommend Joan M. Allen’s Candles and Carnival Lights: The Catholic Sensibility of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
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A New Mystery
Before I reveal the latest mystery I’ve been handed, I thought I’d tell you two exciting things.
#1) If you do a Google search for “Private Detective”, the sixteenth listing you will come upon will be for this website. By my reasoning, that means we are the sixteenth most prominent detective agency on the planet.
#2) As a result of the above, The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is now listed on a major private detective services website. Don’t believe it? Go to http://www.highindex.com/Business/Business_Services/Security/Investigation/ and you will see this site, listed right alongside Fred Waters Investigations and Video Surveillance and Monitoring, Inc.. Isn’t that fantastic? We here at the website certainly thought it was.
And now the New Mystery…
Dear Literary Dick (as in Private Detective),
Like many bukowski fans I've recently become infatuated with the works of John
Fante. One thing that bothers me about his bandini stories though is the
inconsistency of little facts. For instance, when and why did he move to
California? Did he move with his family or did they come later? DId he have 2
brothers and a sister? and most importantly did his father leave his family for
a rich woman or did he die at a young age?
many thanks for clearing these crucial matters up once and for all
-Rich "The Italian" T.
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
_______________________________________________________________
A New Mystery
Before I reveal the latest mystery I’ve been handed, I thought I’d tell you two exciting things.
#1) If you do a Google search for “Private Detective”, the sixteenth listing you will come upon will be for this website. By my reasoning, that means we are the sixteenth most prominent detective agency on the planet.
#2) As a result of the above, The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is now listed on a major private detective services website. Don’t believe it? Go to http://www.highindex.com/Business/Business_Services/Security/Investigation/ and you will see this site, listed right alongside Fred Waters Investigations and Video Surveillance and Monitoring, Inc.. Isn’t that fantastic? We here at the website certainly thought it was.
And now the New Mystery…
Dear Literary Dick (as in Private Detective),
Like many bukowski fans I've recently become infatuated with the works of John
Fante. One thing that bothers me about his bandini stories though is the
inconsistency of little facts. For instance, when and why did he move to
California? Did he move with his family or did they come later? DId he have 2
brothers and a sister? and most importantly did his father leave his family for
a rich woman or did he die at a young age?
many thanks for clearing these crucial matters up once and for all
-Rich "The Italian" T.
Monday, April 26, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
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A Picasso Mystery
A while back I answered Michael H.W.'s question about J.D. Salinger. Now I'm going to answer his John Richardson question.
Question: John Richardson wrote what is considered the definitive biography of his friend Picasso. Yet only two volumes of the supposed four volume work have ever been published. What happened to the third and fourth volumes? Did he even finish them? Are they coming out soon? Is Richardson still alive? - Michael H. W.
Answer: To solve this mystery I contacted my sister-in-law, who is both a painter, and a public notary. She wrote to me that, "I'm pretty sure he's still alive. He definitely was alive in December 2003, and I couldn't find any obits on the internet." While Mara's word is generally good enough for me, I decided to do a little digging of my own.
According to a Random House web page about one of Richardson't books,
"As readers await the third volume of A Life of Picasso, they will be diverted by this witty, wonderfully intelligent collection of approximately thirty essays, extensively revised and updated for this publication, each of which is illustrated with artwork or photographs. [...]
John Richardson headed Christie's U.S. operation and acted as vice president of the Knoedler Gallery before devoting himself full-time to writing. He is the author of A Life of Picasso, Volumes I and II, and of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a memoir. He lives in Connecticut and New York."
(http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?0679424903)
So, it is the opinion of The Literary Dick that John Richardson is still alive and still working on his Picasso biography. I couldn't say when Volume III will be published.
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
_______________________________________________________________
A Picasso Mystery
A while back I answered Michael H.W.'s question about J.D. Salinger. Now I'm going to answer his John Richardson question.
Question: John Richardson wrote what is considered the definitive biography of his friend Picasso. Yet only two volumes of the supposed four volume work have ever been published. What happened to the third and fourth volumes? Did he even finish them? Are they coming out soon? Is Richardson still alive? - Michael H. W.
Answer: To solve this mystery I contacted my sister-in-law, who is both a painter, and a public notary. She wrote to me that, "I'm pretty sure he's still alive. He definitely was alive in December 2003, and I couldn't find any obits on the internet." While Mara's word is generally good enough for me, I decided to do a little digging of my own.
According to a Random House web page about one of Richardson't books,
"As readers await the third volume of A Life of Picasso, they will be diverted by this witty, wonderfully intelligent collection of approximately thirty essays, extensively revised and updated for this publication, each of which is illustrated with artwork or photographs. [...]
John Richardson headed Christie's U.S. operation and acted as vice president of the Knoedler Gallery before devoting himself full-time to writing. He is the author of A Life of Picasso, Volumes I and II, and of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a memoir. He lives in Connecticut and New York."
(http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?0679424903)
So, it is the opinion of The Literary Dick that John Richardson is still alive and still working on his Picasso biography. I couldn't say when Volume III will be published.
