George Plimpton
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimptonwas an American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review. He was also famous for "participatory journalism" which included competing in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth18 March 1927
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I was told just today that 60,000 or 70,000 people listen to this (Audible.com site), which on personal computers strikes me as an extraordinary number, ... Maybe with this 'Pet Peeves' book, it'll be 150,000.
I think people are aware of how varied and interesting his life was-always at the center of things-as well as aspects of his decline.
He was interviewed in the early '60s by a young novelist, Pati Hill.
They did not specify that I had to run the race from the beginning, ... about a block and a half from the finish - and I entered it immediately behind the fellow who was leading the race. He looked over his shoulder and there I was, fresh as a daisy. This poor man put on a desperate sprint, which is quite a feat if you've run 26 miles, and he managed to cross the finish line before I did, which gives you some sense of my speed.
That is one of the problems with oral biography, in that many different points of view are offered: contradictions, refutations, and so on.
Writing is a very lonely business and when you come to a book fair and you sit at a table and people come up to you with books that they've had in their library for many years and they think it's been somewhat enhanced by a signature, it's always a pleasure.
You do not cut a check in the state of Kansas to John Doe, executioner. The executioner is paid in cash so there's no trail to him
He still has the same way of calling to me, as if I'm still new to him, as if he has yet to get over me.
At the base of it was the urge, if you wanted to play football, to knock someone down, that was what the sport was all about, the will to win closely linked with contact.
Well, I have to write. A lot of people forget that. They think I’m sort of crazy baffoon who can’t make up his mind what to do in life
I remember being awed by it - the uniqueness and nicety of style - and I suspect I was a bit jealous because we were more or less of the same generation.
It is also one of the pleasures of oral biography, in that the reader, rather than editor, is jury.
My favorite monologue in the book is Kate Harrington's story of her relationship with Truman.
Rick Bass is one of the best writers of his generation.