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George, Being George: George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals--and a Few Unappreciative ... |
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Amazon Sales Rank: 44294
Publication Date: 2008-10-21
Release Date: 2008-10-21
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1400063981
Type: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 432
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Norman Mailer said that George Plimpton was the best-loved man in New York. For more than fifty years, his friends made a circle whose circumference was vast and whose center was a fashionable tenement on New York’s East Seventy-second street. Taxi drivers, hearing his address, would ask, “Isn’t that George Plimpton’s place?” George was always giving parties for his friends. It was one of the ways this generous man gave back.
This book is the party that was George’s life–and it’s a big one–attended by scores of people, including Peter Matthiessen, Robert Silvers, Jean Stein, William Styron, Maggie Paley, Gay Talese, Calvin Trillin, and Gore Vidal, as well as lesser-known intimates and acquaintances, each with candid and compelling stories to tell about George Plimpton and childhood rebellion, adult indiscretions, literary tastes, ego trips, loyalties and jealousies, riches and drugs, and embracing life no matter the consequences.
In George, Being George people feel free to say what guests say at parties when the subject of the conversation isn’t around anymore. Some even prove the adage that no best-loved man goes unpunished. Together, they provide a complete portrait of George Plimpton. They talk about his life: its privileged beginnings, its wild and triumphant middle, its brave, sad end. They say that George was a man of many parts: “the last gentleman”; founder and first editor of one of our best literary magazines, The Paris Review; the graceful writer who brought the New Journalism to sports in bestsellers such as Paper Lion, Bogey Man, and Out of My League; and Everyman’s proxy boxer, trapeze artist, stand-up comic, Western movie villain, and Playboy centerfold photographer. And one of the brave men who wrestled Sirhan Sirhan, the armed assassin of his friend Bobby Kennedy, to the ground.
A Plimpton party was full of intelligent, funny, articulate people. So is this one. Many try hard to understand George, and some (not always the ones you would expect) are brilliant at it. Here is social life as it’s actually lived by New York’s elites. The only important difference between a party at George’s and this book is that no one here is drunk. They just talk about being drunk.
George’s last years were awesome, truly so. His greatest gift was to be a blessing to others–not all, sadly–and that gift ended only with his death. But his parties, if this is one, need never end at all.
Average Rating: 
Review: 2009-01-02
Good book
I thought this book was a fun read. Plimpton was a very interesting man. I'm pretty sure I read one of his amateur-pro books about 20 years ago, probably Paper Lion.
It was interesting to see how connected he was to so many facets of New York society and to learn about his work at the Paris Review. The most captivating part of the book for me was hearing about how he could get along with pretty much anybody, was one of the best impromptu public speakers, and the way he had an unusual way to talk. I want to see him speak - I'm going to check out YouTube and see if I can find something.
The oral biography structure was a bit frustrating, because you want to get a flow going and the excerpts were too small to allow for it. But I think it was entertaining nonetheless and the ending had me in tears. Very touching. I would have loved to have known this man.
Review: 2008-12-31
Engrossing Chatter about a Charming Man
George Plimpton was the editor of the Paris Review, a droll and self-deprecating sports journalist, a toastmaster supreme, and a prominent but rebellious society figure. In all of these public roles, Plimpton evinced immense class and charm, which GEORGE, BEING GEORGE actually captures best by publishing a few of Plimpton's editorial memos, as well as remarks that he made at the 2001 alumni dinner for Exeter, his prep school. In these documents, Plimpton's amazing voice--graceful, intelligent, tasteful, and funny--is there, on the page. Surely, it is the sensibility animating this voice that made Plimpton a celebrity and a much beloved figure in literary New York.
Readers who want to experience this sensibility might purchase The Paris Review Anthology, which provides highlights from this literary magazine from 1953 to 1987. While Plimpton's written contributions to this anthology are limited to introductions, the authors he spotted and promoted are truly an A-list in American letters. In the section of this book headed 1981-1987, for example, the Paris Review published fiction from such authors as Bass, Boyle, Carver, Gass, McInerney, Minot, Rush, and Simpson. And, it published poems from Ashberry, Brodkey, Brodsky, Galassi, Heaney, and Hustvedt. To spot and/or promote these talents was clearly a great service to people who enjoy literature.
GEORGE, BEING GEORGE also establishes that the Paris Review, while a distinguished literary journal, was chronically short of money. But Plimpton kept the ship afloat through his charm, which helped him secure patrons, as well as generous cash infusions from his own bank account. Once again, thank you George.
At the same time, GEORGE, BEING GEORGE does look behind the Plimpton persona. In particular, it presents many comments from his two wives that show he was a sometimes difficult husband. Essentially, Plimpton lived large, making his living (and paying his heavy expenses) as a celebrity toastmaster. To play this part, Plimpton was always out and about, being George, what Philip Roth described in Exit Ghost (Vintage International) as an "urbane witty gentleman of easy intelligence and aristocratic bearing." This secured fame and a lush livelihood while keeping the Paris Review afloat. But apparently, George belonged to his public as much as to his wives. One contributor compares Plimpton, in the early years of his first marriage, to John Kennedy, who was not malicious but just did as he pleased. Both John and George were difficult mates.
GEORGE, BEING GEORGE is composed of hundreds of interlaced comments from 200 of Plimpton's associates, friends, and family members. Often, these comments focus on George, the celebrity, which was not especially interesting to me. Further, this dependence on comments has a reductive effect on Plimpton's literary achievements. Yes, this technique does convey the premise and project flow of his self-deprecatory sports journalism. But it excludes excerpts from his work. Surely, some excerpts would have added meat to this book, which does veer towards chatter.
Nonetheless, GEORGE, BEING GEORGE absolutely zooms along and can be read as a history of a 50-year literary era, with its subject the career and persona of one of that era's most prominent editors. Highly recommended.
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