A Tragic Honesty (101 page)
Authors: Blake Bailey
“I don't watch out for Dick”: Int. Loree Rackstraw.
Reviews of
Liars in Love
: James Atlas,
Atlantic,
November 1981; Robert Wilson,
Washington Post,
November 29, 1981; Robert Harris,
Saturday Review of Literature,
November 1981; Peter LaSalle,
America,
January 30, 1982; Christopher Lehmann-Haupt,
New York Times,
October 15, 1981; Robert Towers,
New York Times Book Review,
November 1, 1981.
“
Liars in Love
 ⦠highly praised books”: Lawrence to RY, November 16, 1981, UM-SL.
He sat in the silent lecture hall: Int. Shaun O'Connell, Chet Frederick.
“There aren't many books”: Int. Leslie Epstein.
“Oh, it's just a mix”: Int. Jon Garelick.
“I want to write porn movies”: Int. Natalie Baturka.
“He was the finest reader”: Int. Melanie Rae Thon.
“God
damn
it, Rosen”: Int. Ken Rosen.
“Am I a monster?”: Int. Richard Levine.
“By God, I'm sending her to Harvard”: Int. Dan Wakefield.
“I think he's wonderful”: Int. Kurt Vonnegut.
“On impulse [I] hoped”: Gloria Vanderbilt to RY, June 8, 1983.
“Scared, perhaps, a little”: Vanderbilt to RY, June 27, 1983.
“could have talked on and on”: Vanderbilt to RY, November 28, 1983.
“Ahh that's ridiculous!”: Int. Wendy Sears Grassi.
“More than two decades ⦠publication”: Michiko Kakutani,
New York Times,
April 25, 1983, C15.
“It's nice that Barrett Prettyman”: RY to Lawrence, June 30, 1984, UM-SL.
“The people at Dutton”: Lawrence to RY, August 30, 1984, UM-SL.
“That's great,” Yates replied:
RYAW,
25.
“I think
Young Hearts Crying
”: Lawrence to RY, August 30, 1984, UM-SL.
“one of America's least famous”: “The Right Thing,”
Esquire,
August 1984.
Reviews of
Young Hearts Crying
: Christopher Lehmann-Haupt,
New York Times,
October 15, 1984; Jonathan Yardley,
Washington Post,
October 7, 1984; Brian Stonehill,
Los Angeles Times,
November 18, 1984; Jay Cocks,
Time,
October 15, 1984; Anatole Broyard,
New York Times Book Review,
October 28, 1984.
“At a time when a wider public”: Letter to
The New York Times Book Review,
January 6, 1985.
“Anatole assassination”: Cassill to RY, November 2, 1984.
“I hope you're being corrupted”: Broyard to RY, April 12, 1962.
“Anatole died as he lived”: Lawrence to RY, October 16, 1990, UM-SL.
“One day around Christmas”: “A Clef,” papers of Robert Parker.
“a very strange telephone conversation”: Prettyman to RY, February 12, 1985.
“As you probably know”: RY to Prettyman, May 15, 1986.
Chapter Seventeen
No Pain Whatsoever: 1985â1988
“His short-tempered, fragmented ravings”: DeWitt Henry,
Arrivals,
unpublished ms., papers of DeWitt Henry.
That night at the armory: DeWitt Henry kindly provided me with an audiotape of this event.
“depleting [Yates] mentally”: Mitch Douglas to Jackie Farber, August 21, 1985, ICM files.
“I will respect your wishes”: Douglas to Monica Yates, January 13, 1986, ICM files.
“Since breaking off with you”: RY to Douglas, March 13, 1986, ICM files.
“I didn't want to meet him or anybody”: Int. Larry David.
“Look, I'm an alcoholic”: Int. Seymour Epstein.
“busy in the best sense”: RY to Prettyman, July 21, 1986.
“It's a small novel”:
RYAW,
36.
“may help take the edge”: RY to Prettyman, July 21, 1986.
“You are one hell of a good writer”: Vonnegut to RY, June 14, 1986.
Reviews of
Cold Spring Harbor
: Elaine Kendall,
Los Angeles Times,
September 19, 1986; Howard Frank Mosher,
Washington Post,
September 28, 1986; Michiko Kakutani,
New York Times,
September 27, 1986; Lowry Pei,
New York Times Book Review,
October 5, 1986.
“See and show both of these people”: “Notes on
The Getaway/Revolutionary Road,
” BU-RY.
“stubborn and difficult”: RY to Prettyman, July 21, 1986.
“the best novel I know ⦠writing”: “R. V. Cassill's
Clem Anderson,
”
Ploughshares
14, nos. 2â3 (1988), 189.
“Spent most of the day”: RY to Barbara Beury, May 17, 1961.
“Nine's not so bad, is it?”:
RYAW,
36.
“Do you have to go”: Raymond Abbott, “Richard Yates,” unpublished ms., papers of Raymond Abbott.
“He kept up a brilliant”: Martin Jukovsky, “Richard YatesâA Meeting,”
www.channell.com/users/martyj/yates.html
.
“charm[ing] the audience”: “The Friends of Andre Dubus,”
Boston Globe,
February 20, 1987.
“the world ⦠throat”: RY to Prettyman, July 21, 1986.
Chapter Eighteen
A Cheer for Realized Men: 1988â1992
postmodern
Brady Bunch
: The two treatment ideas given in the text are to the best of Monica Yates Shapiro's recollection.
“I remember Milch well”: Vonnegut to RY, July 13, 1988.
“That little shit!”: Int. Robin Metz.
“was the kind of place ⦠law”: Streitfeld, “Book Report,” X15.
“Things to Do”: Streitfeld, “The Great Unknown,” 30.
“There's just no whore”: Ibid., 28.
“Why has surrealism been chosen”: Memo from RY to Ned Leavitt, papers of E. Barrett Prettyman Jr.
“proposal for a screenplay”: found among RY's papers.
“huge fans and would like to develop”: from William Morris Agency memo to Irene Webb, May 24, 1989.
asked the young Don Lee: Int. Don Lee.
“want[ed] to give her stability”: Int. James Ragan.
a “disaster”: Int. Noreen McGuire.
“Seymour Krim was a champion”: RY to Bruce Ricker, September 9, 1989, papers of Bruce Ricker.
“return visit”: Venant, “
View
staff pays a return visit,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 31, 1989.
“a labor of love”: Int. Susan Braudy.
“The book was first given”: Susan Braudy to RY, c. December 1989.
“I'm delighted ⦠âEaster Parade'”: Woody Allen to Braudy, December 4, 1989.
“Woody Allen [had] highly”: Bruce Ricker to Dianne Wiest, January 11, 1990.
“damn near dead”: Int. Kathy Starbuck.
“trashed the Strode House”: E-mail to author from J. R. Jones.
those who begged to differ “were screwed”: Int. Dan Childress.
“That's the understatement”: Quoted in Featherstone, “November 7, 1992,” 150.
“I wish I had a little girl”: Int. Tony Earley.
“What's
that
got to do”: E-mail to author from J. R. Jones.
called one student “a pantywaist”: Int. Nikki Schmidt.
the
Seinfeld
episode: Larry David kindly provided me with a videotape of this episode.
“scalded”: Int. J. R. Jones.
“I'd like to kill that son of a bitch!”
: Int. Tim Parrish.
“a bomb on wheels”: Quoted in Featherstone, “November 7, 1992,” 161.
“I loved and hated Richard Yates”:
RYAW,
21.
The details of RY's adventure in New York were mostly provided by Susan Braudy, RY's daughters, Ned Leavitt, and one or two others.
“He couldn't seem to finish it”: Lacy, “Remembering Richard Yates,” 218.
“drop a hint”: from Prettyman's personal diary, July 18, 1991.
“She's gone and married an electrician”: Int. Mark Costello.
“Congratulations,” he wrote: RY drafted his reply in holograph on Martha's announcement, dated July 11, 1991.
He told Prettyman ⦠“performance”: Prettyman's diary, July 18, 1991.
“I feel like taking a gun”: Int. Susan Braudy.
“vintage Yates”: Quoted in Lacy, “Remembering RY,” 219.
Yates was appalled: Int. Tony Earley.
The manuscript of
Uncertain Times
is now part of the Richard Yates Collection at Boston University. An excerpt from the novel was published in
Open City
3 (1995), 35â71.
“He ended the conversation”: Letter to author from Loree Rackstraw.
“I got smashed last night”: Lacy, “Remembering Richard Yates,” 220.
“Dropping the telephone”:
RYAW,
22.
“Richard Yates ⦠finest post-war novelist”: Scott Bradfield, “Follow the Long and Revolutionary Road,”
The Independent,
November 21, 1992, 31.
“Sam, I'm dying”:
RYAW,
61.
Epilogue
“two inches in the
Times
”: E-mail to author from John P. Lowens; Robert Lehrman,
Workshop,
746.
“Dick
let
himself die”: Int. Pat Dubus.
“forced march”:
RYAW,
13â15.
Gaiser ⦠startled the crowd: Int. Grace Schulman.
“He drank too much”:
RYAW,
61.
“[He] managed to squeeze out”: Robert Riche,
What Are We Doing in Latin America?
(Sag Harbor, NY: Permanent Press, 1990), 75.
“Reading about âPritchard Bates'”: RY to Riche, March 3, 1991.
“So big deal Bob Parker”: Monica Yates to Robert Parker, undated, Parker papers.
“painful conclusion”: Lawrence to Monica Yates, March 8, 1993.
“many important writers”: Seymour Lawrence's obituary appeared in the
New York Times,
January 7, 1994, A22.
“one of the few good voices”:
RYAW,
31.
“the descriptions of things, like a hanger”: Edwin Weihe,
Workshop,
743.
“finally the British reading public”: Paul Connolly,
The Times
(London), January 27, 2001.
“I remember how much you laughed”:
RYAW
, 27.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Note: Titles by Richard Yates are listed in their alphabetical place. Women are listed by their maiden names.
Abbott, Raymond
Abels, Cyrilly
Académie Julian (Paris)
Adams, Alice
Alabama, Yates in
alcohol
as medication
and writing
See also
Yates, Richard, drinking and alcoholism of
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
Alexander, Dr.
Algren, Nelson
Allen, Woody
Alpert, Hollis
America
American Express
American Library Association
Amherst College
Andreasen, Nancy
Angell, Roger
final rejection letter from
New Yorker
Anglesea Pub (London)
anti-Semitism
Argosy
Arlen, Michael
Artists for Victory
Associated Willkie Clubs of America
Associated Writing Programs
Atheneum
athletics, school
Atlantic-Little, Brown
Atlantic Monthly
Atlantic Monthly Press
Atlas, James
Auburn State Prison
Austen, Jane
Austin, Texas
The Avonian
school newspaper
Avon Old Farms school
Babaril estate
Bachelor
Balanchine, George
Baldwin, James
Bantam Books
anthology of stories published by, collected by Yates
Bard College
Barker (Kowalsky), Ann
“The B.A.R. Man”
characters and plot
Baron, Richard
Barrett, B. L.
Barth, John
Battle of the Ardennes (“Bulge”)
Baturka, Natalie
Beattie, Ann
Bedford Street apartment
Bedford VA Hospital
Beechwood estate
Beekley, Mason
Behan, Brendan
Bell, Madison Smartt
Bell, Marvin
Bellevue Hospital (New York City)
Bellow, Saul
“Bells in the Morning”
Benedict, Russell
Benedict, Stephen
Bennington College
Berger, Thomas
Bernays, Anne
Berriault, Gina
Berryman, John
“The Best of Everything”
characters and plot
TV adaptation
Beury, Barbara Singleton
Bialek, Doris
Bialek, Mary
Bicycle Café (Los Angeles)
Bigelow, David
Bigler, Julia Ann (Yates's maternal great-grandmother)
Blue Mill (New York City)
Bluestone, George
Bogdanovich, Peter
bohemianism
Bonnie (a Yates girlfriend)
Book-of-the-Month Club
Borno, Andy
Boroff, David
Bostelman, Mr.
Boston
Yates moves to
Yates's apartments in
Boston University
Richard Yates Collection
Botany Mills
Botteghe Oscure
Bourjaily, Vance
Bowen, Natalie
Bradfield, Scott
Bradford, Governor William
Brandeis University Creative Arts Award
Braudy, Susan
Brautigan, Richard
Bray, Bill
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
