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A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
Joe Gould's Teeth by Jill Lepore
3.0
New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell wrote highly popular pieces about New York City oddballs and eccentrics. Joe Gould was the subject of two profiles, one in 1942 and another in 1964. What made Gould interesting to Mitchell was his "The Oral History of Our Time," a mammoth project allegedly nine million words long. When Mitchell returned to Gould in the 60's, he ruled that the Oral History had never existed, and by that time Gould was dead and could not argue otherwise. After the story came out people from all over the country sent Mitchell scribbled notebooks and scraps of Gould's writing that seemed to prove that he was working on something, but Mitchell was done with Gould and never followed up.
Enter literary detective Jill Lepore. She sets out to find those notebooks to see if the Oral History ever existed an any form at all.
She traces Gould's life, revealing a sad trail of serious mental illness, alcoholism, racism, stalking women, and some talent. A number of famous writers of the time--ee cummings, Ezra Pound--went to great lengths to keep Gould out of mental institutions, even though it probably would have been better for him and certainly better for some of his stalking victims.
I feel for Jill Lepore, and admire her courage.The character she chose to explore is not a genius stricken by psychosis. He's repugnant. The more you know, the harder it is to care about about his alleged masterwork. But Jill does not flinch from this downer project and completes it will an impressive reel of footnotes and extensive bibliography.
But was Joe Gould worth her trouble? I'm not sure. "Joe Gould's Teeth" is a sad project. Everything around him seemed to stink of urine and bad breath. I admire the commitment without feeling enlightened about the subject.
Enter literary detective Jill Lepore. She sets out to find those notebooks to see if the Oral History ever existed an any form at all.
She traces Gould's life, revealing a sad trail of serious mental illness, alcoholism, racism, stalking women, and some talent. A number of famous writers of the time--ee cummings, Ezra Pound--went to great lengths to keep Gould out of mental institutions, even though it probably would have been better for him and certainly better for some of his stalking victims.
I feel for Jill Lepore, and admire her courage.The character she chose to explore is not a genius stricken by psychosis. He's repugnant. The more you know, the harder it is to care about about his alleged masterwork. But Jill does not flinch from this downer project and completes it will an impressive reel of footnotes and extensive bibliography.
But was Joe Gould worth her trouble? I'm not sure. "Joe Gould's Teeth" is a sad project. Everything around him seemed to stink of urine and bad breath. I admire the commitment without feeling enlightened about the subject.