Mr. Talese talks about marriage

Interesting article here about non-fiction writer Gay Talese, who is writing a book about his marriage to editor Nan A. Talese in this, their 50th year of marriage.

"After the massage parlors, after the affair, after the scandalous book that
nearly broke up his family, Gay Talese is writing a new opus—about his
relationship with his wife."

I took a couple classes from Mr. Talese, when he came to guest lecture at USC's Master of Professional Writing Program. I found him to be very smart, absolutely direct and a bit intimidating. People who are willing to lay themselves bare for their art can be a little scary to talk with. Capable of anything. I had a similar feeling when I met playwright Romulus Linney; I wonder if they ever met...

The article intrigues me. After writing books about everything from the sexual revolution to his own Italian heritage, he is now focusing on his relationship with his wife. She says he knows very little about marriage (after fifty years). They've both stuck it out for a long time, and through lots of public opinions about their very public "private" life. He has written about everything he's done, and they've stuck with each other despite all.

People will have opinions. But no one knows how a marriage works outside that marriage.

It will be interesting to see if he'll be able to tell it. Because I think you can be pretty blind from the inside, too.