Re: The Perfect Jay

Win Boogie (WinBoogie@aol.com)
Wed, 01 Apr 1998 12:50:56 -0500 (EST)

In a message dated 98-04-01 12:07:31 EST, you write:

<< 
 He does have ties to Lardner, too.  And (I believe) other Scribners
 authors.  I vaguely recall that he was in the vanguard of the FSF
 revival that took place after the author's death, when his reputation
 was more or less in the toilet.
  >>
   Yes, I know he was part of the revival of Fitzgerald's body of work. It's
just always seemed to me that he was a little too affiliated with Fitzgerald
in the modern world. As a comparrison I offer up the career of David Powers,
lifelong John F Kennedy  aide de camp, who passed away this week. When I was
in high school ( I grew up here in Boston) a friend and I where invited to
participate in a series of forums at the Kennedy library ( which is right
around the corner from my house now.) Our participation in these forums
centerd around leaving early, going to a good restaurant for lunch, once
asking Caroline Schlossberg Kennedy out for lunch, and constantly pondering
how it is that Dave Powers made a career out of being JFK's buddy. This is
almost how I feel about Matthew Bruccolli at this point. I understand he is
the eminent Fizgerald scholar, but is he the only one?  And why does his name
get attatched to nearly every new edition of Fitzgerald's books?  It's not
even that I don't enjoy or appreciate his work. It's just that his work is so
ubiquitous. 
    I had coffee with a friend of mine who is a PHD candidate at Harvard in
Germanic Lit. I suggested as a wise career move he attatch hinself to one
author and steadfastly refuse to write about anything but this particular
author. Bruccolli was the model I was basing this career track on. 
    I guess I was just airing one of those little things in the world that
irks me a little bit. The fact that Wynton Marsalis is often utilized as the
spokesman for Jazz in America is something that irks me quite a bit more than
a little bit. Compared to my troubles with Wynton, Matt B's lone voice on
Fitzgerald is a very minor annoyance.
                                             Robert