Great writers not known for their writing

Been reading John Fahey's bk and I'm liking it lots. Kinski's biog is a pretty insane performance.

Yeah, Fahey's liner notes for American Primitive are really good.

I like Andy Worhol as a writer. A to B is good.

Robert Aldrich's notes on making The Dirty Dozen are some wild shit (tho you have to have a high tolerance for wide eyed beatnick sermonizing.)

Bob Dylan I guess is cheating?

"Robert Aldrich's notes on making The Dirty Dozen are some wild shit"

are these in a book?

Nah, now that I think of it it's actually mostly letters he sent around to other people involved in the film. THey're read aloud in the DVD commentary, which is pretty full of roffles overall (military advisor dude going "THAT'S NOT HOW WAR WORKS!" every five minutes).

Winston Churchill won the nobel prize, and he's mostly known for other stuff.

Thomas Hardy.

bamcquen you should read Fahey on Skip James if you haven't already done so: v interesting account of his meeting and the conflicts within that got John to seek him out

"Winston Churchill won the nobel prize, and he's mostly known for other stuff."

In a similar vein many communist leaders/ideologues before the 50s: Gramsci, Trotsky, Lenin read grippingly but I don't know if that's solely bcz of what they're saying not how.

Trotsky's a great stylist!

Both Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman were excellent writers.

Peter O'Toole's memoirs are very charmingly stylised

lenin is fuckin awesome imo

jesus fkn christ

"actually, hitler's sentences had real zip"

right on time

:)

Morton Feldman is the one that springs to mind, i've never read writing quite like it. it's completely the polar opposite to his composition style too.

it's a lot like his talking but not many people can do that.

I know it's beside the point but both persons I know who took a stab at reading Mein Kampf told em it's astonishingly bad prose.

"Astonishingly" because it's as bad as expected?

my answer to this is woody allen

'Not known for their writing' = this can include mass murderers here :-)

Morton is a really good one. There was a serenity to his style to complement the fighting talk against the Darmstadt TYRANNY.

Whereas Cage wasn't as much thinker/writer (BIG ideas on the page) as composer

my answer to this is woody allen

this one doesn't really work unless you say "known for writing something other than short-short stories"

Sorry what i meant above: Cage WAS as much think/writer/theorist as composer

I like Andy Worhol as a writer. A to B is good.

Except he didn't write it. It was composed by Bob Colacello and other staff from Warhol's brief, offhand remarks.

Warhol didn't write and may have been mildly dyslexic. If you want the unedited Warhol, see the Diaries (which were dictated.) They aren't great writing.

"For music to succeed, the composer must fail." -- Feldman

What's a good place to start with Feldman (his writing, I mean)? I've been listening to a lot of his music over the past few months, I wasn't familiar with him before.

Was wondering this myself last night -- looks like Give My Regards to Eighth Street is the first stop.

indeed, i think "...eighth street" has just about everythng.

Except he didn't write it. It was composed by Bob Colacello and other staff from Warhol's brief, offhand remarks.

Warhol didn't write and may have been mildly dyslexic. If you want the unedited Warhol, see the Diaries (which were dictated.) They aren't great writing.

Warhol "wrote" both From A to B (better known as The Philosophy of Andy Warhol) with Pat Hackett. Andy dictated the Diaries to "PH" but the text was definitely edited by her. Agreed neither book is great or even good writing but both are fascinating if you're interested in Warhol especially the Diaries.

every great or even good writer not known for the writing that I can think of wouldn't be worth reading if they weren't known for something else.

Alec Guinness (sp?) -- his diaries and such are really lovely

indeed, i think "...eighth street" has just about everythng.

There's this if you've got the dough.

bill james