Cheap Joe Gould's Secret (Book) (Joseph Mitchell) Price

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Joe Gould was a well known "vagrant" in New York's Greenwhich Village during the early and mid 1900's. During his years as a bohemian in New York he met many people, some famous (such as ee cummings and Ezra Pound) and many more equally interesting yet unknown people. Through his many friends and detractors he drew the attention of a young reporter, Joseph Mitchell, who interviewed him for a piece in the New Yorker.

The book contains the two pieces that Joseph Mitchell wrote for the New Yorker about Joe Gould and his unpublished work, rumored to be ten times larger than the bible (over 10 million words), The Oral History. The more I read the more I craved to know more about Joe Gould and his life.

I highly recommend this book as it is a true snapshot into the life of someone who deserves to be known. Joseph Mitchell truly captured the feel of New York and inner workings of Joe Gould and his crazy life.

Apparently, 11 dime-store composition books that make up a nearly 150,000-word diary (part of his Oral History)are quietly tucked away within NYU's archives in NYC - I can't wait to get a look at them as well!

Live on Joe Gould!

Mitchell is a wonderful writer
In hindsight, I am a bit shy to admit that I first learned of Joseph Mitchell through the made-for-TV version of this story. Trusting that the story would be better in print than on screen, like so many books, I was pleased to find that Mitchell's account of Joe Gould made for an excellent read. Mitchell is a superb writer in my view. I have read few authors who are able to write nonfiction in such an eloquent and moving fashion. Beyond his technical skills, Mitchell also tells the story of Joe Gould. Gould is an eccentric Bohemian living in the Village during the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Mitchell one day decides to explore Gould's life and profile him in The New Yorker. Gould's profile appears in two forms. The first is "Professor Sea Gull" which appeared in 1942, and the second is "Joe Gould's Secret" which was published in 1964. As we read through the two accounts, we see and feel Mitchell's attraction to the eccentric Gould, his frustrations, his discovery of--and about--Gould's "Oral History," and his patience and compassion as Gould's fellow man. In the end, I think we are left with a book that is much a profile of Gould as it is of Mitchell. I certainly would have enjoyed having a martini and watching these two interact one evening. Since that is not possible, I am pleased that we have Mitchell's account which is good enough to make me think about and want such opportunties. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.

The Two Faces of Joe
The first sketch that Joseph Mitchell made of Joe Gould, "Professor Seagull," primarily a simple exposition of a bohemian character that the New Yorker and its readers found to be an entertaining piece about an eccentric who claims to be writing an oral history, a book containing so many pages that it would dwarf the author if neatly stacked up. A work that would place the title of grand historian on Joe Gould, this so called Oral History was said to contain not just the usual dates and names of what people think of as history, but the over-heard conversations of the common man as well as scribbles lifted from park benches and washroom walls that Gould deemed to be more telling of history than the formal history taught in primary and secondary institutions. Mitchell infused this first work with witticisms and anecdotes that placed Gould in a more positive light than what is revealed about the man in the second story. There are many parallels in both stories; the opening paragraphs in both stories almost mirror each other but for a few telling and well-placed words, but for the most part, the second story gives the true definition of the character Joe Gould. The second story, "Joe Gould's Secret" gives the reader a different view of the same man. This version lifts the mask from the faces of the author and subject, exposing the truth that is not entirely based on fact. Here, Gould is shown to the reader with all faults and disagreeable characteristics intact. The feisty little homeless bohemian has turned into a scavenging, begging, egregious bum dead set on getting the attention or money he craves, and acts like a child when he does not get what he wants. Joe Gould doesn't actually crave money as much as what a couple of dollars can get him in the way of alcohol, coffee and the notebooks he scribbles in incessantly. The scribbles are later shown to contain not one bit of dialogue overheard by Gould, but the same four or five essays he has been working on for many years. The fact that Gould has been re-writing, tearing up and re-writing the same stories for several decades is the reason for the second installment of the character sketch given to us by Mitchell.
For twenty years, Mitchell has lived with the lie imbedded in his first sketch of Joe Gould, "Professor Seagull." The lie is intricate in nature and has many facets that kept it a secret for twenty years. With the injection of Mitchell himself into the second story, "Joe Gould's Secret," a light is thrown on the subject of the interplay between Joe Gould and Joseph Mitchell. There is a reason why Mitchell has placed himself in the story instead of writing from an onlooker's prospective as most profiles were written at the time and are written still. With this injection of author placed into the context of the story, Mitchell is giving the reader a glimpse of how the author can be seen in the same vein as the subject of the story. The two are entwined in a circle of deceit that encompasses the meaning of the word 'lie' in the direct or ordinary definition of the word.
After stumbling upon the mendacity that Gould wove with his stories of the Oral History, Mitchell feels as if he has been duped by Gould, that everything that Gould stands for is an enormous and cruel lie that Gould constructed in order to gain whatever it is that he needed for self-acknowledgement and worth. After ruminating for a while, Mitchell begins to feel some sympathy for Gould by remembering an endeavor of his own. Mitchell had a dream to write a novel that would be about a man and his conquests and revelations in New York City. The novel was to have some of the same elements as Gould's Oral History in the form of spoken dialogue from an old Negro street preacher. This novel was everything to Mitchell that the Oral History was to Gould, that is, as Gould is quoted as saying, "My rope and my scaffold, my wife and my floozy," etc. Although Mitchell was obsessed with writing the epic he constructed full-form in his mind, he was never able to actually write one word of it. This remembrance cools Mitchell's anger and he allows Gould to proceed with his deception without intervention. It takes a while for Mitchell to win his trust, but once it has been done, Gould once again dons the mask of the historian of his times and carries on as usual. Mitchell feels it unnecessary to expose Gould after this revelation of like characteristics between himself and Gould, and publishes the first profile, "Professor Seagull."
While Mitchell was able to place his dream novel on the backburner and continue life as a journalist, Gould continued to live the fantasy of the man who would someday be known as a great historian based on the jumbled dross floating around in his head. Gould had no other life and despised monetary gain and believed that he could never accomplish his goal of writing his history book if tied down to a regular job. Gould was hopeless in his yearnings and dreams. The one thing that he wanted and needed was the one thing that kept him from succeeding, whereas Mitchell rose above his desire to create a grand opus and settled for what he knew he could accomplish. The answer to the question that would tie this story neatly together is the one thing that Mitchell does not completely decipher after he has accused Gould of deception and trickery. The one line, if heard correctly, would answer many questions concerning the Oral History as well as Mitchell's dream novel, and that is when Gould indistinctly says, "It's not a question of laziness." If heard correctly, then what has kept Gould and Mitchell from realizing their dreams comes down to self-doubt and insecurities, and not from a lack of skill. These unrealized works of grand design are not with us today in written form only because the creators did not find themselves worthy of the tremendous work of placing into print what was fully realized in their heads.