Sex (presidential sex!) sells
"That night, they tried some things they had never done before." Hot, or what? Well, whatever you think of it, the significance of those eleven words cannot be denied because they comprise the first sex scene ever written by a US president. The Hornet's Nest, a novel about the American Revolution, by Jimmy Carter, appears next week.
I gleaned that information for a great blog called Maud Newton, which is written by, yes, Maud Newton, a Brooklyn-based fiction writer. Other Newtonian gems: Kurt Vonnegut advising wannabe writers not to use semicolons because "They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." Or how about this poignant classic about the night Dylan Thomas died in New York? "At 39, in the middle of the night, Thomas slipped out from his mistress' house to The White Horse Tavern (just down the road from my workplace) for a drink. He was away for two hours and when he returned, he reportedly said: 'I've had 18 straight whiskies. I think that is the record.' "
Why is that Maud Newton is so eminently readable? Probably because her love of the writing life shines through every posting.
Diarist of the day: Maurice Collis, 7 November 1953[dining with Lord and Lady Astor] "She [Lady Astor] told of her famous visit to Moscow with Bernard Shaw during the war. The things she said straight out to Stalin were staggering.
'Your regime is no different from the Czars.'
'Why?'
'Because you dispose of your opposition without trial.'
Stalin laughed: 'Of course.'
She also spoke of Bernhard Shaw's last illness. 'I went to see him the day before he died. I sat by him stroking his head. He was quite clear. Suddenly he said, 'That reminds me,' and told this story. 'Lord X gave a great party to all the local gentry. As they were about to eat, the butler came in and said to him, 'Excuse me, your lordship, but Mr So & So is in bed with your wife.' At this, Lord X, rising from his place, said to the company, 'Go home, go home, there is a man in bed with my wife. The party is cancelled.' The guests, much disappointed, for there were quantities of drink, began to disperse. The butler came in again and spoke to his lordship. He got up: 'Don't go, don't go. The man has apologised.' Those were G.B.S's last words.
The story was well received."
