The odd comfort of reading about folks more weird than me
Charles Webb, the guy that wrote the novel "The Graduate,'' hasn't got two nickels to rub together. This is not a case of a writter frittering away his wealth in the vain pursuit of the frivolous. He didn't drink it away or gamble it away.
He gave it away.
A profile of the writer and his wife "Fred'' (don't ask) appears in the current issue of Radar magazine. It's compelling reading. The author of the piece puts its this way: "...Charles and Fred seem to have been guided by an almost holy sense that it is an artist's duty to struggle in poverty, that it is somehow impure for creative people to get too comfortable.''
Webb always seems one step ahead of an eviction notice, working as caretakers in a nudist colony, fruit pickers, house cleaners or K Mart clerks. He gives away houses and tons of money to maintain this lifestyle.
It is comforting to read about people weirder, however slightly, than myself.
But Webb is making it way too complicated. If a writer wants to skirt with abject poverty, there's just one thing to do: Work for a newspaper.
He gave it away.
A profile of the writer and his wife "Fred'' (don't ask) appears in the current issue of Radar magazine. It's compelling reading. The author of the piece puts its this way: "...Charles and Fred seem to have been guided by an almost holy sense that it is an artist's duty to struggle in poverty, that it is somehow impure for creative people to get too comfortable.''
Webb always seems one step ahead of an eviction notice, working as caretakers in a nudist colony, fruit pickers, house cleaners or K Mart clerks. He gives away houses and tons of money to maintain this lifestyle.
It is comforting to read about people weirder, however slightly, than myself.
But Webb is making it way too complicated. If a writer wants to skirt with abject poverty, there's just one thing to do: Work for a newspaper.
posted by Michael Riley at 9:38 AM
2 Comments:
He should have just moved to New Jersey then he could have joined people already impoverished.
a housekeeper in a nudist colony?guess doesn't take very long to iron clothes or do the laundry...they should've left $100-$1000 tips to the nudist colonists to get rid of their money quicker..but where would they keep the money? Don't even want to harbor a guess...fanny pack perhaps?
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