Dan Wakefield is that "Going All the Way" guy, also the fellow who edited old Kurt Vonnegut's Letter's book. I didn't know about him until I was rereading a favorable review from Vonnegut of Wakefield's (1970) book about romance and hijinks surrounding returning from the Korean war service. In this book Wakefield sheds considerable light on the place and times in Greenwich Village, he manages to touch on all the highlights, getting a writing job, the Beats, Jazz and the general atmosphere of socializing, boozing, and various other tidbits. As Wakefield himself says, no one thought about their health in those days. Personal notes with romance and sexuality are quite enjoyable. You can really sense the performance anxiety, underlined by the repressiveness of the age, despite being in a cosmopolitan city-the girls escape to Europe to learn the craft!There are a great many reminisces from the likes of Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, William Buckley, and many more. This book is a treasure, a world I was born just shy of, basically directly on the perceived end of the 50s for many. A striking moment comes when a Vietnam correspondent writes "We are losing the war in Vietnam" and his editor changes it for TIME to: "There is light at the end of the tunnel." No wonder we are so ignorant and in the dark, plagued. When the Beatles arrived on our shores it marked an episode of sadness for many -- also a demarcation of the end of an era. The Beatles were all white-faced, lock-step, pop musicians who brought on an enormous wave of the same. The black faces of the jazz before suddenly were swept aside. Perhaps one of the more impressive aspects of the book is the politics. McCarthyism and the conservative right were strong enough to literally pursue homosexuality (and then "communisim") with aplomb, smashing people for their perceived un-American proclivities. At one point McCarthy had a fellow on the stand who had done nothing more than written (some years ago I may add) a negative diatribe about American fanaticism with football! Imagine being taken to task by your government for not being fond of sports! Wakefield rightly points out that McCarthy wasn't some lone fruit appearing on the vast branches of an otherwise reasonable national network. He was a sign of the times, promoted because of the prevailing attitudes. The war between the liberal intelligentsia and the tribal conservative right has never waned and is just as strident (though sometimes seemingly even more wickedly uninformed) today. Lastly, I suppose it is inevitable as we age to imagine the world disintegrating around us. Those things we thought of as great and beloved falling into disrepair. Our subjective viewpoint sometimes gets stuck and resists being able to appreciate newness. My generation would have a hard time being offended by the Beatles -- but consider that the jazz aficionados saw them as harkening a lesser racially mixed music scene. A great story, Thank you Mr. Wakefield!
Enjoyable firsthand account from a journalist of his life in "the Village" among an intimate community of writers and other artists. For someone who knew JD Salinger before he became a recluse, had Jack Kerouac pass out on his couch, and otherwise went pub-hopping with the "Who's who" of the literary world of the times, Wakefield manages to check his ego at the door and write genuine, balanced essays after years of hindsight. He gives credit for the fellow writers he valued and their sometimes mutual support and the often fun times he had with them. However, he refrains from collapsing into romanticism by his measured praise, as well as acknowledgement of some of the downsides of the times, including the cult of Freudian analysis, heavy drinking, and what the romance of following in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas caused to happen to a few of his friends. He's also not afraid to say what he really feels about a few people. All in all, a respectable snapshot of an era.
