From Origins of a Nonfiction Writer in The Gay Talese Reader: “The shop was a kind of talk show that flowed around the engaging manner and well-timed questions of my mother; and as a boy not much taller than the counters behind which I sued to pause and eavesdrop, I learned much that would be useful to me years later when I began interviewing people for articles and books.
“I learned to listen with patience and care, and never to interrupt even when people were having great difficulty in explaining themselves, for during such halting and imprecise moments (as the listening skills of my patient mother taught me) people often are very revealing – what they hesitate to talk about can tell much about them. Their pauses, their evasions, their sudden shifts in subject matter are likely indicators of what embarrasses them, or irritates them, or what they regard as too private or imprudent to be disclosed to another person at that particular time. However, I also overheard many people discussing candidly with my mother what they had earlier avoided – a reaction that I think had less to do with her inquiring nature or sensitively posed questions than with their gradual acceptance of her as a trustworthy individual in whom they could confide. My mother’s best customers were women less in need of new dresses than the need to communicate. …
“But my memory of the white-gloved ladies remains benign, for they and the other people who patronized or worked in my parents’ store (plus the curiosity transferred by my mother) sparked my early interest in small-town society, in the common concerns of ordinary people. Each of my books, in fact, draws inspiration in some way from the elements of my island and its inhabitants, who are typical of the millions who interact familiarly each day in stores and coffee shops and along the promenades of small towns, suburban villages, and urban neighborhoods everywhere. And yet, unless such individuals become involved in crimes and horrible accidents, their existence is generally ignored by the media as well as by historians and biographers, who tend to concentrate on people who reveal themselves in some blatant or obvious way, or who stand out from the crowd as leaders, or achievers, or otherwise famous or infamous.
“One result is that ‘normal’ everyday life in America is portrayed primarily in ‘fiction’ – in the works of novelists, playwrights, and short-story writers such as John Cheever, Raymond Carver, Russell Banks, Tennessee Williams, Joyce Carol Oates, and others possessing the creative talent to elevate ordinary life to art, and to make memorable the commonplace experiences and concerns of men and women worthy of Arthur Miller’s plea in behalf of his suffering salesman: ‘Attention must be paid.’”
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