Joseph Mitchell

'The master of a journalistic style long vanished - urbane, lucid, courteous... A masterpiece of observation and storytelling' Ian McEwan Mitchell is the laureate of old New York. The hidden corners of the city and the people who lived there are his subject. He captured the waterfront rooming-houses , nickel-a-drink saloons, all-night restaurants, the 'visionaries, obsessives, imposters, fanatics, lost souls, the end-is-near street preachers, old Gypsy Kings and old Gypsy Queens, and out-and-out freak-show freaks.' Mitchell's trademark curiosity, respect and graveyard humour fuel these magical essays. Written between 1943 and 1965, Up in the Old Hotel is the complete collection of Joseph Mitchell 's New Yorker journalism and includes McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr Flood, The Bottom of the Harbour and Joe Gould's Secret. 'Joseph Mitchell is buried treasure' Salman Rushdie

Up in the Old Hotel

The up-and-down life of the celebrated writer and prototypical Greenwich Village bohemian is chronicled here. Reissue. Movie tie-in. 20,000 first printing.

Joe Gould's Secret

A collection of literary portraits looks at waterfront workers, people on the Bowery, Mohawk Indians working on high structural steel, gypsies, itinerant preachers, and others

Up in the Old Hotel, and Other Stories

First published in 1938, collects interviews conducted by Joseph Mitchell of everyday people including a female boxer, saltwater farmers, a reverse strip-tease artist, marijuana smokers, a cartoonist, and a bartender.

My Ears are Bent

A new edition of Mitchell's most famous work, first published in 1943, captures the lives, eccentricities, and idiosyncracies of the owners and customers of McSorley's, one of the oldest saloon's in New York City. 12,500 first printing.

McSorley's Wonderful Saloon

El Secreto de Joe Gould

David Remnick

Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old “seafoodetarian” who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books—McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould's Secret—that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observation, their graveyard humor, and their offhand perfection of style. These masterpieces (along with several previously uncollected stories) are available in one volume, which presents an indelible collective portrait of an unsuspected New York and its odder citizens—as depicted by one of the great writers of this or any other time.

Andrew nurnberg asso

Comme souvent dans les récits de Joseph Mitchell, il ne se passe pas grande chose, sinon la rencontre entre les deux hommes, occasion d'un portrait de ce personnage excentrique – y compris à l'aune des critères de l'auteur, assez élevés en la matière. M. Flood se définit comme un "fruitdemerien" qui, depuis presque six décennies, n'a pratiquement rien mangé d'autre que du poisson, des langues de raie frites, de l'anguille, des palourdes, du crabe et tout ce qui est vendu au marché de Fulton Street. (Les seules exceptions à son régime, ou peu s'en faut, sont les quelques aliments dignes selon lui d'accompagner ces produits de la mer, tels que le pain beurré, les oignons et les pommes de terre au four.) Il se dit convaincu que le secret de sa longévité réside dans son régime alimentaire. Lorsque Mitchell mentionna pour la première fois son nom dans les colonnes du New Yorker en janvier 1944, M. Flood avait quatre-vingt-treize ans et sa principale préoccupation était d'atteindre l'âge de cent quinze ans. C'était bien entendu une idée absurde en soi, mais après avoir fait plus ample connaissance avec le vieux M. Flood, la plupart des lecteurs furent convaincus qu'il y parviendrait. Quoique considéré comme un joyau du journalisme littéraire, le portrait du vieux Flood relève de la fiction de tout premier ordre. Old M. Flood ou l'invention du portrait composite, et tout le reste est littérature.

Old M. Flood

Helen Buss Mitchell

This debate style reader is designed to introduce students to controversies in western civilizations. The readings, which represent the arguments of leading historians and researchers, reflect a variety of viewpoints and have been selected for their liveliness and substance and because of their value in a debate framework. This new title will be a beneficial tool to encourage critical thinking on important issues in western civilizations.

Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Western Civilization

Geschichten von Fischessen, Whiskey, Tod und Wiedergeburt

Old Mr. Flood

Bearded women, gypsies, waiters, bohemians, visionaries, fanatics, and all kinds of lost souls populate this collection of 27 pieces published in The New Yorker's section devoted to the city's most exotic characters. Each one comes alive to create a vivid portrait of the 1930s and '40s, a golden age for the melting pot that is New York. Bearded women, gypsies, waiters, bohemians, visionaries, fanatics, and all kinds of lost souls populate this collection of 27 pieces published in The New Yorker's section devoted to the city's most exotic characters. Each one comes alive to create a vivid portrait of the 1930s and '40s, a golden age for the melting pot that is New York. Mujeres barbudas, gitanos, sibaritas, camareros, obreros indios, bohemios, visionarios, fan�ticos, impostores y toda clase de almas perdidas circulan en este recopilatorio de veintisiete cr�nicas publicadas en la secci�n del New Yorker dedicada a los perfiles de los personajes m�s ex�ticos de la ciudad. Personajes todos de carne y hueso que conforman un fresco extraordinario de las d�cadas 30 y 40 del siglo pasado, una �poca dorada en la que se fragu� el gran crisol que fue y sigue siendo la ciudad de Nueva York.

La Fabulosa Taberna de Mcsorley

Negli anni Quaranta viveva al Greenwich Village un eccentrico letterato di nome Joe Gould, che si definiva «l’ultimo dei bohémiens» e si presentava piuttosto come un singolare barbone. Discendente di una delle più antiche famiglie del New England, laureato a Harvard nel 1911, Gould dormiva negli alberghetti da due soldi o negli atelier degli amici e mangiava, di rado e quasi sempre a sbafo, in qualche sordido locale. Macilento e ubriacone, bazzicava le redazioni delle riviste letterarie; non poteva accettare un impiego fisso, spiegava, perché questo gli avrebbe impedito di continuare a lavorare alla sua "Storia orale", l’«inedito più lungo di tutti i tempi», costituito, a suo dire, da migliaia e migliaia di conversazioni ascoltate o orecchiate per strada, al ristorante, nei dormitori, sui treni, al parco, ovunque la gente si riunisse e parlasse. Sempre carico di quaderni di scuola sui quali scriveva ininterrottamente, Gould li affidava man mano a qualche amico perché glieli conservasse. Si favoleggiava di centinaia di quaderni depositati in armadi, uffici, soffitte e sottoscala. Nel 1942 Mitchell gli dedicò un profilo sul «New Yorker», "Il professor Gabbiano", nel quale descriveva il personaggio, la sua mania di imitare i gabbiani e l’attesa che si era creata per la sua opera. Dopo la morte di Gould, nel 1957, molte persone, tra cui Mitchell stesso, si misero alla ricerca della "Storia orale" nei suoi svariati nascondigli, ricerca che diventò un’altra progressione di sbalorditive scoperte. Finché nel 1964 Mitchell decise di raccontare dall’inizio la vera storia del segreto di Joe Gould, un segreto che ci lascerà incantati e silenziosi, perché va molto lontano. Fra le conseguenze minori di tale storia vi sarà anche questa: che Joe Gould ci apparirà come l’archetipo e la parodia ultima dello scrittore moderno. Ma nel frattempo avremo apprezzato l’arte altissima del cronista Mitchell, vero cantore epico di New York – questa città il cui inconscio, ci dice un personaggio del libro, stava «cercando di parlarci attraverso Joe Gould». "Il professor Gabbiano" e "Il segreto di Joe Gould" sono inclusi nel volume "Up in the Old Hotel", apparso a New York nel 1993.

Il segreto di Joe Gould

After Joe Gould's Secret - 'a miniature masterpiece of a shaggy dog story' (Observer) - here is another collection of stories by Joseph Mitchell, each connected in one way or another with the waterfront of New York City. As William Fiennes wrote in the London Review of Books, 'Mitchell was the laureate of the waters around New York', and in The Bottom of the Harbor he records the lives and practices of the rivermen, with love and understanding and a sharp eye for the eccentric and strange. This is some of the best journalist ever written.

Joseph Mitchell

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