Gay Talese

Gay Talese is an American journalist and author known for literary nonfiction and pioneering New Journalism. His reported stories use scene, character, and narrative detail.

Frank Sinatra Has a Cold: Gay Talese’s 1966 Esquire profile of Frank Sinatra, written without an interview with its subject. Its scenes and reported detail exemplify Talese’s approach to a profile.
Literary journalism: A form of nonfiction that uses literary techniques while remaining grounded in reporting. It is the broad form that includes Talese’s narrative nonfiction.
The New York Times in the 1950s: The newspaper during the decade when Talese began his reporting career there. Its newsroom gave Talese early experience in disciplined daily reporting.
Tom Wolfe: An American writer and journalist associated with New Journalism and exuberant, highly visible prose. Wolfe’s flamboyant style contrasts with Talese’s controlled, observational narration.
The Kingdom and the Power: Gay Talese’s 1969 book about The New York Times and the people who shaped the newspaper. It applies his narrative reporting to a powerful media institution.
Immersion journalism: Reporting built on sustained observation and participation in the setting being covered. Talese’s scenes often depend on close observation of people and places.
Esquire (magazine): An American magazine founded in 1933, known for journalism, fiction, and cultural commentary. Esquire published several of Talese’s most influential narrative features.
Joan Didion: An American writer whose essays and reporting combine personal perspective with precise social observation. Didion often foregrounded the reporting self, unlike Talese’s tendency to recede from scenes.
Thy Neighbor’s Wife: Gay Talese’s 1980 nonfiction book examining changing American attitudes toward sex and intimacy. Its long-term reporting extends his narrative method into social history.
Scene-by-scene construction: A narrative technique that recounts events through successive, dramatized scenes. Talese uses scenes to give reported events the movement of narrative.

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New JournalismRelated: His profiles helped establish the style before New Journalism acquired its name.