Thursday, May 17, 2012

Two-Typewriter Homes: Famous Literary Roommates


by . Posted Tuesday May 15, 2012 - Falvorpill



Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison
Almost 60 years ago, Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison lived together for a while in a very wonderful sounding house in Tivoli, NY. If we can believe Bellow’s account of the experience in the LA Times, it sounds truly divine: “Ralph drove into Tivoli in his huge old Chrysler. He himself serviced it, coddled it, tuned it, and it ran as smoothly as it had when it came off the assembly line. The trunk, when it was opened, gave me my first hint of Ralph’s powers of organization. For hunting there were guns, there were decoy ducks; for fishing, rods, lures and a wicker-work creel; there were tools of every description. Ralph was able to repair radios and hi-fi equipment. I envied him his esoteric technical skills… He did not come alone. He was accompanied by a young black Labrador retriever who jumped from the Chrysler, eager to play, pawing my chest. Ralph had bought the dog from John Cheever, who was then, briefly, a breeder of black Labs… In the ballroom Ralph kept African violets which he watered with a turkey baster. It was from him that I learned all that I know about houseplants.”
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