When I am looking for literary inspiration for my current writing projects, I always love to return to American literature and its art of short story telling. With its attachment to reality and ordinary life stories, it always teaches me how to properly use the power of words. Out of a long list of choices, I love the art of Truman Capote or Raymond Chandler.
Last December, I had a bit of time to return to my literary secret pleasures and spent an afternoon reading Music for chameleons, by Capote, a collection of short stories and literary interviews from the daily reality.
In the story/interview A Day's Work, from June 1979, where the author is following Mary the cleaning lady during her job hopping from a customer to another, they arrive at the Berkowitz family, portrayed in a very negative ridiculous light. They have a perroquet screaming 'Oy, oy' all the time, they are not generous and nice with the poor Mary, shortly, not the kind of employer you would work for out of love and dedication. 'Jews should be stuffed and put in a natural history museum' he concludes in the house of Berkowitz where he accompanied Mary, in their absence.
This antipathic attitude of Capote towards the Jews is not surprising and not unique. During an air interview he attacked the 'Jewish interests' in literature warning that 'Jewish mafia was taking over the American literature and New York'. Norman Podhoretz absolved him of any anti-Semitic attitude, but it does not excuse his attitude. As I was showed on other occasions, being intelligent and gifted does not make you more human. This goes especially in the case of public intellectuals.
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