Episode Six: Master P! Mario Puzo! Gay Talese! Anne Lamott! Niall Williams!

Pete muses on the absolutely over-the-top video for Master P’s “Make ‘Em Say ‘Uhh,’ “ which is in line with the lavish descriptions used by the great writers featured in the episode. Pete describes his experience in that most exaggerated and operatic of Italian cities, Naples (his poem written during his 2009 trip is below), and discusses the work of the “Naples of writers”: Mario Puzo, Gay Talese, and Niall Williams. Though sometimes close to the line of “purple prose,” these writers stick to the rules outlined by the great Anne Lamott and craft thrilling prose that adheres to the “one-inch picture frame” of Lamont’s book Bird by Bird.

 

Authors Mentioned and Allusions and Songs Referenced During the Episode:

 Master P's "Make 'Em Say 'Uhh.' " (Dirty Version)

Purple Prose Description 

“Just Visiting (Napoli: July, 2009)”

Los Angeles Times Article about Mario Puzo upon his 1999 Death

The Sicilian by Mario Puzo

Gay Talese and "New Journalism"

"You Can Act Like a Man!" from The Godfather, Part I

Gay Talese's "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" from Esquire Magazine, 1966

This is Happiness by Niall Williams

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott