One Marriage, One Memoir, Two Opinions

Can the longest-running power marriage in publishing survive a literary self-appraisal?

Legendary non-fiction author Gay Talese recently told The New York Times that he's working on a book about his 50-year union to noted editor Nan, of Random House's Nan A. Talese/Doubleday imprint. Both were present at a cocktail party Newsweek held last night to celebrate editor Jon Meacham's Pulitzer Prize in biography for his book American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.

I asked them -- separately -- whether Nan will read Gay's writing while it's in progress.

Gay: "I hope not. She has a tough hand -- a very tough editor. She has a blue pencil stuck in her thumb."

Nan: "Yes. I read every page as he finishes it, aloud, to him. And I'll learn a lot as I read aloud, as I have in the past."

Uh oh. Sounds like trouble. I asked Nan if she expects to have veto power over anything she doesn't want printed.

Nan: "Not veto power, but he respects me and if something bothers me, he'll listen."

Gay: "You can't have two writers on one story. I'm the chronicler. I'm the historian of the family. She takes care of international affairs, she takes care of the problem of the Taliban, she takes care of the monetary question. But I'm the historian. I'm her only choice when it comes to being the chronicler of this marriage."

Maybe communication isn't the secret to a happy marriage after all?

Nan: "I don't know quite what to expect at the moment. The only thing I can think is I've trusted him this far, so I'll have to continue to trust him."

Gay: "i don't think it will break up the marriage, because after 50 years there's nothing that hasn't offended her already. She's been through the worst."

Nan: "It's been going on a long time and it's still fun."