Bookmark: Should we throw Gay Talese under bus for comments about women writers?

Some years ago, I had breakfast with Gay Talese. Well, that's not precisely true: I had breakfast in the vicinity of Gay Talese. We were both speaking at a narrative nonfiction writing conference (he was the keynote; I was several rungs lower), and one morning I sat down in a nook in the hotel lobby to eat my fruit and yogurt. Talese sat down in the same nook.

I don't remember him eating anything; he looked like someone who lived on air, or nectar. He was tiny, smaller than me, and exquisite, and I was afraid to speak in case he might startle and flutter off, like a hummingbird or a butterfly.

Last week, he spoke at another narrative conference, and nobody is calling him exquisite after what he said there. I was not there, but I have read (all over the Internet) that he was asked which women writers had inspired him. Talese said that, outside of Mary McCarthy, he couldn't think of any.

Later, after Twitter exploded, he said he had misunderstood the question; he thought of inspiring him as meaning years ago, when he was starting out.

He told the New York Times, "I was giving an honest answer. I wasn't going to be influenced by anybody at age 56 or 70 or 84. … I'm talking about my formative years."

In his formative years, he said, he was influenced by sportswriters, especially Red Smith.

"When I was in my formative years, there were no women in journalism who inspired me," he said. "The women who inspired me were fiction writers."

Of course there were tons of women journalists back then, including intrepid war correspondents, and that explanation wasn't good enough for a lot of people. The hashtag #womengaytalese shouldread was born. All kinds of names have since been thrown out — Susan Orlean! Janet Malcolm! Joan Didion! — as possible sources of inspiration. (Some, while great, seem off-point — Charlotte Bronte? Patricia Highsmith?)

We could tweet names all day — including the names of women journalists from Talese's formative years — and I'm happy if we do. (Martha Gellhorn! Rebecca West! Lillian Ross!)

But let's not throw Talese under a bus. If he wasn't inspired by them, well, then, he wasn't inspired by them. Do we not want people to give us honest answers?

It is easy to get outraged, to take offense. But Talese is 84 years old, and, to me, that matters. He is a master of narrative nonfiction, and that matters, too. He gave us "The Kingdom and the Power." He gave us "The Bridge." He gave us the incredible profile "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," which journalism students everywhere still study and admire.

The truth is that sometimes people say stupid things. Sometimes they truly do misunderstand the question. And sometimes we just don't like the answer.

So, OK, let's dislike his answer. But then let's also separate the artist from the art. Talese's work is too important to shun because of his comments, which, really, had the significance of a flitting butterfly.

Recently, I wrote about a website called Manuscript Wish List, maintained by literary agents. An agent has written to say that the preferred website is ­manuscriptwishlist.com (the link I posted turns out to be a copycat site). Check it out. (Right now an agent is looking for cozy mysteries with a clever sleuth but no romance.)

As we plan our summer reading package (June 5), we're looking for recommendations. What are you planning to read this summer? What do you suggest others tackle? Why? Send an e-mail to books@startribune.com and please include your name and city.

Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune's senior editor for books. lhertzel@startribune.com • 612-673-7302 • Twitter: @StribBooks • Facebook: startribunebooks.