Literary Cooperation Among Former Chelsea Residents

Archivists at Harvard's Houghton Library recently discovered an unpublished short story in Gore Vidal's archives. When they called Vidal to ask about the story he replied, "'That doesn't sound like my kind of material, that sounds like Tennessee Williams's territory."'  As it turns out, Vidal was half-right. The story, which he eventually recalled having written, was based on an anecdote that Williams, a friend of his, used to tell at cocktail parties.

According to Vidal's biography, Vidal checked into the Chelsea Hotel with Jack Kerouac and "attacked" the beat poet "from behind," as a red neon light flickered through the shadeless window.  Perhaps that was a more memorable experience than writing a story based on a Tennessee Williams' anecdote.