Joseph Mitchell · 1992 (collection; pieces 1938–1964) · EPUB · Calibre ID 4670
Resurfaced in Only That Which Is Said (2026-10-11).
Role in the triad
The negative case: the hearsay archive as bare claim, and the composite
Why this book
Joe Gould’s ‘Oral History’ of ‘things I heard people say’ that Mitchell concludes doesn’t exist; Mitchell’s own composite Mr. Flood, ‘truthful rather than factual’; and Mitchell’s confession of his own unwritten novel. Both break Portelli’s first rule in opposite directions.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “Mr. Flood is not one man; combined in him are aspects of several old men who work or hang out in Fulton Fish Market, or who did in the past. I wanted these stories to be truthful rather than factual, but they are solidly based on facts.” (Author’s Note, Old Mr. Flood)
- “Some talk has an obvious meaning and nothing more, he said, and some, often unbeknownst to the talker, has at least one other meaning and sometimes several other meanings lurking around inside its obvious meaning.” (Joe Gould’s Secret)
- “‘The history of a nation is not in parliaments and battlefields, but in what the people say to each other on fair days and high days, and in how they farm, and quarrel, and go on pilgrimage.’” (Joe Gould’s Secret)
- “And the Oral History doesn’t exist.” (Joe Gould’s Secret)
- “But the truth is, I never actually wrote a word of it.” (Joe Gould’s Secret)
Themes
composite · Joe Gould · New Yorker · Oral History of Our Time · talk · truthful vs factual · unwritten book · Yeats