Barney Rosset another giant is gone

When Jamie Gillis, my long-time companion met Barney Rosset, who almost single-handedly did away with censorship in the United States by publishing books like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, HenryMiller’s Tropic of Cancer, Naked Lunch by  Burroughs, it was as if he had met God and he would always sit at his hero’s feet.  When they became friends, it was to him like going to heaven and now they are both gone to Heaven or wherever people like  these two special characters go for eternity.

I am embarrassed to say  that I knew nothing about Barney and never wondered why one of our servers was named Beckett.  It was Kathleen, Jamie’s first girlfriend,  who went to dinner t my restaurant Zarela and asked him the origin of his name.  Kathleen and her husband Jon immediately realized that he was Barney’s son and could not wait until dinner was finished and rushed down to tell us .   Beckett said that they wanted to meet us, we invited them to dinner and the friendship was hatched. Barney had spent much time in Mexico and  loved  to tell the story of his first trip there when he drove all the way down to the Yucatan peninsula at age 16.  He enjoyed authentic  Mexican food and loved the food at Zarela and loved it when I asked him what he felt like eating.   His son Peter lives in Chiapas and is an advocate for the rights of indigenous people so there were lots of points in common including our love f or the folk  art of Oaxaca (he collected elaborate alebrijes) and t he magnificent textiles of Chiapas that I too collect.

Besides he once published Octavio Paz and Elena Poniatowska, two famous Mexican writers who I admire.  There was always so much to talk about.

Jamie and I tried to spend as much time as possible with the Barney and his delightful and beautiful wife Astrid who I have become very close to.  At 88. Barney had a perfect memory and loved to tell fascinating stories about the characters he published and his ex-wives. (Astrid remarked that he always somehow managed to do this and we’d look at each other and smile.)  One main topic of conversation was his soon-to-be published autobiography The Subject is Left-Handed that would have been  on the stands by now if Barney hadn’t insisted that they include the chapters dealing with his childhood that formed him.  He gave the chapters for Jamie to read and comment and he took  his suggestions into serious consideration.

One of the greatest editors ever, read  Jamie’s manuscript and gave him advise which Jamie applied religiously.  Barney took the time to go through  my autobiography,  Taking Orders, that I have decided no to try to get published at this  because agents don’t agree with Barney and me about the direction it should take.

He published funny little poems in the Evergreen Review such as

One day I will find myself on the six o’clock news

having stabbed you over some small thing that happened once too often

And to which I may have over reacted.

He was always making something or working on some art project.  He painted the tree of life on the picture above, was forever working on a brightly colored mural, or bought remnants of carpet and had put together a most interesting and comfy rug before he left us.

There was no one like Barney–a visionary willing to give up a family fortune to get us the right to read whatever we wanted, interesting and interested in everything, loving and lovable . The last time I saw him he became fascinated by my iphone and wanted to see Dolores del Rio again and every beauty  he had known.  Oh ! What fun he had and me too seeing him enjoy a new toy with his boyish charm and the twinkle in his eye.  Even at 89, Barney was still sexy!

I loved him so and will miss him terribly.

I’m missing a photograph of that last time but I will find it and post it but,  in the mean time , meet Astrid.

And Astrid just sent me the picture: