Jay McInerney, prolific novelist and chronicler of New York City’s hedonistic ’70s and ’80s, now reveals all about the famous writers he worked with during those debauched days.
Appearing on the podcast ‘Dedicated to Doug Brunt’ McInerney, 69, recounted never-before-heard details of his wild, drug-fueled encounters with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and an awkward encounter with the legendary Truman Capote.
McInerney, author of critically acclaimed hits such as Bright Lights, Big City (1984) and Brightness Falls (1992), says he met Capote at the home of another famous writer, George Plimpton.
‘(Capote) was telling me that he discovered the magic elixir of writing, and it was cocaine. I thought… “no, it’s not,” McInerney tells Brunt in exclusive clips shared with DailyMail.com.
It was then that McInerney realized that the highly addictive stimulant was Capote’s “seduction tool.”
Appearing on the ‘Dedicated with Doug Brunt’ podcast, McInerney, 69, recounted never-before-heard details of his wild, drug-fueled encounters with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and an awkward encounter with the legendary Truman Capote.
McInerney, author of critically acclaimed hits such as Bright Lights, Big City (1984) and Brightness Falls (1992), says he met Capote at the home of another famous writer, George Plimpton.
“He had plans with me,” McInerney said. “I did his cocaine and then I left, quickly.”
McInerney said Capote died five or six months later. ‘It had a pretty sad end in terms of alcohol and cocaine. He was a mess when I met him. It was a disaster.
Capote was open about his notorious drug use, writing in his short story collection ‘Music for Chameleons’ (1980): ‘I am an alcoholic. I’m a drug addict. I am homosexual. I’m a genius.’
Capote died in 1984 at the age of 59 after spending his final years in and out of rehabilitation centers. His death was caused by liver disease complicated by phlebitis and multiple drug intoxication.
McInerney, however, He said his “wilder” past acquaintance was journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson.
“I went out a couple of nights with Hunter and he almost killed me,” McInerney admitted.
“Hunter was the wildest guy ever,” he said. “Between the drink, the cocaine and the psychedelics… he did it all.”
While McInerney believes most authors are not productive when working under the influence of alcohol and drugs, he says Thompson was the exception.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy ending,” he said.
Thompson, a Kentucky native, died in 2005 at the age of 67 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while at his compound in Woody Creek, Colorado.
McInerney said Capote died five or six months later. ‘It had a pretty sad end in terms of alcohol and cocaine. He was a mess when I met him. It was a disaster.
“Hunter was the wildest guy ever,” he said. “Between the drink, the cocaine and the psychedelics… he did it all.”
McInerney told Brunt that Thompson offered him cocaine in 1987 when they were both being inducted into the Library Lions, a group of honorees celebrated by the New York Public Library.
According to McInerney, he went to the men’s bathroom during the event and ran into Thompson, who had a hockey puck-sized container full of “really strong” cocaine.
Around Thompson’s neck, McInerney said, the author of ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ carried a silver spoon to ingest the cocaine.
the couple He then posed for a photograph at the event and had to contort his face in such a way that it was not obvious that he was “disconnected from his face” by drugs.
As for the state of the publishing industry, McInerney has serious concerns.
“I’m a little worried about the publishing awakening right now,” he says, claiming he’s been told which sections of his book are yet to be published, “See You on the Other Side (working title), won’t be printed today.”
An anonymous professional from a publishing house was supposedly baffled by the scene of a female character who goes to a gynecologist after the death of her gynecologist.
In the book, the character thinks to herself, “Well, thank God, at least she’s Jewish.”
It’s a joke, McInerney explains, because the character is worried about seeing a female doctor, while also taking comfort in knowing that the doctor is Jewish, which fits a stereotypical mold.
Apparently, the phrase was something this advisor believed “couldn’t be said today.”
McInerney wondered whether a book like American Psycho could be published today, given the awakening of the industry. “I don’t think it can be,” he said.
Brunt’s full interview with McInerney is now published on Dedicated with Doug Brunt, which is available on YouTube.