Speaking Engagements (1968)
Within weeks of the publication of The Naked Civil Servant I found myself being asked to speak to small gatherings of people. They were of various denominations. Sometimes they were literary aspirants. To these I repeated that books are for writing - not for reading. To be more explicit I explained that no one who intends to take up writing as a career should read any work that lies in the category in which his own efforts would be placed. If he disobeys this rule, he will almost certainly feel he must write literature instead of trying to say what he means.
When not with embryonic authors, I was invited to universities or art schools. There I explained that education is a mistake. Cluttering one's skull with facts about any subject other than oneself I hold to be a waste of time. All general knowledge can be discovered in the nearest library . . Being well informed is but a stone's throw from being boring and stones will be thrown.
Inevitably the audiences that I was most often asked to amuse were members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality or other kindred organizations.
At all these events I was indulgently received and very courteously treated. . . A fee of about £5 was most acceptable and these transactions had about them a pleasant amateurishness. . . I am writing about a time when I was both working as a model and giving these small talks. Between them these two professions earned me a living but I was aware that I ought to be turning my new situation to better account. . . All my friends tried to help but no fringe benefits seemed to dangle from the fact of my having written a book. My agent came to the rescue.
He was not content with trafficking in the work of others, he also wished to write. The theme that he chose . . .was style. . . and solicited my help. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. When the gold - well, the yellow metal - was sifted from the dross of my discourse, there appeared to be very little that would enrich the publisher to whom it was to be presented. Though I was most handsomely rewarded for my useless assistance, I felt somehow let down. . . I embraced my oldest friend defeat . . My agent fled to Texas.
When not with embryonic authors, I was invited to universities or art schools. There I explained that education is a mistake. Cluttering one's skull with facts about any subject other than oneself I hold to be a waste of time. All general knowledge can be discovered in the nearest library . . Being well informed is but a stone's throw from being boring and stones will be thrown.
Inevitably the audiences that I was most often asked to amuse were members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality or other kindred organizations.
At all these events I was indulgently received and very courteously treated. . . A fee of about £5 was most acceptable and these transactions had about them a pleasant amateurishness. . . I am writing about a time when I was both working as a model and giving these small talks. Between them these two professions earned me a living but I was aware that I ought to be turning my new situation to better account. . . All my friends tried to help but no fringe benefits seemed to dangle from the fact of my having written a book. My agent came to the rescue.
He was not content with trafficking in the work of others, he also wished to write. The theme that he chose . . .was style. . . and solicited my help. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. When the gold - well, the yellow metal - was sifted from the dross of my discourse, there appeared to be very little that would enrich the publisher to whom it was to be presented. Though I was most handsomely rewarded for my useless assistance, I felt somehow let down. . . I embraced my oldest friend defeat . . My agent fled to Texas.