Mitchell Finally Puts His Profile to Rest

Mitchell’s two profiles on Joe Gould, the Greenwich Village bohemian, intimately provide a descriptive, lengthy feature on the eccentric man. Both are, in fact, feature articles. Mitchell’s prose in both profiles brings the essence of Gould alive. In Professor Sea Gull, he writes, “Gould is as restless and footloose as an alley cat,” describing how Gould slinks around from place to place. Mitchell’s diction is fresh; not to mention, Mitchell goes on to provide extensive details about Gould’s shabby appearance. Even the quotes Mitchell choses from Gould illustrate the bohemian’s character. Mitchell records Gould bizarrely saying, “The countess and I spent three weeks studying sea gulls.” He also quoted Gould saying, “I’ll…[write] down the informal history of the shirt-sleeved multitude.” What a character!

Even if this was written today, the prose would still work. Mitchell’s attention to detail serves as a reminder to present day journalists what good writing and reporting really is.  More importantly, despite Gould being a “bohemian,” Mitchell gave the man respect. Gould was a homeless man, a man begging for “donations to the Joe Gould fund.” Most people wouldn’t have given him the time of day. Mitchell describes spending lengthy hours in bars, Goody’s, and his office with Gould, hearing the same story over and over. Mitchell endured because Gould felt he was speaking of things important to the profile.

Mitchell clearly admires Joseph Gould. This particularly comes through in his second profile, Joe Gould’s Secret, which was far more personal for Mitchell than Professor Sea Gull. Just after Mitchell reveals when he learned about Gould’s secret—the Oral History of Our Time doesn’t exist—Mitchell goes down a personal path. His personal reflections regarding this revelation range from those of sadness, “I began to feel depressed. I had ben duped by Gould,” to admiration, “I suddenly felt a surge of respect… for Gould.” Mitchell compared Gould to himself, for over a year he’d been thinking about a novel but couldn’t write it. Mitchell saw Gould as, simply, a lost soul and a disappointment to his father who turned his own life into that of a supposed “illustrious historian.” This second piece puts to rest something Mitchell put much of his time and energy into. Finally, the journalist felt he did a complete, finished profile of Joseph Gould.