Author Robert Olen Butler, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his short story anthology, “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain,” turns to matters of the flesh in his latest collection.
In “Intercourse,” Butler offers fictionalized accounts of what goes through the minds of 50 famous couples as they, well, couple.
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Butler, whose ex-wife, novelist and playwright Elizabeth Dewberry, left him for Ted Turner last year,
| Courtesy photo |
jumps inside the heads of no fewer than 11 romantic duos who have Washington ties. Of course,most of the passages aren’t fit for a family newspaper so, for those who fancy some hot and steamy action between your favorite pols, pick up your own copy.
But for some of the more safe passages…
Butler imagines Laura Bush thinking, “[I]s that my cell phone? — no, just a ringing in my ears” and ruminating on the wallpaper design in the Lincoln Bedroom.
Alone with a grad-school Hillary Clinton, the fictional Bill thinks to himself: “I know the path for me and this girl knows it too, better than anybody else — I can see crowds, great large crowds to wade into and to touch — she’s smart and she’s tough and I know she won’t put up with certain things from me.”
Red-hunting Sen. Joe McCarthy notices his wife Jean’s eyes shift “to the left,” while J. Edgar Hoover relishes the secret tapes he’s got of JFK and his mistress.
President Nixon enjoys that first lady Pat brought Checkers the dog in to the room, “as I had asked.”
Butler also includes fictional accounts of Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings, John Wilkes Booth and fellow actor Catherine Winslow, and Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.
Butler’s “meticulous research confirms that these famous people and often surprising pairings were actually together and most likely did consummate their relationship,”the book jacket promises.
The book comes out in June.
