Literary Lions of the Hamptons, Past and Present

Not far from "On Goldman Pond" in Sagaponack is a different world, inhabited by the giants of American letters rather than the titans of Wall Street. The August issue of Vanity Fair explores the enclave of writers present and past who populate the Hamptons, names like Peter Matthiessen, Truman Capote, George Plimpton, Kurt Vonnegut, E. L. Doctorow, and more. They were drawn by the stark, empty beauty of the Hamptons and the quiet, which made it easy to work there. The article updates the careers and the friendships of the few writers of that generation still alive—James Salter, who at 88 has published his first novel in 30 years; Peter Matthiessen, who also just published a new novel; and E.L. Doctorow, whose new novel, Andrew's Brain, "starts with a man named Andrew knocking on the door of his ex-wife with a baby in his arms because his new, young wife has died." (Great premise. We're unsure about the title.) The last of the group, Robert Caro, is working on the fifth and thankfully final volume of his bio of Lyndon Johnson.
· The Lions of Summer [Vanity Fair]