The Secret Life of Glenn Gould: A Genius in Love [Hardcover]

The title of this addition to the lengthening shelf of books about Glenn Gould carries a slight suggestion of tabloid journalism. The suggestion is not altogether misplaced, given this volume’s subject matter. Many of Gould’s contemporaries assumed that the great classical pianist and professional eccentric, who died in 1982, had low sexual energy. For example, to Robert Fulford, his childhood chum, Gould was “a confirmed bachelor at 13.” His friend Howard Engel, the mystery writer, thought most of his relationships to be pragmatic ones based on shared interests, rather than romantic partnerships. In fact, Gould had numerous long affairs with women, most of whom were artists themselves. (Gould’s life was also marked by serious addictions to prescription drugs, a fact some believe hastened his death at 51.)

Frances Batchen, a fellow musician who presided over a multidisciplinary bohemian salon in postwar Toronto, stands out among the women with whom he became involved. She was the first of two women to refuse a marriage proposal from Gould. Her personality comes through vividly in Michael Clarkson’s book, no doubt partly because the author was able to interview her in person, whereas a number of other subjects were available only by phone or e-mail (and one of them remained true to her vow of silence).

Batchen left Canada in 1956 following a romantic overlap with Gladys Shenner, a writer sent by Maclean’s to interview Gould, only to become the next key player in the long melodrama of his private life.

Gould aficionados are likely to find only the smallest crumbs of new information in The Secret Life of Glenn Gould. Clarkson, however, must be given credit for doggedness, clarity of writing, and enthusiasm. The author’s career as a writer of popular books on psychology is much less apparent here than his background as a journalist. (Clarkson won a Pulitzer Prize for interviewing J.D. Salinger – someone even more reclusive than Gould was.)

Clarkson’s prose has patches of freshness but is also peppered with clichés and inaccuracies. He writes: “Toronto the Good was not a rockin’ town in the 1950s, prior to the influx of immigrants and extravagant festivals – it was, as someone once said, New York run by the Swiss.” The “someone” was Sir Peter Ustinov, speaking in the 1980s about the Toronto of a later era than the one Clarkson is referencing.