Who is Joe Gould: Is Joe Gould a "writer"?

[Idleheim]

Joseph Ferdinand Gould was a bohemian, historian, poet, "ornithological linguist" and Chippewa dance master who lived from the turn of the 19th-20th century until the late 50s. He was considered a great, eccentric character in New York's Greenwich Village, whose fame soared to new heights after a profile piece in The New Yorker written by Joseph Mitchell.

Even though he graduated from Harvard with a BA in Literature, he lived most of his life as a vagrant and bum, always soliciting for contributions to the "Joe Gould Fund." But his habit was not mere charity he claimed. His greatest work was "(An) Oral History of Our Time", or simply the Oral History. It was to capture the soul of the city and its inhabitants, and create a true history, through the inane, pointless and profound verbiage of everyday small talk. He was known far and wide for this great undertaking, which was rumored to have been eleven-fold the length of the Bible.

One slight concern, however. Outside of a few scratched essays and repeated autobiographies of inconsequential events from HIS OWN life, the Oral History is a complete fabrication. It never existed, save for in the mind of Joe Gould.

Joseph Mitchell, his "biographer" and an extremely accomplished and highly underrated writer, was initially impressed by Gould's sampling of writing. From it, he immediately decided that Gould was a Writer, someone of profound insight into the human condition. He wrote a piece about him in a very influential magazine, and studied this man intently. However, after YEARS repeated delays, excuses and hemming and hawing, Joe Gould never produced the goods, leading Mitchell to write a second profile and book. He also continued to work for The New Yorker for 32 years. In that time he wrote squat of any literary worth, hardly did any work; Joe Gould's Secret was his last book in an accomplished body of work.

Having said all that, my question is this, knowing his background and reading his book, can Joe Gould be considered a writer, despite not having written a book or anything of meaning or value? He made his "living" telling stories and making mocking poems of the current literary trends and cliques, was a very intelligent man (Remember: Harvard!), and had enough of grand scheme and ideas and insights that many current authors would give an intimate part of their body to have.

He also made up the existence of his singular body of work.

I suppose the real question is, is there more to writing than mere writing?

Thoughts, Ideas and Comments are most appreciated!