Route 441, towards Pigeon Forge. Our hosts are driving across the state to the Smokies. We stop in Knoxville for lunch. Our waiter's very literary. Cormac McCarthy wrote a novel about Knoxville, he tells us. Suttee, it's called. That's a Hindu name, I tell him. Shiva's wife, who let herself be immolated rather than accept dishonour.
We ask him if he's read The Road. - 'It's great', W. tells him. 'Really depressing'. He wept when I lent it to him, he says. Our waiter tells us he wants to be a writer. He's studying on a writing programme. What does he want to write about? - 'Oh, you know, everything', he says.
I should show him my American notebooks, W. says. Turning to me, 'They're full of wisdom, aren't they?' - 'So you're a writer as well', says our waiter, refilling my glass with ice water. - 'He's not a writer, he's an idiot', W. says. 'But he did write a good poem about preppies ... How did it go? 'Tall/ sand in the hair/ white teeth/ pullovers/ deck shoes/ white shirts and blouses/ yachts with white sails/ fuckers'.
We visit Yee Haw Industrial Press and buy posters advertising gigs by El Vez, the Atlantic City Rhythm Rascals and Shinola. 'You think he gave a lumpy shit about the so called music business ...' reads my poster of Hank Williams. 'I believe Hank saw the light brother. AMEN. Visit Disgraceland', it reads.
I admire its sentiment, though W. and I found Graceland unexpectedly restrained and moving. We admired Elvis's contemplation garden, where he went to think over things. We thought of several things ourselves in the contemplation garden, looking over the grave of his twin brother who died at birth.
Graceland's surprisingly small, we agreed. The kitchen, for example - it was like any suburban kitchen. The living room, the dining room the same. Elvis was a man of modest tastes.
We particularly admired his Bauhaus style squash court, which he designed himself. Imagine it - Elvis the architect, Elvis the modernist. But it really was his design. He drew up the blueprints, he had them approved, he insisted on building a modernist squash court in the grounds of Graceland.