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The Pain Room was designed to be viewed by one person at a time. Viewers had to open the short door, crawl inside the little room, lock themselves in, and sit in a chair to view a six- minute film, a compilation of vile images and scenes—torture, decay, violence, death. If the viewer flinched or lo…

when she visited the office of the “dubiously named small press,” she met two employees, “the sort of nebbish folk that flow like tepid blood from one publishing venture to the next.”

A few of these friends repeated the same dull anecdotes about the group crashing parties at Warhol’s factory, but the most commonly told story was how Cassandra scandalized them all by turning down Warren Beatty’s advances. The two apparently met at a dinner party, and when he’d asked her to have a…

“And yes, I know that Martina wasn’t a real person—though I was late to hear about that exhibition and everything, and quite frankly I didn’t get it—but I never met X. I only knew Martina. Maybe it’s dumb to think my conversations with Martina were real, that she was actually my friend, but, I don’…

The prospect of having to repeat myself felt all at once sobering and sad; Gioia must have noticed the change in my expression because she bounced from her seat and went to a sideboard, where she mixed us two drinks, handing me one without asking. She possessed a kind of ageless nonchalance, one I …